Denying it makes you look guilty of something.

Ed Morrissey’s been talking about “the bow” all week.

Personally, I wouldn’t have immediately have thought anything of Obama’s bow to King Abdullah.  After hearing that it was going against over 200 years of American diplomatic tradition for the President to bow to royalty, I thought maybe a bigger deal, but easily forgotten.  But the combined effort of Obama’s supporters, the media, and his Administration to deal with this is like watching the Keystone Cops.

1. First, it was said he dropped something or was picking something up off the floor.  This was allegedly why the media didn’t mention the gaffe in the first place.

2. Second, primarily from Obama supporters, the defense is:  “This is so stupid. A mistake or whatever.  Who cares?”  Unfortunately, after 8 years of lectures on how the world hates us because Bush is so imbecilic, I’m no longer persuaded by such an argument.  Particularly from the loudmouth hypocrites making it.

3. Finally, it’s the White House’s outright denial:

“It wasn’t a bow. He grasped his hand with two hands, and he’s taller than King Abdullah,” said an Obama aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Please. Don’t insult our intelligence.

Remember, Obama’s following Bush here.  People harped on his international gaffes all over the place, but you never saw this kind of orchestrated response to defend him.  Honestly, if people weren’t so eager to crown Obama as a blameless miracle man, a lot more of this stuff would just roll right off.

UPDATE:  Clearly, I missed some of the explanations.  From Sisyphus:  Top 11 Possible Explanations for Why The President of the United States Appeared to Bow Down Before the King of Saudi Arabia.

My favorite:

11. Staff placed the teleprompter too low

Go read the rest.