A Touching Man, Part II

“massage strike”: Tee-hee-hee. Chuckle, chuckle.
The more I see of this guy the more I see a three year old boy who was paid attention to, by his parents, only when he was behaving badly. If his parents were even around.
Chirac has been on to this for a while. He likes to raise the hair on george’s neck by telling him, “you are doing such a good job – I’m going to telephone your father and tell him how well you are doing.”
This has happened a couple of times, one time actually pulling a phone from his pocket, and it really makes the boy king angry. I like Chirac. French toast with my coffee today, for sure.
These last two Bag posts visually say he’s not getting many hugs, kisses, ect… at home these days.
Merkel showed some personality here by knocking his hands away.
Condi would haved purred. Blair would have too.

The BAG: “Recently, I wrote that the war in Iraq was an impulsive act on Bush’s part. In reply, a reader countered that this was impossible; it had been planned for months.”
It could be both… planned for months by the people around him, but when he was actually given the opportunity to make the decision (because that’s what The Decider does), it may have been an impulse on his part… like they told him he should do it, and he “took the decision”.
Can you tell from the video what Angela Merkel was talking about when this happened? I wonder if she was actually trying to discuss something serious, and this was his reaction – which would make it even more insulting.

O, how I wish she would have just patted his hand whilst on her shoulder and said “Not now, Georgie; grownups are talking.”
THAT would be the perfect antidote to this jacked-up ostrich in a suit and all his megalomaniacal and condescending impulses.

From today’s Boston Globe ~ Bush, Merkel and the Quickie Neck Rub:
“As it happens, this interaction between two heads of state put an international spotlight on a fact of life for working women … You can spend a career perfecting your handshake and still be startled by a man who suddenly invades your personal space with unexpected intimacy in a professional setting. This is a non partisan observation. Trust me, Democrats do it, too.”
The Globe columnist is right, this unwanted interaction is a fact of life for working women. Merkel, like too many women, laughs it off. We’re trained to “make nice.” Besides, what else could she do? Elbow him?
As we well know, Bush has no boundaries. There was probably no conscious intent on his part here, this is just what he does on a regular basis. He places his hands and lips on people to cover his own social insecurity. I’m struck by how closely Merkel resembles Miers. Maybe, unconsciously, he thought he could touch her because of the uncanny resemblance to his secretary? Makes me wonder what Miers allows him to do in the privacy of the Ovaltine Office.

Bush’s trying to turn Merkel into his usual mommy figure. Laura and his daughters must be giving him the cold shoulder (excuse the pun) and he’s starved for some female notice and affection. Condi’s preoccupied, but what happened to Harriet Miers? Maybe Rove and Bolton sidelined her to the extent that Bush doesn’t see much of her these days. As others have noted, George is looking for love in all the wrong places. As usual with Bush, when Merkel doesn’t respond to his attentions with the unconditional love he hopes for, he gives her the brush-off and moves on to his next chaotic emotional impulse. He can’t see that he’s responsible for his own lonely and unloved condition.

Bush’s trying to turn Merkel into his usual mommy figure. Laura and his daughters must be giving him the cold shoulder (excuse the pun) and he’s starved for some female notice and affection. Condi’s preoccupied, but what happened to Harriet Miers? Maybe Rove and Bolton sidelined her to the extent that Bush doesn’t see much of her these days. As others have noted, George is looking for love in all the wrong places. As usual with Bush, when Merkel doesn’t respond to his attentions with the unconditional love he hopes for, he gives her the brush-off and moves on to his next chaotic emotional impulse. He can’t see that he’s responsible for his own lonely and unloved condition.

Here’s the video supplied by CNN. It’s better than the one that’s been floating around. I had thought it possible that she smiled at the end because that was when she realized who was touching her, but the video shows that she saw him coming.
As Bush approaches the table, he sees that Merkel is having a serious conversation with P.M. Prodi, and steps in to put the attention on him. The consensus is that this kind of behavior is unacceptable in the workplace, never mind a G8 Sunnit, but I guess Captain AWOL has never lived in the real world. The link to the video is in the middle of the article:
http://tinyurl.com/ksjrn

The man is a sociopath. That much is pretty clear from everything he does.

Merkel deserves a lot of credit. She reacted instantly, instinctively, definitively, angrily. Both hands are clenched into fists, both arms go up to release Bush’s grab. Her body language could not say more clearly, “GET YOUR FUCKING HANDS OFF OF ME.” What options does she have short of making a huge scene? She reacted perfectly, and don’t let her smile afterward fool you; it’s an embarrassed apology to the table for Bush’s inappropriate behavior. It’s not a smile at Bush. It’s, “I’m sorry I had to interrupt the meeting to take care of that asshole.” Just like when my cat purrs at the vet, it doesn’t mean she’s happy.
Clearly this is not the first time Bush has experienced this particular rejection. As he approaches Merkel, he’s “in the zone,” he knows *exactly* what he’s going to do because he’s done this before, he knows she’ll rebuff him, his face is blank because he’s committed to going through with it, and he doesn’t react to her except to keep moving. To add to his other criminal tendencies, the frat-boy rapist-wannabe in him is now surfacing. He needs to be yanked out of a position of power. He’s not unloved, as some have suggested. His amorality is out of control: He has functioned outside the normal moral framework for so long that he doesn’t even remember what the rules are. He feels it is his right to behave this way. And why shouldn’t he? No one has ever stopped him.

Recently, I wrote that the war in Iraq was an impulsive act on Bush’s part.
I think you’re on to something there. As Charles Pierce noted in this great article in Esquire, impulsiveness is the thread that runs throughout the Bush era:

Idiot America is a collaborative effort, the result of millions of decisions made and not made. It’s the development of a collective Gut at the expense of a collective mind.

Get that barroom cowboy back to his ranch!
Any word on what is the reaction of the German public or the German press to actions of the Serial Stroker?

As a woman who grew up in Texas, I always have a visceral reaction when Georgie Porgie pulls one of these very physical gaffs, which he does not recognise as gaffs. I can actually feel him grabbing my shoulders. My brothers would do just this sort of thing in a “think fast” to get your angry and “helpless to retalliate” reaction.
I have three main objections to this behavior:
1) It is mysogonistic at it’s core. He chose a woman leader.
2) It is a stealth physical attack – not face to face.
3) It is drunken behavior (imagine his behavior if Bush were actually drunk – magnify this to the 10th power and you have a stuck-in-adolescence, Deke, Texas frat boy. I spent many years at the University of Texas avoiding them at all costs).
Georgie Porgie sees himself in the same playpen with all of these leaders and mistakes himself for one of them.

Condi purring at W’s touch?
That image will give me nightmares for weeks!

It is worse than frat-boy “impulsively.” Even the stereotypical frat boy knows there are some social circumstances where such behaviors are way out of bounds.
No, Bush seems to have some sort of social Tourettes syndrome.

Something is disconnected in that man’s head.

I’m struck by your mention of “3 or 4 seconds.” That entire exchange probably took about 1 second in all, and Merkel probably did all of her expressing in about 0.5 seconds. The chapter in Gladwell’s book Blink on the Diallou shooting (esp. the part where he talks about the assassination attempt on President Reagan) is very informative on what can happen in 1 second of time. A lot can happen in 1 second of time.

Merkel couldn’t have given Bush a more extreme cue if she had jumped out of her seat, or thrown back her arms and clipped Bush in the nose.
I don’t know about that – let’s try it and see!

First, can you imagine what kind and amount of s**t Merkel has had to put up with in her career rise to Chancellor? Germany is every bit as patriarchal as the U.S., maybe more so. She’s had to deal with men like him all her life. And it is a mark of her maturity that she reacted to such unwanted advance so strongly, regardless of person, place or time.
The second thing I noticed, thanks to The Bag’s distillation of the images, is that Gdub’s face is expressionless. It’s the equivalent to the ‘thousand-foot stare’ spread all over his face. As rtbag noted, he DOES NOT REACT! Is not that one indication of a psycho-socio-path? When someone slaps him upside the head, he just keeps on walking, expressionless.
rtbag, again: “No one has ever stopped him.” Isn’t that the key to his personality? If he could get away with being awol during the Vietnam era, with doing cocaine at Camp David (reportedly with daddy in the next room), with drunk driving and burning other frat boys with cigarets, then why wouldn’t he think he is unstoppable?

Bag, you’re the psychiatrist. What do you make of the total lack of expression in Bush’s face, the staring ahead, not contacting his “victim” at all, not looking back at her after the “release.” Was he hypnotized? Was he medicated? Is he suffering from a form of mental disease which you could describe for us? This is not normal behavior for a world leader, not for a healthy man with a healthy mind.
I also seem to remember that yesterday, you were not so interested in the “massage” as being significant. But, it obviously is, very.

Pic #2:
Bush looks like he has a Pat Robertson comb over. Is he going bald?
He also looks as though he does this on a regular basis. I think the same detached expression is on the faces of barbers and masseuses — impersonal, professional touching. Does Bush do this all the time?
Also, his expression and body posture could be construed as that of a strangler. Was he really more interested in choking her?

Does Bush give Harriet Miers or Condi shoulder massages?
Someone should ask them.

it is just such a violation to her personal space. and the fact that his expression never changes shows me that he really doesn’t care what she thinks about it. she may as well be an inaminate object. also, isn’t ‘keep your hands to yourself’ one of the most basic rules learned in childhood?

I’m glad I stumbled on this conversation, because the thing that has bothered me most about this whole disgusting display has been the deadness of W’s eyes and blank, expressionless face as he goes through these motions. If this was supposed to be chummy and warm–as some wingnuts are claiming–then why doesn;t he interact with her, smile, exchange a word? I might do that if squeezing a good friend’s shoulder in passing. (OK, I can’t even imagine I would ever just start groping anyone’s neck, even to set up the argument).
But his eyes are so blank and dead, his expression so slack-jawed, so strangely detached, even when he touches her–it’s just so disturbing.

I think you’re on to something with your observation that the war in Iraq was an impulsive decision on Bush’s part, just like his neck rub was an impulsive act on his part. I don’t think it’s inconsistent to have the decision toinvade Iraq be impulsive on his part, even though it took months to actually set up the logisitics. I recall your analysis a few months ago of the photograph of the meeting at which the decision to go to war was made. In that photo, it struck me that the real debate was between Cheney and Tenet, while Card hovered like a mother hen. Bush thought he was actually part of the decisonmaking process, when others were designing and implementing the strategy. That’s because Bush is the sort of person who can be easily manipulated: God told him to do it, in a voice suspiciously like Cheney’s. All Cheney had to do was get the rest of the government (starting with Tenet) to go along. This is the same guy, after all, that looked into Putin’s eyes and saw he was a good man. Today, though, maybe not so much on the look into the eyes part – In the neck rub situation, he no doubt just thought on the way by that that pretty little lady would probably like to get a little bit of that famous Texas swagger, without even considering where he was, or what the situation might actually call for. I doubt he even realized how horrified Merkel was, judging from his blank expression. After all, isn’t he the “likable” guy. Who wouldn’t want Bush’s hands all over them: it’s how Bush shows he’s decided to let them into his clique, and who doesn’t want to be in his clique? Tony Blair sure seemed to want to be, listening to his futile attempts to get Bush to allow him to go the the middle east, as overheard on the open mic.

My reaction to the clip was the same as Thom’s, that he was in a trance, which I found very, very scary.

Bush is a very physical guy.

Bush kissing an old lady.

Bush kissing a Saudi Prince.

Bush kissing Oprah.

Bush kissing Laura at the Pope’s funeral.
Bush kissing Joe Leiberman.

Bush kissing Condi when she was appointed Secretary of State.
Bush kisses the Secretary of Education.

Bush kisses a soldier.

Bush kisses a dude with a bald head.
Kissing people is one of those cultural hings that can be tricky to get right. Bush tends to go over board on the kissy kissy.

Ewwww… that one of him kissing Laura at the Pope’s funeral is creepy.

The link with Bush kissing the Saudi prince isn’t working. Here are some other versions: one and two.

error27’s list confirms to me that this isn’t the act of someone subjugating women, it’s the act of someone who is compensating for his lack of social skills with an overabundance of affection towards everyone. Men, women, princes and privates, he’s way too touchy-feely to be professional. My guess is that he does this all the time and isn’t able (or willing) to stop it when cameras are clicking. Bush is nothing if not a stubborn man.

error27, is that second one a real picture? For Saudis, it’s normal for two men to kiss when greeting each other, but it’s sort of just a kiss on each side, which might actually be a kiss into the air or it might touch the cheek. But in that picture, Bush has his eyes closed and looks like he wants to really smooch.
Now I’m curious abuot him holding hands with the Saudi king (or prince at the time?), too. This is also not strange for Saudi men, but they wouldn’t normally try to hold hands with a Westerner, becase they know it’s not seen the same way there. I wonder who initiated the handholding?

ummabdullah,
I am sure that Bush initiated the hand-holding with Abdullah. As touchy-feely as Arab culture can be (given specific circumstances), the Saudis are the least so — at least with people outside their personal sphere of friends and family. Much much more reserved than Mediterranean Arabs (btw – it is not uncommon to see men holding hands in Greece or Turkey either).
My theory is that Bush is so vacted on a soul level that he literally does not exist if he is not being seen and touched. Notice how he is always hanging on to Laura when they are in public — as well as the way she tends to rub or pat him in a soothing way. The way all the pundits say she keeps him grounded. In his body, literally incarnated.

Regarding touchy-feely Texans, wives, and Arabs: Obviously, Angela Merkel doesn’t fall into any of these categories. But that doesn’t stop Bush.
You can’t see it in The BAG’s series of images, but I’ve seen elsewhere that even though Merkel is smiling after she shrugs off the shrub, her fists are still clenched and held close to her body. It’s some pretty clear defensive body language. To see for yourself, scroll down through these pics:
http://www.taylormarsh.com/archives_view.php?id=24262
After all of Bush’s gauche G8 gaffes, I have new-found respect — and gratitude — for Putin. I don’t think it’s any accident that the microphones and video cameras were “live” for this treasure trove of embarrassments. Maybe ex-KGB guys shouldn’t be judged soley for their brawn.

maybe putin allowed them to leave on the mikes to show what an ass bush is since the pic of him kissing the “kitten -like” child had hit days before, and his creepyness factor was raised. was he like ” creepy, you want to see creepy?…”
and that pic of laura and bushy kissing at pope’s funeral is very creepy. BTW – the pope did feel/was fearful that bush was the anti-christ….was the kiss a seal of happiness that pope was gone…the seal of the underground’s joy….was that a celebatory kiss…kinda looks that way – “good job georgy, now nothing stands in our way”

I don’t see the incident as quite as scary and malevolent as some people have. Appallingly inappropriate, yes, on several levels, but a lot of people are getting a bit light-headed with the groper/rapist vapors.
His expression isn’t blank and dead–it’s a poker face, a “cool” face, a “butter wouldn’t melt in my mouth” face. We’ve all seen it on a thousand teenage morons about to do something they know is bold or naughty in front of people they know are watching. His consciously blank expression at once says, “I know what I’m doing,” and “I’m not doing anything!” He thinks he’s being sly. I would say he thinks he’s being insouciant, but he probably wouldn’t know what that means.
He is also, of course, staking a few claims on Angela Merkel. He’s saying they are intimate, and within their intimacy he is dominant: “Watch me get away with this.” He dominates the immediate situation–he invades her space, makes her jump, and keeps moving like it doesn’t mean a thing to him–and he also believes he dominates the meta-situation of their relationship. Not only does he win the encounter, he believes he wins the question of whether such an encounter is permissible. Does he? I guess we don’t know.
Now, of course, he’s not thinking of any of this. This is just the way he acts: he’s done this a million times, both to women AND men he can dominate. I have no doubt that Jeb–and Bar–recognized the moves very well. Anyone with a big brother would. It’s not even necessarily mean, but it is assertive even when it is not aggressive. It says, “I don’t mean any harm, and what are you gonna do about it anyway?”
We’ve all read about Bush’s need to surround himself with strong but doting mother figures. Isn’t it interesting that we heard so much beforehand about Bush and Merkel’s special relationship? That Germany’s Merkel, with Tony Blair clearly a lame duck, would be Bush’s new best friend in Europe? That’s what Bush was demonstrating in his juvenile, alpha-dog way–the only way he’s ever known. “Angela–she’s my girl. I’m a bad boy, but she loves me anyway. So fuck you.”
He’s an immature dope who never deserved to be president. This incident just demonstrates it again.

readytoblowagasket said, “Maybe ex-KGB guys shouldn’t be judged soley for their brawn.” I certaintly agree.
But if your referring to my earlier comment I will expand, Putin is not a person of brawn has a enhanced sense of personal space, confidence and composure as a skilled martial artist. With mental disciple and sense of others his smiling composure suggests more than simply being politically or diplomatically correct in the face of such repulsive behavior. A quick study of the martial arts is not guaranteed to provide an awareness of self or other but “W” is an ideal candidate for an experienced sensei, for bullying antics in the dojo would result in an *immediate moment of enlightenment* as he dragged himself from off the floor. A response from this Cynthia, to a kiss, massage or invasion of space, would be intriguing to observe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynthia_Rothrock

just a party boy – he’s the kind that would throw the rock, break the window and run like a coward while snickering…what else is there to say.

I really have a hard time looking at these photos, given that they show Bush humiliating the German chancellor before her country and the world. It’s a despicable act by a despicable man and I get embarrassed every time I see the Shithead-in-Chief doing it.

momenticlarisseimo

All of you are only explaining one thing. An alcoholic. Bush is drunk again. He never stopped. This is how it works. You all fell for an alcoholics tricks. Get educated on the subject may be the cycle will end with this drunk president! You will all see the only thing this man is after is his next high and how he can manipulate the people around him, his wife and the American public to think he is not drinking. How much more of this man’s pain does the World have endure? It is up to all of us to get out of this denial and see the manipulation for what it really is doing to us.

Note the difference in expressions on Oprah and Condi’s faces; Oprah looks like she’s enduring and Condi looks like she’s coming.
Also, the old lady. EW!
Over the Pope’s dead body??? YUCK and CLASSLESS. NOT a time for kissy face.

I don’t know if Bush is drinking again or not, but if he is, plenty of people must know about it.

Look at the photos. First frame – Bush catches a glimpse of her as he is walking by and reacts to a feeling. He looks self amused and distant. Second frame – Perfunctory, non-feeling or caring, on impulse he acts, the massage part frat boy , part man in uncomfortable environs reaching for the comfortable. At once, instinctive and embarassing. He doesn’t see nor care about Merkel nor does he really think about what he is doing. Detached (whatever the reason or cause) and aimless. Third frame – Distracted…probably by a handler or some one else monitoring his behavior. Already forgot about the massage. Fourth frame – already cleared from memory. Seconds have gone by and his actions no longer concern or interest him. And he is president……………………………………………

Seems to me it is the frat boy who thinks he is cute. They were all over Boston when I went to collage and real silly young things. Like animal house every place. Silly and in a so called grown man and world leader just beyond anything we can even dream up.