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June 30, 2006

But It's Just a Simple Kiss...

Everyone loves a kiss, and even more, everyone loves a good gossipy story about a kiss. This week has brought us a couple of good ones.

The first is one that made my eyes about pop out of my head. Russian Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, for no apparent reason, stopped on the street, lifted the shirt of a 5-year-old boy, and kissed him on the tummy. The boy was startled, but not nearly as much as the rest of the world, as the incident was captured by television cameras. Yesterday, the Russian blogosphere was buzzing, and the top keyword search for the day was "Putin kissed a boy."

Another controversial kiss occurred at last week's Heritage Foundation forum featuring, of all things, a discussion of whether the TV show "24" is realistic. The featured speaker was Michael Chertoff, special guests included Justice Clarence Thomas, and the panel discussion, hosted by Rush Limbaugh, included the very Republican co-creators of the show, as well as the actors who played CTU agents Tony Almeida (Carlos Bernard) and Chloe O'Brian (Mary Lynn Rajskub). When Rush introduced "Chloe," he bent over and planted a big kiss on her lips, sparking the rumor that the two were dating. If true, then hopefully his weekend visit to the Dominican Republic put an end to it. In any case, on Rush's website a photograph of the kiss is subtitled, comically, "Chloe plants one on Rush." Of course, this display of manly confidence with a younger woman occurred before he lost his Viagra.

Back in February, President Bush put Sen. Joe Lieberman in hot water when he kissed the Senator on the cheek. The jokes still continue.

Bush put himself in hot water some time ago when he was captured on film holding hands and kissing Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah as the two strolled through a garden.

Why the controversy about all this kissing? It's really pretty simple. A kiss implies a certain level of intimacy. It seems a kiss is not "just" a kiss.

Posted by Becky at June 30, 2006 08:56 AM