David Shuster Debunks Media Mania Over Royal "Touch"
By Heather Saturday Apr 04, 2009 4:30am
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David Shuster filling in for Keith Olbermann on Countdown debunks the media and right wing frenzy over whether Michelle Obama inappropriately "touched" the Queen or not. First the iPod idiocracy and now this. He also highlights Michelle Obama's visit to a London girls' school which was very touching. If that doesn't make you a bit teary eyed after watching it, well, I just don't know what to say.
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Had Laura Bush touched the Queen the Queen may have hit her with her pocket book. Doesn't seem am "inappropriate" touch from a Bush is quite as well received
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dfrHT8o-0A&fe...
As far as the ipod faux rage, seems giving a Queen of England an ipod is better than giving Iraq mass death and destruction an America a soaring debt and endless failed wars.
The Queen loves walking. Perhaps she'll enjoy taking her iPod along. She is human, after all.
Have you ever discovered that your kids had snuck into the room while you were watching an R-rated film and only noticed when they started giggling because there was a BOOBY on TV?
Or think about people who rent films or listen to radio shows specifically to see if there's anything in it to be outraged about?
This tendency Republicans have to pick through a 20-minute speech to find a turn of phrase that can be isolated and made, somehow, to seem ridiculous... it's insidious and it needs to be defeated.
"Volcano monitoring"; "cling"; "proud for the first time"; "stuck in Iraq"... they decide that, since it's an opponent, it's fine to simply assume the worst about the intent of the speaker, no matter how disingenuous the accusations might be.
It's the same kind of thing you get with people who choose to be unfair and irrational in an argument, where you're trying to make a point and they leap on an expression or choice of words you've made and the framing of the argument is now totally off.
Like I said, if they're allowed to keep acting like children ("tee hee -- he said he invented the internet!") -- if the media isn't held to treat adults like adults -- then our discourse will remain similarly infantile.
...matter how stupid it is
To sum up, they're f##kin' dorks.
Everytime they open their yaps slap them down with the truth. This is just their code for "uppity".
Ask any conservative that raises this as an issue what they thought of their village idiot massaging the german Chancellor.
Conservatives pundits and loudmouths seem to be completely unaware that at least 70% of the country is completely turned off by their constant harping, negativity, partisanship, lies, and cheerleading for the rich and powerful who are bringing us down.
And they would be silenced and forgotten if the corporate media would stop giving the most outrageous and partisan of them a platform to engage in their propaganda. But no. We have this same circus parade of cretins shoved down our throats daily, hourly. Who gives a flying f**k if Michelle Obama touched the queen? I'm more interested that she touched those little girls in that school, but in the interest of "balance." the conservative harpies have to have their say. When does it end?
that rethugs are far more likely to be paranoid than "liburals" according to the study done last year.
It is in their DNA to think and act with a brain of a 10 year old child.
In my opinion that is a valid reason they do shit like this article points out. However, a 10 year old does grow up. Their brains can change, but it takes teachers who know how to expand the thought process so they will have the tools to see the rethug way does not work.
What a shame more kids are having to forgo college because of the cost and rethugs wanting to pull the plug on education in general. The more dumb you are, the rethug will prevail if not challenged.
Being Republican doesn't necessarily make one paranoid. On the other hand, people who are already paranoid might well find solace and reassurance in the outrageous fear-mongering and bleating victimhood of the Right Wing.
Guess I wasn't aware that the Queen was an "untouchable"......thank goodness we now know differently!!........:)
God forbid we should get any sort of substantive coverage of what was actually accomplished with this visit. Instead we get this "Mean Girls" trash-talking high school nonsense.
When you react to it you validate it.
I inappropriately "touched" the queen once. She merely pulled her skirt back down, said 'That was lovely!" and went on her way. A total class act.
I thought we dispensed with this royalist thing back in 1776. OK, there's protocol, but the Queen touched Michelle FIRST, and Buckingham Palace already has publicly countered any notion that Michelle breached protocol. But Faux will fixate on ANYTHING and spin it negatively when it involves the Obamas (remember "Obama's baby mama"? In fact, Michelle was a hit in Britain.
The GOP must want to go back to the days of kings and queens. After all, Nancy Reagan curtsied to the Queen back when she was First Lady. Now THAT was a REAL no-no. Why does Faux hate democracy?
If the Obama's had been perfectly respectful they would have busted on them for kissing the queen's butt *shudder* and made asinine comments about how we 'overthrew the yoke of tyranny over 200 years ago, blah blah blah...'
they were looking for something anything to throw and see if it sticks.
Who the f*ck cares if Mrs. Obama touched the queen? As far as I am concerned the British Royals deserve less respect than the turd I just flushed this morning. That royal family has already brought enough shame on themselves as to leave them with no recourse but to STFU when it comes to class/protocol/decorum.
whether even the Faux Kool-Aid drinkers sometimes look at their tv screens and think, "this is another phony issue, and it isn't real news." We can only hope.
What a very moving news piece! Those girls at that school could make you weep with joy.
But, oh, how I fear Michele's husband is going to fail at this economy thing. The honeymoon is clearly over, and things ain't about to get better.
Jail all the crooks who were in charge during the past ten years.
Take back all the bailout money and put in an account that will clothe and feed the unemployed for the next twenty years.
but 1961 called - it wants its necktie back.
But that date seems wrong. IIRC, ties were a bit thinner in '61. Not yet "skinny", but on the way there.
At least Obama didn't give the Queen a drunken back rub like Bush did to Germany's Chancellor Merkel.
http://www.lipsticktracez.com/sabina/2008/06/...
Smiling Queen:
http://image.examiner.com/images/blog/wysiwyg...
Certainly the Founding Fathers would never have designed to insult a
reigning British monarch! Oh, no! Kill the King maybe whack off his head and stick it on a pole in a parade, but not insult him, eh stoopids?
I can't believe this was all over the news. This was soooo Mickey Mouse reporting on this touching thing. Does the Queen have a tongue she can use and diffuse this crap?
And they said there was no breach of etiquette. Faux is blowing this out of proportion.
This goes a long way to healing the injury Bush did to your country's image. The Obamas are a class act. I had tears in my eyes watching the thrilled high school girls who were inspired by Michelle.
First Lady Obama had more of an impact on that all girls school then the queen could ever have.
believe it or not the rest of the world does not revolve around the US of A.
I love Michelle obama, but let's be serious OK?
And much as she may wish, the queen of a failed empire doesn't have the world revolving around her either.
It's not a failed empire, they willingly let their former colonies become independent during the 1950's and '60's.
And now England, and particularly Ireland, are major players of the EU. However, the Brits have held onto their pounds and pences and not moved to Euros.
Of course, now that Eastern Europe is rising, that's hurt the Irish somewhat and presumably the English as well.
And to be technical it was the British tabloids that put out the story first, although I found myself wondering if they were the ones owned by rupert murdoch.
Of course many, many people would disagree with you about that. Here's a short excerpt from a book called "The Decline and Fall of the British Empire".
That sounds like what another writer named Paul Kennedy said. He called it Imperial Overreach, and it impacted the Roman Empire as well.
Everything you listed may've been the reason the Brits willingly let go of their colonies. Domestic disturbances and war would end up costing more money than the colonies could produce.
Funny thing about the belief in freedom that would undermine their authority is that monotheist's insistance in one god instead of multiple, and Protestants successfully undermining the authority of the Roman Catholic church in many areas paved the way for atheism.
Afterall if one god is better than the many, and Sola Scriptura/Sola Fide is better than the Magisterium, shouldn't no gods be even better than any at all?
Within the bloom of every new idea lay the seeds of its own destruction.
I don't think the Queen has any such illusion. Americans, on the other hand... Nuff said???
Sat, 04/04/2009 - 09:02 — Imichael
First Lady Obama had more of an impact on that all girls school then the queen could ever have.
__________________________________________________________________
The First Lady tackled them?
Funny thing about touching royals.
According to documentaries I've seen, FDR and King George VI (a fairly young king at the time) were discussing the situation in Europe in private. President Roosevelt noticed the time, touched the king on the knee and said, "Young man, it's time you were in bed." Not only did the king not take offense, he was overheard later asking some of his people, "Why doesn't anyone else talk to me that way?"
Of course the British Royal family at the time pretty much considered FDR as one of them, like a favorite elderly uncle.
There was also something called the King's Touch, off-an-on practice through the centuries. Certain sufferers would come to the king and he would touch them, supposedly affecting a cure. The sufferer even got a special coin for the event. I thought I saw echoes of it when Princess Diana touched this one AID's victim in a hospice, during a period when people weren't sure how it was transmitted.
... Britain, and the rest of Europe, actually LIKE our First Couple. They weren't so enamored with Commander Bunnypants and Pickles.
No frat-boy shoulder rub for Andrea Merkel this time!
Funny thing is the Beatles experienced something of the Royal Touch
(No the nobles didn't want to borrow money.)
Apparently during their last tour in 1966 two things were happening that spooked them away from touring. KKK types in Tennessee and other places were holding rallies decrying the Beatles and having bonfires burning Beatle albums and collectibles. George Harrison told Eric Idle they were finding bullet holes in the sides of their planes. The Japanese had some kind of hoo-haw because the Beatles were invited to perform in a place that was considered sacred.
But what bothered all the Beatles was people bringing out all their sick hoping to get into some kind of contact with the Beatles to effect a cure. It didn't have to be personal, just a shadow, even just a shadow of the car they rode in.
I got side-tracked on researching images of Thomas Potter Cooke as Frankenstein's monster, and I wanted to confirm this before I said it, but the King's Touch was supposedly a curative for scrofula.
I always doubt myself when I recall the name scrofula, because to me it sounds like it should be the name of Count Dracula's dog.
Michelle will get her own teevee show, wedged between Oprah and Dr. Phil on the television schedule.
I was looking for something to watch on TV last evening and the big deal at Fox and CNN is all the horror because Obama said the Americans had been arrogant. Oh my, what a horrible thing for the President to say when he is overseas. I get the feeling the actual arrogance from BuscCo was really just 'sound foreign policy' but Obama's trying to make things better is an OUTRAGE!!
With all the attacks on Michelle it's clear the US Media is still not adjusted to the change. Michelle is the only US First Lady the Queen has ever asked to keep in touch. Was it the touch or just a normal respectful respoonse. With so called Upper Class being so phony the Queen could see Michelle was for real. All this is really hard for some Americans to deal with. The attacks are rooted in history. Some say Blacks aren't as smart of Whites some say just the thought of haveing Obama as President changes our country forever. Well history showed how long it is taking the South to change. We still have the root of hate as we see with some Law Makers who spread the hate. Many didn't know Princess Diana had black relatives until she spoke up about it. As we hear God's name spoken often by those who follow Satan's rule. In a way I know just how afraid some Americans and Law Makers are. As a child I saw the hate in the eyes of fellow Americans and I saw a man hanging from a tree as I traveled to the South. I wondered why and what kind of people would do this, as my GrandMother said Americans did this because they don't want to change.
On the Daily Show, Apr 2, John Oliver had what I thought was the most logical explanation. Being English, he would know. ;-)
far left shallow reporting!
Not a word about her outfit!!!!!!!!!!
E Pleb Neesta
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3b56e0u0EgQ
Are the Americans afraid of the royals? There's always such fear that someone will screw up. I think it's amusing that you care so much. No problem raining down destruction across the globe, and toppling governments, but the whole country bites it's lip and holds its breath when someone meets the Queen.
Normally, one wouldn't touch the Queen, but she is human, and didn't seem to mind. She may have been surprised, but I doubt angry. She probably told the Duke (hubby), "I'll never understand these Americans. Very queer, indeed."
Bush would have been another story. She might have said (very UnQueenly), "Get your grubby mitt off me you asshole." Therein lies the difference.
NOTE: Queer and fag are perfectly good English words, over there.
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