Date: July 27, 2006 8:49:25 AM PDT
Subject: [ctrl] Bush's Massage-Gate
SPIEGEL ONLINE - July 27, 2006, 04:02 PM
Bush's Massage-Gate
Rubbing the Chancellor's Neck and Getting an Earful
Von Friederike Freiburg and Daryl Lindsey
That infamous neck massage: Was it sexual harrassment or just really bad
protocol? The recent gesture of affection George W. Bush gave Angela
Merkel has stirred up a heated debate in the United States.
The scene was brief but striking: At last week's G-8 summit in St.
Petersburg, United States President George W. Bush stepped behind German
Chancellor Angela Merkel, reached for her shoulders, gave her a brief
massage and then kept walking. Visibly startled and uncomfortable, Angela
Merkel threw up her arms. A moment to be remembered, it seems: Within
hours, links to photographs and video footage of the surprise neck grab
were already racing across the Internet -- from YouTube to Technorati.
"Bush: Love-Attack on Merkel!" read the headline in the German tabloid
Bild. Several Web sites denounced commander in chief Bush as the "Groper
in Chief."
Though the neck rub happened nearly two weeks ago, Bush is still feeling
the rub today. A vocal debate is brewing in several US newspapers and
blogs about whether the president has simply made a minor faux pas or
whether he may even have sexually harassed his colleague. "You could use
this video for sexual harassment training," Democratic Party activist
Martha Whetsone told the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper. "It's
something you'd show and say: 'No one in a boss' position should be doing
that.'"
PHOTO GALLERY: MASSAGE-GATE
Click on a picture to launch the image gallery (9 Photos).
The Seattle-Post-Intelligencer even researched United Nations diplomatic
guidelines on sexual harassment to see if Bush's behavior was kosher. It
wasn't. "Unwelcome behavior is the critical word," according to a UN
diplomatic handbook. "Neck massage" appears halfway down on a list of
objectionable actions cited in the guidelines. "Ewwww. We're embarrassed
again," the paper wrote, adding that what Bush did wasn't just
inappropriate -- it was inadmissible behavior at the workplace.
Bush did, however, find support in some quarters -- namely Fox News,
where political analyst Karen Hanretty argued that the president just
can't win, no matter what he does. Commenting on outraged feminists in
the US, Hanretty asked: "Aren't these the same women who have been angry
about cowboy diplomacy? Do they want a kinder, more sensitive Bush -- or
a cowboy? Once again, there's no pleasing these women."
The debate in the media has been far more civilized than the tenor in
blogs, where hundreds have taken the president to task for "Massage-
Gate". "Shouldn't Merkel file sexual harassment charges against Bush?"
asked one blogger, "Uncle Dave," adding that Merkel certainly didn't seem
to want to be touched. "There have been plenty of court cases over less,"
the blogger wrote. "Bush has got to have a screw loose somewhere to pull
this kind of bullshit." "
"Our president, the drive-by-harasser"
"Our president, the drive-by-harasser," wrote outraged blogger Lindsay
Beyerstein. "Like any practiced groper, Bush stares right past Merkel as
she recoils from his touch," Beyerstein wrote in her blog. She also
complained that by walking on after Merkel raised her arms, he was acting
is if the episode had been "her problem." Blogger Greg Tinti summarized
the event in an entry under the header "Gropergate."
Beyond the press and blogosphere, Bush's antics have also angered women's
rights activists and political analysts alike.
"He behaves like a frat boy," said Olga Vives, vice president of the
National Organization for Women (NOW). "This is definitely crossing the
line." Vives said she believes that Bush would never have treated a male
colleague in the same way. "Was he flirting with her, not treating her
like an equal?" she asked. "Of course he was." The president is setting a
bad example and damaging the reputation of the US with his behavior,
Vives argued. Bush's demeanor, she said, "reflects a man who is
insensitive to women. I'm personally embarrassed by the behavior of the
president of the United States."
Oddly, people in Germany have been largely indifferent to "Massage-Gate"
and there have been few signs of indignation here. And those pesky
accusations of "sexual harassment" are nowhere to be found. Most
commentators here seem more inclined to view Bush's miscue as a simple
and classic case of bad manners.
So why have reactions in Europe and the US been so radically different?
"Feminism is now mainstream in America," said Larry Sabato, a political
science professor at the University of Virginia. "In an effort to avoid
sexual harassment, we've also ruled out any genuine, non-sexual human
gestures that involve physical contact." Sabato said he only meets with
students of both genders in spacious rooms with the door and blinds open,
"so that anyone can pass by and see what is taking place." In the US,
Sabato said, Bush's behavior might even be subject to a lawsuit. "Those
are the facts in 2006 AD," he said.
"Grimace and bear it"
Should Angela Merkel have behaved differently than she did? Should she
have run away screaming? Should she have made light of the matter or
slapped the president on the wrist? Hardly. "I'm sure she didn't want to
humiliate him, but you don't give her many options," Janette Gitler, a
Marin County-based media and strategic planning consultant told the San
Francisco Chronicle. Of course, "There is always the Merkel option,"
columnist Joan Vennochi noted in the International Herald Tribune. "Just
grimace and bear it."
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And what does Merkel herself have to say? She's keeping quiet. A
government spokeswoman contacted by SPIEGEL ONLINE said chancellor did
not want to comment on the issue, and that the debate was obviously an
American, not a German one.
"Gropergate" might even help Merkel achieve renewed popularity in
Germany. A commentator writing in Sunday edition of Germany's
conservative daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung expressed sympathy for
Merkel. "Then, after a brief moment of deliberation, Bush lowered his
head with determination, like a ram, and placed his paws around Merkel's
neck from behind, startling her, making her cringe and raise her hands --
profoundly horrified and defenseless to such an extent that we
immediately felt lasting sympathy for her."
© SPIEGEL ONLINE 2006
All Rights Reserved
Reproduction only allowed with the permission of SPIEGELnet GmbH
More about this issue:
Related internet links:
Greg Tintis "Grabsch-Gate"
Blog von Majikthise
"Dvorac Uncensored" zu Bushs Massage
Alamaine, IVe
Grand Forks, ND, US of A
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"All are lunatics, but he who can analyze his delusion is called a
philosopher." - Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914)
Don't ask about caste or riches but instead ask about conduct. Look
at the flames of a fire. Where do they come from? From a piece of
wood"and it doesn't matter what wood. In the same way, a wise
person can come from wood of any sort. It is through firmness and
restraint and a sense of truth that one becomes noble, not through
caste. -Sutta Nipata
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