Courtney Hoyt

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.

Vanity Fair drops its annual “green” issue after only three years:

“With so much else going on relating to the global financial crisis, we have been focusing on that of late”. Environmentalists are concerned that the decision may have an unwelcome effect on the perception of green issues. “It is vital that green living is not treated as a trend that comes and goes, but that it becomes part of the way we live,” says Colin Butfield, head of campaigns at WWF.

It’s the price you pay when you rely on Hollywood and the fashion world to carry your message.  They’ve proven to be fair weather friends for nearly every special interest issue.  Remember when everyone wore red ribbons to the Academy Awards?  Or Farm Aid? Even Africa eventually faded out.

Via Tim Blair.

Love this true story about a woman who tracked down her stolen computer and wallet, then claimed them in person, using Facebook.  

It turned out Bransky lived just minutes away, so Mote hopped in her car in sweats, Uggs and a super-sexy hair clip and headed to Jamie’s place. The pair drove to Bransky’s apartment, unsure of how they’d obtain her stuff but determined to investigate further. But what would they find?

Read the whole story, involving alcohol, status updates, a couple small dogs, and a grown man peeing himself.

Mike Allen at Politico notes that the Obama Administration “is bracing for a much slower pace and big changes in his proposals as early urgency and excitement give way to the more languid rhythms that are the norm for Congress.”

A big part of their communication strategy will now focus on highlighting incremental progress on the Obama agenda, to show people Washington is working again. 

Am I hallucinating, or did Congress (at the behest of the Administration) not just pass a $789 billion stimulus bill and a $2.6 TRILLION 2010 budget?  It seems like the last reassurance we need is that Washington is working.  Great line from the last link:

Rep. Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) denounced the Democrats’ budget for its deficits. “We are spending like drunken sailors,” Mr. Ryan said. “Wait, I apologize to the drunken sailors of America for that comment.”

Love it.

Only took me two years to finally set this up… I’ll be tweaking the blog for the next few days, but keep in touch, and hopefully I will get this off the ground asap.