Now I'm going to echo Richard's comments from a few days ago. Aren't there more important things to talk about than President Obama's bow to the Emperor of Japan? The buzz of criticism was as predictable as it is ridiculous.
In Japan, everybody bows to everybody. Meet your neighbor on the street: you both bow. It's their custom -- and a rather nice one, I think, having lived there for 3 years. Of course, there are intricate hierarchical rules about who bows first and deepest, and how many times. But it's also simply a gesture of respect for the other person.
But FOXNews this morning tried to make news -- playing a clip of the bow and then a clip of the XVP from some years ago, standing tall and straight as he shook hands with the same emperor. No kowtowing for the XVP, no sir. Gotta show 'em who's the alpha dog.
Chris Wallace asked the panel what they made of "Bow-gate." To be sure, they were laughing to indicate that this wasn't serious news. But, YUK. Who needs it? (OK, so why am I amplifying such a waste of time?)
Bill Crystal, never one to miss promoting his gal-pal Sarah Palin, chirped, "Sarah Palin wouldn't have bowed. She wouldn't even have curtsied."
And then fellow commentator and XVP daughter, Liz Cheney, piped up: "You could also look at the comparison and think 'Cheney 2012.'" Everyone took her to mean Dick Cheney and went off in gales of ooohs and aahhs. I'm not so sure. Maybe she meant Liz Cheney.
I seriously expect her to run for office at some point. And I think she may be more dangerous to our country than Sarah Palin, a caricature who fires up their right wing base and attracts attention but who demonstrably does not have the knowledge or the interest to become informed. Is their party suicial enough to nominate her? Maybe. Let's hope so. I do not believe that 51% of voters would risk giving her the red phone at 3 am.
On the other hand, Liz is smart and mean, and she has the connections.
Ralph
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