Thursday, May 26, 2011

Etiquette fail!

35 comments:

Pedro the Ignorant said...

Obama-oaf.

Zardoz said...

He's painful to watch. What should have been a simple toast is now another glaring example of how tone-deaf our Dear Leader can be. He's an embarrassment to all of us.

Aren't there any adults willing to sit down and try to talk some sense to him? Oh, besides Bibi...

Merilyn said...

Umm perhaps he didn't hear the music?

cav said...

Gee I haven't seen a Mr Vice do such a job that badly...

With apologies to you non Army types

kae said...

"Queen humiliates President Obama", I think that's an incorrect title for the video.

Obama embarrassed himself.

I wonder if he begins to chow down when the US National Anthem is sung? Or takes a slurp of his drink as a toast? If he does I'm sure that the White House will be going to rack and ruin!

Carpe Jugulum said...

Geez what a lightweight, what does he do for an encore. fart during the national anthem?

However, it's good to see the shallow end of the gene pool doing ok.

Anonymous said...

His own National Anthem means as much to him as that of his hosts...he and his are arrogant cocksure elitist snobs who think little if anything of that outside their tiny little world. Respect for others is not in their makeup.

I wondered myself - does he know that God Save The Queen IS her National Anthem, that SHE is the Queen being referenced? I wouldn't lay bets on anyone in that circle knowing...or caring.

kae said...

PrairieCat
I thought the same thing about it being God Save The Queen, and he is in the presence of The Queen.

We'd call them arrogant, cocksure, elitist nobs.


(i'm sure the nobs bit comes from "nobodies")

1735099 said...

Interesting discussion on respect......
"I wouldn't lay bets on anyone in that circle knowing...or caring".
If you're referring to British royalty - not this little white duck, that's for sure.
Read some Irish history - the potato famine (an Gorta Mór) - delivered courtesy of British indifference and disregard killed about one million of my forebears and forced another million to emigrate. It was genocide by another name.
I have no respect for British (actually German) monarchy.
As for Obama - he got OBL - remember?
:-)

Minicapt said...

If you can't teach, you qualify as headmaster, apparently. No, '1-5 Boy', that's not a summary of the Irish Famine, although you apparently claim a family association. And Obama was handed OBL on a platter, but a spud peeler would have difficulty cogitating on that theme. And, unlike some of us, Phil the Greek has been under effective enemy fire.

Cheers

Caz said...

I love your new blog skin, looks great.

(Now I know where all those bees went.)

Richard Sharpe said...

Yep, an event nearly 300 years ago is certainly justification for ignorance and rudeness from one head of state to another. This is just another manifestation of 17's Irish Catholic prejudices. Somehow Elizabeth II is not worthy of the respect due a head of state because of 17's ethnic grudge dating back to 1740. For a so called "progressive", he invests an awful lot of energy living in the past without actually reaping the benefit of hindsight.

1735099 said...

A progressive American President fluffs his lines - shock; horror.
An indifferent British monarchy turns a blind eye to the suffering and deaths of over a million Irish - a fine example of a twisted historical perspective.
Grow up - if you weren't so pathetic you'd be funny.
Hey Minicapt, I'm still waiting for you to tell me when and where you were under "effective enemy fire".

Skeeter said...

It certainly appears as much more than a fluffing of lines.
Just after he started talking, the Queen glanced down at his notes, no doubt to see how long he was going to be talking over the top of her song. I'm convinced that the POTUS did not recognise that annoying background music as the national anthem of the USA's oldest and closest ally.
Well, not until he looked up from his written speech and noticed that everyone else in the room was standing to attention with un-raised glasses. At that moment, the controlled change of expression that distorted his face said it all.

On Tuesday May 24, Paco linked to Allahpundit's where this video had been posted earlier the same day. There, the video played under the ABC (US) logo. Since then it has been played under the banners of the UK Telegraph and here at Kae's under the BBC's.
I watched the video being played on ABC (Oz) and some of our commercial channels, but in all cases the early part of the footage had been edited out.

Did anyone see the the whole of the Great Gaffesby's embarrassing performance broadcast on Oz TV news?

Imagine what the Australian media would have done with it if it had been President Bush "fluffing his lines" like that.

Anonymous said...

Numbers Boy, I was referring to the Current Occupant and His Band of Weasels. I don't think that was unclear. Then again, it didn't exactly fit the agenda for what you wanted to say, did it.

1735099 said...

Oh yes - The Anthem.
George V changed 'Frustrate their popish tricks' into 'Frustrate their knavish tricks', no doubt because he considered it offensive to Catholics.
To this day, no Catholic can be King or Queen.
That’s a trifle more offensive to the millions of Catholics in the Commonwealth than anything shown here.
Again, it clearly highlights your warped perspective.
The current occupant, as you call him, was elected by a democratic process. The Queen, on the other hand is there by accident of birth.

Anonymous said...

"is there by accident of birth"
as are you unfortunately

Skeeter said...

Cav: Mr Vice...that takes me back to the 1950s.
I doubt that any serving officer, no matter how junior, would stuff up a Royal Toast so badly.
In any case, this classic attributed to the Rev Spooner would take some beating:
And now, let us glaze our arses to the queer old dean.

BTW What is Mr Vice called in these unisex days if the officer is a female?

Richard Sharpe said...

Skeeter - These days a Mr Vice can be Ms Vice, the role is the same. I've no doubt that should Obama have served as an officer in his youth instead of "community organising", he'd have been the subbies friend. A name given to the subaltern (and there is always one) with the unique gift of always saying the wrong thing, at the wrong time, to the wrong person. In so doing, they ensure that the rest of the subbies keep their weekend for themselves by filling all of the adjutant's requirements for a duty officer.

Richard Sharpe said...

17 etc, your personal antipathy to the House of Windsor is spectacularly irrelevant to this discussion. Obama's rudeness and ignorance had absolutely zero to do with either the potato famine or the Act of Succession. Despite an army of aides and advisors, he kept talking during his host nation's anthem. Epic fail. All the red herrings you can throw at this will not change it. I thought that it was your lot who pride themselves on cultural awareness?

1735099 said...

Two things are irrelevant - the first is this meme, promoted as a distraction by the ratbag Right because of the favourable reception a progressive President is getting in Europe.
The second is the British monarchy. As for Godsave - even more irrelevant.
As a kid, the words we used to sing in the chorus were "Who needs a Queen?"
I also used to sing these words in the ranks, as did many of my colleagues.

It's still apt.

Merilyn said...

The "rat-bag right" eh numbers, and of course the Left don't have any "rat-bags" right?

Richard Sharpe said...

It's hardly astonishing that Obama is getting a positive reaction in Western Europe, a region actively pursuing a strategy of self-abasement. What is surprising is how even in a soft-core environment he still manages to make a dick of himself.

Again, your personal antipathy to the House of Windsor is irrelevant and frankly boring now. The demonstration of prepubescent wit only reinforces that perception.

1735099 said...

I can't think of anything more childish and boring than kowtowing to some sweet old dear with a diamond-encrusted teapot on her head.....

Richard Sharpe said...

How about a crusty old Hitler Youth alumni with a folded napkin on his head?

1735099 said...

How about a Grandson with a weakness for Nazi regalia....?
On second thoughts - forget it - it's been done - Prince Harry - 2005.

Skeeter said...

Kae, looks like AB is reading your blog. He included the full footage of the toasting on this morning's Bolt Report and included a comment about how differently the media would have treated it if Bush had done it.

Richard S, thanks for that update. As a 21-y-o Pilot Officer and very much like your classic subbie, I spent an anxious year waiting to be promoted out of Mr Vice territory.
Fortunately for me and my fellow officers, I was never chosen.

Richard Sharpe said...

This is why you should never argue with an idiot, they drag you down to their level and beat you with experience. Before this degenerates to nyah nyah poopypants, I will return to the original point. Obama was a guest at a dinner with another head of state (regardless of whether that head of state personally caused the potato famine and subsequent Irish diaspora, or was only eligible for the job as head of the Anglican Church by not being Catholic). At that dinner he demonstrated a vapid ignorance of how to behave in that setting. It should also be noted that this was not in an environment significantly culturally different to his own. He didn't fluff his lines, he just wouldn't shut his yap. I guess the teleprompter didn't say "pause and wait for music to finish".

Pedro the Ignorant said...

Back to the original comment; Obama - oaf.

RebeccaH said...

Obama is an embarrassment to America, there's no two ways about it. He has no clue about protocol when visiting heads of state, and apparently, neither do any of those other Chicago boors he's surrounded himself with. He thinks showing respect is bowing until his nose touches his shoetips, and that's only for dictators and communists. Heads of democratic states get thrown under the bus, or they get iPods... filled with his speeches.

As for the troll here, 17something is it? I recognize you from Blair's old blog (yes, I have that kind of memory). All that blather about the Irish Troubles, etc. is just hogwash. You really couldn't care less, because you have a reputation for seizing on any particular article as an excuse for posting argumentative claptrap to start a fight. But you know what?

That is so 1990s.

1735099 said...

When the history of the recent US presidency is written, Barack Obama will be ranked with John Kennedy as a man who changed the world for the better.
It's instructive that this kind of trivial personal criticism is the best that the loony Right can muster, and an indication that (whilst they don't have the courage to say it) they believe he is unworthy of the office because of his African-American heritage.
He has plenty in common with Kennedy (a Catholic of Irish heritage, by the way) in the way he operates in his role of Commander-in-Chief.
Kennedy was criticised for weakness in his handling of the Cuban missile crisis when he overruled General Curtis LeMay who wanted direct military intervention. Obama has had similar criticism for weakness and sacked General Stanley McChrystal,
over differences on Afghanistan policy.
Both had to struggle with the military industrial establishment and both prevailed.
And the Right are greatly dismayed..... Suck it up.

Richard Sharpe said...

Wow! There's your first relevant comment on this thread. I'm so excited that I won't even argue with you. Good for you!

Merilyn said...

Well I'll be damned, no one I have read here or on other blogs has ever bought up the fact that Obama is African-American, except you Numbers.
He has been critised for his actions as a President, other times he has been praised, but at no time has anyone bought up that fact.
So the conclusion is that it must worry you.

Minicapt said...

1-5 Boy was a Spud Peeler; relevant but ignorant. Your exposition @ 7:42 above maintains your record and qualifies as "not even wrong".

Cheers

1735099 said...

Hey Minicapt - still waiting:)