MORE: I think Brian Williams' bow might tend to have at least partially answered M. Simon's question.
AND MORE: Ed Morrissey asks a question to which he does not want the answer:
If Williams bowed, what would Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews do to wish the President a good night? On second thought, I don't want to know.
I know. But I won't tell.
MORE: A comment below, offers an opinion, plus some advice:
"it's a nod, not a bow, do try to learn the difference before you die"
I don't think this looks like a nod, but a bow:
I can't speak for anyone else, but when I nod, I nod with my head, and I do not bend my shoulders or look down as Williams did.
I think it looks like a bow.
posted by Eric on 06.03.09 at 11:59 AM
Comments
Wow, two guys nod their heads respectfully to each other (yes, it's a nod, not a bow, do try to learn the difference before you die), and you're blithering about "kowtowing?" Nice to know you're concentrating on those important developments the rest of us sheeple miss in our small-minded obsession with the economy, two wars, a Supreme Court appointment, etc.
Raging Bee · June 3, 2009 12:24 PM
Welcome back, Raging Bee! It's been a long time. (With all my blithering, it's so easy to forget the important things in life...)
What Williams did is the super-secret Muslim Islamofascist Black Power Bow N' Secret Masonic (Negro Division) Handshake.
These kinds of things mean SO MUCH. It's not like people are imagining and fantasizing about the implications about how Williams greeted President Obama. No, not at all. All those wild flights of imagination are like, totally, grounded in reality.
GALT LIVES!
LipstickBedeckedPigs · June 3, 2009 5:27 PM
What a mess Williams made of this. He extended his hand first; etiquette demands that the higher-status person do that, if he or she decides it's appropriate. (Military etiquette is different, of course. But a handshake isn't a salute, either.) He bowed (yes, it was a bow; not a full-body one, but certainly more of a bow than Americans usually make to one another) to the President, who in himself is only a citizen; this wasn't a diplomatic meeting in which Mr. Obama represented his nation, so the bow - as if to a sovereign - was overdone. I'd say Williams was just unsure as heck about how to show respect to the President, since this is a president he likes.
Naturally I could be wrong; if Williams bows this way to everyone he doesn't know well but still shakes hands with, then he's just got a social tic that he could consider working on.
The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler
Don?t bang your head!
Wow, two guys nod their heads respectfully to each other (yes, it's a nod, not a bow, do try to learn the difference before you die), and you're blithering about "kowtowing?" Nice to know you're concentrating on those important developments the rest of us sheeple miss in our small-minded obsession with the economy, two wars, a Supreme Court appointment, etc.