Sunday, August 10, 2008

Kissing Politicians


Ted Kennedy never kissed Joe Biden, as far as I know.
Reid probably never kissed Gore.
We all know Leahy never kissed Cheney!
Men shake hands or, sometimes, embrace.....
Yet, whenever men greet Hillary or Nancy or Elizabeth or any other female senator or congresswoman on a dais or platform or meeting or campaign appearance, most every male politician kisses them.

Is that equality? Is it right? Does it bug you? I'd really like to know!
z

32 comments:

Anonymous said...

It doesn't bug me. I don't think it has anything to do with equality. it's just a nice greeting and fairly customary between people who know each other.

Actually, it's gone from a kiss on the hand to a kiss on the cheek. I think it's nice.

But then, I come from a long line of huggers and kissers.

Pris

Anonymous said...

I just always think about where these people have been and the germs, especially if I see a cold sore lurking around someone's mouth..yuck.

Me...I am not into being kissed and hugged by just any old person. But that is me.

I think a lot of this is to me, very phoney and put on..you know like""oooh..kiss kiss..smacking at air."

The stuff some plastic Hollywood types do.
WVDOTTR

(((Thought Criminal))) said...

Smells French.

Mike said...

It should only be a handshake (or the ever-so-common handshake/hug combo) for everyone.

MathewK said...

No big deal to me.

Anonymous said...

At least it's not like dogs with a lot of derrier sniffing...

Oh wait, men ARE dogs!

Beth said...

Kissing to me is reserved for a more personal relationship, and I don't think people in politics necessarily fit that bill. So for me it's all for the perception of others and not out of true affection or friendship, so it is weird!

Anonymous said...

The occasional slap in the face might be more appropriate–––certainly more sincere–––when dealing with the likes of Pelosi, Boxer and Hillawitch.


However, in general I agree most with Pris.


In parts of Europe it was the rule for men to kiss each other on both cheeks in rapid succession. I wonder if that is still the case?


Just remember this sage advice from Anita Loos:


"A kiss on the hand might be quite continental, but DIAMONDS are a GIRL'S BEST FRIEND."


~ FreeThinke who is suffering from lumbago. OUCH!

Cliff said...

Sounds to me like Washington is going more and more Hollywood all the time with the kisses. It's more like being a guest on a talk show.

The only one I'm allowed to kiss is my wife, social or otherwise.

Anonymous said...

PS: A dry, antiseptic peck on the cheek is not in the same league with smooching, which should only our between intimates–––or at least under cover of darkness. LOL!


~ FT

Anonymous said...

And Grorge Cloonly is kissing up to Barack Obama
Or are they each kissing each others back sides?

heidianne jackson said...

thanks ft - you just dredged up all those old memories of the tipper/al kiss fest all those years ago. sheesh! just when i thought i was done with the therapy over that one!

btw, i do agree with you and think a handshake or handshake/pat on the back should suffice for all. i typically hug all my friends when i see them - no matter how often that is...

Z said...

When Harry Reid shakes Biden's hand and then Pelosi and he reach toward each other to kiss, it always strikes me as weird. And I'm SO not a feminist (except in equal pay for equal work)...
You never see a female CEO and male CFO of companies KISS before a meeting.....it just isn't done; it's not professional. (Sure, there are exceptions, but not many)


Slightly off topic: The Left seems screwed up re: gender,in my opinion...Pelosi, the day she took the gavel, held her arms up like Popeye, remember? ..flexing them as if she were now a man! I covered my eyes and said to myself "There goes equality down the drain..she's ALL ABOUT "I am woman, hear me ROAR!"
She, who is all over feminism and women's rights, achieves quite an accomplishment and then relegates herself to showing the world SHE IS NOW A MAN WITH MUSCLES?
Can't a woman do a job without showing muscles, metaphorically or real!?

How much better would it have been had she not stressed being 'the FIRST WOMAN', so strongly. This is where the Left also loses it. They fight for equality and "everybody's the same" until a woman achieves something, then they have to hold it over everyone...if it just 'happened' with fanfare for the position and not for the sex of the one taking that position, wouldn't that have sent a fantastic message? like 'it's normal..she's smart, he's smart, but she won. done"

Sort of like if Obama hadn't played the race card so early in his campaign? WHY can't it just be the AMERICAN CANDIDATE? WHY did he make it the BLACK CANDIDATE??

Sort of like how it's the Dems who are constantly eager to out gay politicians, etc...think about it. it's THEY who bemoan "no equal rights" and then are the ones outing men who didn't want outing and have every right to stay where they are!!

We're so full of labels and phony posturing and being about WHO we are instead of WHAT we are...sad.

Kissing by politicians seems unprofessional and, while I LOVE that a woman can do just as good a job as a man in most positions, I think a hand shake in politics or business sends a better message about competence and abilities and professionalism.

but, that's just me, I see some disagree. ... i hope to get more opinions. and thanks to everyone who weighed in.

Ducky's here said...

It's a social convention. No big deal really.

I don't see that it belittles women.

Ducky's here said...

"...it's THEY who bemoan "no equal rights" and then are the ones outing men who didn't want outing and have every right to stay where they are!!"

Examples please. The whole "outing" phenomenon is pretty controversial and something that is contained in gay circles.

Folks like Larry "He's Queer" Craig(R - In the Closet) outed themselves cruising airport bathrooms.

Z said...

"Belittling women"? No, Ducky, I don't think so, either. It just seems odd to me, that's all.

Pelosi belittled women when she acted so stupidly when she first got the gavel, in my opinion.

The men and women politicians kissing aren't belittling anybody...and I don't HATE the idea, it's just struck me as strange lately....that's all.

WomanHonorThyself said...

hey youre sooooooooooooooo right Z!..why didnt I think o this!
muuahh! heh

Bloviating Zeppelin said...

Male, female, it's immaterial: handshakes only.

BZ

Z said...

Ducky:

http://www.rense.com/general56/gay.htm

http://archive.redstate.com/stories/archived/democrat_blackmails_united_states_senator

http://www.mail-archive.com/ctrl@listserv.aol.com/msg122335.html

http://www.washblade.com/2005/7-22/news/national/outed.cfm

http://www.gophypocrites.com/2007/09/hyp07036.html

http://richmonddemocrat.blogspot.com/2007/09/are-more-gay-gop-scandals-about-to.html

there are more......check it out.

Of course, when the Dems say it's wrong for Republican gays to vote against gay causes, that 'gay cause' is the marriage amendment, which NONE of my gay friends are for, either.

Why can't the left understand that gays can also have traditional values and celebrate their own unions without having to be married?

Do you know that the first batch of gays San Francisco married about 2 years ago are having a hell of a time getting DIVORCED and there are MANY who are applying for divorce now and stuck in an ugly unprecedented situation? Sorry the media's not mentioning that anywhere but California. They married for agenda not for love. and now it's biting them in the rear.

Z said...

I agree with Z - this kissing thing is highly unprofessional and should be reserved to private life. In companies it is basically not done, certainly not in the ones I have led.
Mr.Z

Gayle said...

It's a kiss on the cheek instead of the old-fashioned kissing of a lady's hand, although I think it would be far more charming and dignified to bring the old hand-kissing tradition back. The kissing on the cheek appears so phony. It reminds me of those snob women who greet each other with "Oh dahhling! How beautiful you look! MMMMMWAHHH!" and smack the air. Both are equally insincere. If you are going to be insincere and kiss my cheek in public I would rather you kiss my hand. That way I can wipe the back of my hand off on my butt even with the cameras trained on me. :)

Brooke said...

I thought it was customary for polys to slobber all over each other! LOL!

I guess if the women can still wear dresses, then the smootchies will continue.

Personally, I prefer the handshake. The only man-breath I want to smell is my hubby's.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Mr. Z.

It is unprofessional ... and completely unnecessary.

heidianne jackson said...

z, you bring up an important point when you say "fight for equality and "everybody's the same" until a woman achieves something, then they have to hold it over everyone..."

this of course ONLY applies if the woman making the accomplishment is a liberal. even if the conservative woman in question is black.

try this - go to google and search for "condoleeza first black female secretary of state" and it returns about 281,000 results. many of these are government links and ugliness from the left. very few are from actual msm sources.

now google "pelosi first female speaker of the house" and you get a return of about 842,000. eight of the first ten are msm sources.

seems that the only women worthy of praise for breaking through the glass ceiling are liberal women. sheesh.

Trekkie4Ever said...

I have never been a witness to this type of behavior.

Since we are not in the Victorian age or living in France, Italy or Spain, I would think a handshake would be more appropiate.

Just my opinion.

Karen Townsend said...

For business, a handshake for either gender. That'll keep HR out of the situation. In today's real world, HR drills the PC don't do anything that'll be construed as sexual mantra into all employees.

In personal life, I'm a hugger.

Anonymous said...

Hey long time no see. Hope you and yours are well Z. Geez this looks like "Kissin Cousins!"

All I have to say about this is, "YUK!"

Be blessed!

~Layla

Anonymous said...

How about making a hard and fast rule that either EVERYONE must kiss EVERYONE ELSE, whether male or female, or NO ONE should kiss ANYONE?


A Five-Thousand-Dollar Fine for the first offense automatically doubled at at each repetition SHOULD insure compliance.


Now just imagine President Bush kissing Vice President Cheney and then senators Leahy, Schumer, Biden, Kerry, etc. in front of the TV cameras.


I hope to heaven you're laughing your head off by now–––you are, aren't you?

~ FreeThinke

Z said...

FT...actually, there are photos of Lieberman kissing other male politicians, but that's really not my point!

I don't even know any of this has struck me as odd, but it always has!

Anonymous said...

Perhaps a little bit fake, z. But actually it bugs me a whole lot more when I see male politicians in the Middle East kissing one another on the lips. Now that's really gross!

Anonymous said...

Sooner or later we all have to come to terms with these indisputable truths:


1. Fashions change.


2. "Normal" varies with the history, traditions, mythology, lore and natural inclinations of each individual society on earth.


3. When it comes to human customs, behavior and mores, there is not and never will be ONE SIZE that fits ALL.


To put it another way. Square pegs do not fit into round holes and vice versa.


STREWTH!


If this were not so, why do you suppose there are so many different languages and gradations and dialects within those languages?


FreeThinke

The WordSmith from Nantucket said...

I agree with Pris in the first comment.

Furthermore, if we were Russian, neither would we be shocked if the male politicians greeted each other with a kiss.

It's just a customary gesture of greeting. Nothing more.

Me, personally, I like saying hi or giving hugs, and leaving it at that. I don't like shaking hands, because- I don't care how highly I may think of you- I just don't know where that hand's been....