Did He Or Didn’t He?

Despite the mainstream media’s discreet silence, word has gotten out that President Obama bowed to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, in violation of traditional rules of protocol. So the White House felt constrained to deny the report:

The White House is denying that the president bowed to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia at a G-20 meeting in London, a scene that drew criticism on the right and praise from some Arab outlets.

“It wasn’t a bow. He grasped his hand with two hands, and he’s taller than King Abdullah,” said an Obama aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Here is a video of the incident; you be the judge:

It certainly looks like a bow to me. Here is a screen shot from the video:

Bow881.jpg

How big a deal is this? I don’t think it’s huge by any means, and a large majority of voters will never learn of it. But the fact that the White House feels constrained to deny–falsely, I think it’s pretty clear–that the bow took place suggests that the administration thinks it would be hurt if the story got out.

UPDATE: I can’t believe that, having been schooled by Paul in the Marx Brothers, I missed the post title that Glenn Reynolds supplied: Who you going to believe, us or your lying eyes?

THE LAST WORD: Scrappleface has the latest explanation from the White House: it was an “attempted head butt.”

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