Gentleman's handshake

Catching up on the news after a glorious weekend off, I see the wingnut pearl clutcher of the day is over Obama's handshake with Hugo Chavez. Newt Gingrich is struck with horror at such a civilized exchange of social niceties between two world leaders. Zounds! Obama accepted a book from him too.

Newt is sure this is going to destroy our world standing as the powerhouse of the planet. I suppose he would have liked it better if Obama slapped Chavez in the face instead and threw the book on the floor and pissed on it. Then maybe Chavez would have called Obama the Great Devil and thus cemented our status as swaggering thugs which was established by our previous president.

Meanwhile, the AP has a handwringing piece on all the admissions that Obama has made to the world so far, taking some responsibility for how his precedessors screwed things up for everybody. Surely Armaggedon is nigh, because Obama admitted we're not infallible.

It seems to me that the media is so used to Orwellian doublespeak they just don't know how to handle a president who tells the unvarnished truth once in a while.

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