Last year when Barack Obama was in Florida, he engaged in the "man hug" heard around the right wing. Now his body language has caused another needless brouhaha, after an AP photographer caught the POTUS apparently bowing to Pam Iorio, the mayor of Tampa.
The picture was first picked up by two right-wing blogs, Ace of Spades and RedState (the blog that was one of the earliest national supporters of Marco Rubio), which went haywire with it.
"The mayor of Tampa isn't a Third World potentate, totalitarian dictator, or terrorist leader, so I can't understand why Obama would be in full-bow mode. Is bowing now the standard way the President greets people these days? Is he disoriented, for some reason, and thinks Tampa is a terrorist stronghold or an enemy of the United States? Does the US owe Tampa a boatload of money and the bow just good business practice?" wrote a RedState blogger in a particularly bile-filled mood.
Fox News' morning show, Fox and Friends, jumped on it yesterday morning. First they show the video of the "bow," which hardly looks like an actual bow in motion and then have Iorio on to discuss it with the word "A New Low?" on the screen. They never mentioned that Iorio is a democrat, and I'm not sure if they realized, as they tried to get her to bash Obama.
Iorio never acknowledge that it was a full on "bow." Latter when she tries to talk about the reason Obama was in Florida --pledging $1.25b for high speed rail in Florida, an issue that actually deserves some attention-- the hosts decline, and instead ask if she thought that event seemed more like a campaign stop. Iorio didn't take that bait either, and instead praised Obama.
"It's hard for me to believe this is such a major issue," said Iorio. We concur.
