Does This Mean They're Going Steady?

Matt Welch | April 25, 2005

Seriously, can anyone explain to me why the elected leader of the Land of the Free insists on holding hands like a fucking lovebird with the evil dictator who misrules the country that produced 15 of 19 Sept. 11 hijackers, and is the single biggest exporter and financier of Islamic nutbaggery? I'm not looking for jokes, or pop histories of the Carlyle Group, but really ... why do they always insist on holding handsies??

Comments

|4.25.05 @ 3:38PM|#

clearly didn't get the defense of marriage act passed in time.

|4.25.05 @ 3:41PM|#

Guys do that in the Middle East, I understand. But yeah, why does Dubs do it when a camera is around?

I can't for the life of me figure out why the democrats didn't spend $100 million plasting vids and pics of Bush with his Saudi Boyfriends on constant TV rotation. I can just hear the hypothetical Heartland Heads exploding when they see picture after picture of the Leader. . . holding hands? WITH A MAN??! SOME TOWELHEAD MAN?!?!?!

The Wine Commonsewer|4.25.05 @ 3:41PM|#

I'm chuckling and I want to say something really trite like 'but Matt, how do you really feel about this'?

|4.25.05 @ 3:43PM|#

So which one's the eunuch?

|4.25.05 @ 3:43PM|#

As one of the fools who, in 2000, thought Bush would be an amiable bumbler, I can only guess that ...

Oh, hell, I don't know. Maybe his advisors told him it was a good thing to do. Maybe they're in love. Mars help us all if the actually like and respect each other.

Me, I wouldn't want to come within 1,000 miles of the fat, evil, old bastard if I could avoid it. I'd rather Bush hold hands with Putin (at least if they were plotting to put the Saudis down).

QFMC cos. V

|4.25.05 @ 3:46PM|#

maybe he's got something special under the robe

|4.25.05 @ 3:53PM|#

When pick-pockets and other thieves meet, holding hands is the only way they can trust each other not to be stealing.

|4.25.05 @ 3:53PM|#

How wonderful to see the leader of the World's Greatest Superpower sucking up to the de facto head of the utterly corrupt House of Saud. Oh, Abdullah - please, please do something to keep those nasty oil prices down!

Here's an idea - stop turning the US$ into toilet paper, get your non-productinve, hyperconsumptive economy and escalating energy usage under control, and maybe you won't have to hold hands with every sleazeball who owns an oil well.

|4.25.05 @ 3:56PM|#

Good to know that Bush is taking a strong stance against totalitarian rulers in the Middle East...

Seriously, though, I don't want him to go to war against Saudi Arabia, but maybe he could avoid getting all cozy with the guy. Sort of like Putin: I don't want war with Russia, but there's no need to gush about how the autocratic ruler of Russia has a good soul.

Just be sorta, you know, distant. "Oh, yeah, Putin. OK guy, I guess, but, you know, nothing great. Kind of a control freak. Abdullah? Yeah, we've hung out, but, you know, he's not like a great friend or anything. He's got some tyranny issues that he needs to work out."

|4.25.05 @ 3:59PM|#

I'm guessing it's because dudes often amiably hold hands in the Middle East, and Bush doesn't want to insult the guy by refusing to hold hands and saying, "In my country, that is considered so gay" -- thereby impugning the manhood of His Saudiness and all men in the Middle East, and further perpetuating the meme that Dubya is clueless about foreign countries.

PS: Although I did notice that in every photo but one, Dubya is toughing His Saudiness with his left hand -- his Arabic ass-wiping hand!

|4.25.05 @ 4:00PM|#

toughing = touching

|4.25.05 @ 4:03PM|#

When in Rome, eh?

So would Bush kiss Le Pen if he was hanging out in France?

Aren't they in the US? Why can't old Saud suck down a Coors and go get a lapdance?

It really is a nasty picture.

|4.25.05 @ 4:07PM|#

I'm with Brian (and just about everyone else posting on this thread).

It becomes obvious the weakness of the Democratic party isn't liberal policies...it's just plain weakness...period.

My God, if they can't turn it around on these arrogant nincompoops, they don't deserve to be in power.

Ted Barlow|4.25.05 @ 4:11PM|#

If you know of a better way to exchange to exchange long protein strings, I'd like to hear it.

|4.25.05 @ 4:18PM|#

According to this site...

http://teachsaudi.3dmega.com/culture.htm

When men hold hands in Saudi Arabia, it's a sign of friendship with no sexual connotations. I know they're not in Saudi Arabia, but I understand that it's customary for men in Texas to hold hands too.

...except there is a sexual connotation in Texas.

|4.25.05 @ 4:35PM|#

Maybe it's like on "24" when the terrorists told the President to go on TV and say some phrase or other, or else they'd "release the virus".

The holding hands bit is kinda funny, but its just not over-the-top enough to let everybody know who's really calling the shots here. I think next time they should have him pull his pants down and cluck like a chicken.

|4.25.05 @ 4:39PM|#

We all know what two things come from Texas, and I don't see no horns on W!

PintofStout|4.25.05 @ 4:39PM|#

...holding hands like a fucking lovebird with the evil dictator who misrules the country...

Oh, you mean the Arab guy, huh.

|4.25.05 @ 4:50PM|#

"Those that control the substance lead the addicted by the hand."

|4.25.05 @ 4:50PM|#

"Here's an idea - stop turning the US$ into toilet paper, get your non-productinve, hyperconsumptive economy and escalating energy usage under control, and maybe you won't have to hold hands with every sleazeball who owns an oil well."

Wait a minute, which one are you talking to?

|4.25.05 @ 4:55PM|#

I think joe accurately nailed that one!

|4.25.05 @ 5:03PM|#

Money Money Money Money, dont let money fool ya.

Mark Bahner|4.25.05 @ 5:20PM|#

"Here's an idea - stop turning the US$ into toilet paper, get your non-productinve, hyperconsumptive economy and escalating energy usage under control, and maybe you won't have to hold hands with every sleazeball who owns an oil well."

Here's an idea that will probably get me drummed out of the Libertarian Party (but probably not until they get my 2005 dues ;-))...

...a $700 million prize for the first U.S. fusion setup that has a net energy production averaging more than 1000 Watts (thermal) for more than 24 hours, with not less than 100 Watts net energy production in any 1 hour.

From that $700 million prize, subtract away $1 for every $1 already received from the federal government. For example, if the prize-winner has already received $50 million from the federal government, the prize would be $650 million. If the organization had already received more than $700 million, they'd get zero.

The more I study the issue, the more convinced I am that it's possible to achieve break-even fusion by alternative means, e.g.

1) sonofusion,

2) hydrogen-boron fusion (via a "focus" reactor),

3) muon-catalyzed fusion, or even (this is a real long shot)...

4) "cold fusion," via the Pons-Fleischman route.

If some group won more than than $500 million from that fusion prize in the next 10 years (i.e., won the prize with less than $200 million in funding from the U.S. government), it would be the most important event in energy since the discovery of fire.

In one step, Saudi Arabia would be rendered economically (and politically) irrelevant.

|4.25.05 @ 5:29PM|#

Pardon my taking the question seriously..

Its obviously a photo-op (for the benefit of muslims who think Bush may hate them).

|4.25.05 @ 5:47PM|#

"In my country, that is considered so gay"


Ha ha ha

|4.25.05 @ 5:49PM|#

Mark-

I'm not a fusion optimist. It may very well be possible to achieve useful fusion some day, but I'm not holding my breath.

As to the methods that you mentioned:

1) If by sonofusion you mean sonoluminescence, the jury is still out on that one. There are a lot of interesting claims made, and some of those claims have reputable supporters and reasonable experiments, but there's still plenty of reason for doubt.

2) I know nothing about hydrogen-boron fusion.

3) Muon-catalyzed fusion has been known a long time. It's an interesting phenomenon and my soundbite knowledge of the field is that it has deepened our understanding of fusion, but it hasn't rocked the world. Muon catalysts might very well turn out to be useful in combination with some other method, but I wouldn't count on any miracles from that field.

4) Cold fusion: The thing with "cold fusion" as proposed by Pons and Fleischman is that there probably is some sort of interesting electrochemistry going on there. Certain types of ceramics do funky things when they absorb hydrogen, and by all accounts the guys did see a lot of heat coming out of their reaction. Not enough heat to come from fusion, but enough to be interesting.

Sometimes the key to scientific progress is to ask the right question in the right way, at which point the right answer follows easily. Perhaps if somebody approaches the experiment of Pons and Fleischman without even thinking about the word "fusion", that scientist might discover what exactly is happening, and it will be something interesting that deepens our understanding of electrochemistry with hydrogen and ceramics. But thinking about it in terms of fusion is almost certainly leading people down blind alleys.

As far as why I don't think a ceramic could catalyze fusion: There are indeed ceramics that can absorb and compress hydrogen to densities higher than the normal liquid state of hydrogen. The compression is, in the end, due to forces exerted by the atoms in the ceramic. However, these densities are orders of magnitude lower than the density needed for fusion. Compressing hydrogen to the densities needed for fusion while keeping it in the interstices between atoms would shatter the chemical bonds in the ceramic. And the shattering would happen before the density needed for fusion was reached.

Don't hold your breath. Fusion may indeed happen, but it will probably come from a method that nobody has thought of yet.

|4.25.05 @ 6:10PM|#

Holding hands among men is normal practice in Arab culture. I'm sure Abdullah extended his hand, and Bush, not wanting to be rude, took it. Of course he could have pulled away and then we could all bitch about how much of a homophobe Bush must be.

|4.25.05 @ 6:28PM|#

I don't care if they make-out in the back seat as long as SA doesn't get our tax money.

It does seem just a bit unusual that Bush so thoroughly accommodates their customs when the dictator is in our country. It's polite and considerate when one is over there.

When Bush kissed him, it would have been nice if he had whispered "Promote individual liberty" into the dictator's ear. Of course the dictator could have whispered back, "What about US funding of the occupation of Palestine?" or "What about the Patriot Act?"

|4.25.05 @ 6:31PM|#

So, basically, Bush is holding hands with the descendant of the man who helped unleash the Wahhabis.

Ron Hardin|4.25.05 @ 6:53PM|#

That's the way men are in Texas.

b-psycho|4.25.05 @ 7:03PM|#

"Of course he could have pulled away and then we could all bitch about how much of a homophobe Bush must be."

At least then he'd be consistent. As opposed to now, where at home he barks about how gays are plotting to "undermine the traditional family" or whatever, while in SA Abdullah and his pals take turns ham-slamming The Leader of the Most Powerful Country in the World...

|4.25.05 @ 7:10PM|#

"Holding hands among men is normal practice in Arab culture. I'm sure Abdullah extended his hand, and Bush, not wanting to be rude, took it. Of course he could have pulled away and then we could all bitch about how much of a homophobe Bush must be."

It's my understanding that what you're saying about holding hands in Saudi Arabian culture is true: there's nothing sexual about it over there, and pulling away is considered very rude.

...But I think this may speak directly to the kind of leader we have as President. He'd rather open himself up to criticism and ridicule than slight the Saudi Prince and explain later that, as the leader of the most powerful nation in the world, he just can't be seen doing that!

...I hope and pray that the President doesn't treat Cheney, Rumsfeld, Gonzales, et. al. with the same kind of deference, but I'm afraid he does.

|4.25.05 @ 10:25PM|#

.But I think this may speak directly to the kind of leader we have as President. He'd rather open himself up to criticism and ridicule than slight the Saudi Prince and explain later that, as the leader of the most powerful nation in the world, he just can't be seen doing that!

I hate to be in the position of defending Dubya, but given that most of the "criticism and ridicule" seems to be parochial and homophobic, or at lest sophomoric, what kind of leader would he be if he cared more about that than publicly dissing another head of state?

|4.25.05 @ 10:42PM|#

"...but given that most of the "criticism and ridicule" seems to be parochial and homophobic, or at lest sophomoric, what kind of leader would he be if he cared more about that than publicly dissing another head of state?"

If this was Chirac or Blair that he was holding hands with, all the homophobic, sophmoric blather wouldn't matter a bit. But it isn't...

...as pointed out at the top of the thread, this is an:

"...evil dictator who misrules the country that produced 15 of 19 Sept. 11 hijackers, and is the single biggest exporter and financier of Islamic nutbaggery?"

I would also add that there are Americans who think the war was all about oil, that the President is in bed with the Saudis--maybe even has divided loyalties in regards to energy policy, etc. ...That's what I was talking about when I was talking about criticism.

|4.25.05 @ 11:11PM|#

Isn't he the man from Canonball run? I forget what car he drove in there, hmmm...

|4.25.05 @ 11:21PM|#

I'm imagining one of Bushie's staffers walking behind with W's iPod, speakers plugged in, Nancy Griffith crooning...

She walked through spring time, when I was home
Our days were sweet, the nights were warm
Seasons pass, jobs would come, flowers fade, this old
house felt so alone when the work took me away
And when she dies, she says she'll catch some blackbirds wing,
And she will fly away to heaven, come some sweet blue bonnet spring.

Texas is so beautiful. snif!

Kevin

|4.26.05 @ 12:26AM|#

Isn't he the man from Canonball run? I forget what car he drove in there, hmmm...

That was Jamie Farr (everything eventually goes back to M*A*S*H) and he drove a Rolls Royce.

Image here. (May load damn slow.)

|4.26.05 @ 2:27AM|#

and later in the evening the smell of Santorum filled the air...

|4.26.05 @ 8:35AM|#

Its obviously a photo-op (for the benefit of muslims who think Bush may hate them).

They don't think Bush hates them, they just know he's after their oil and money. And they're dumb enough to continue kissing Bush's ass, even though they've actually got the upper hand, but are too dumb to realise it and do something about it.

Free trade with China.. Nuclear weapons, anyone?

|4.26.05 @ 5:13PM|#

The two of them are just planning the next 9/11 I guess.

|4.26.05 @ 8:07PM|#

I'm not looking for jokes

Jesus, with this crew you'll be lucky if you don't get whole scripts for a sitcom out of this.

|4.27.05 @ 9:46AM|#

Now, let's not be mean. Let the man enjoy his man-date.

p-dawg|4.27.05 @ 9:56AM|#

Ted Barlow:

Homer: America, take a good look at your beloved candidates. They're nothing but hideous space reptiles.

Kodos: It's true, we are aliens. But what are you going to do about it? It's a two-party system; you have to vote for one of us.

Man1: He's right, this is a two-party system.

Man2: Well, I believe I'll vote for a third-party candidate.

Kang: Go ahead, throw your vote away. Ahahahahhahahah!

|4.27.05 @ 10:22AM|#

Since wisdom for all life situations is found in-- no, NOT The Simpsons, The Godfather, I can only answer thusly:

"Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer."

I'll put up with Bush holding lovey-dovey hands with the Saurons, I mean Barzinis, I mean Saudis, as long as he keeps knocking off dictatorships around them.

|4.27.05 @ 10:17PM|#

morons of this country not only voted a retard for president, but now it turns out they voted for a gay retard

|4.27.05 @ 10:25PM|#

I don't get it. We kick Saddam's ass and everybody whines like a bunch of babies. Bush holds the hand of a dictator and everbody whines like a bunch of babies. What gives?

|4.29.05 @ 11:12PM|#

Is Abdullah's goatee for real? Damn, it looks like he's wearing a chine toupee. Especially in Matt's "country" photog link.

|4.29.05 @ 11:13PM|#

chine=chin