There's a big difference between trying to get a handshake or hello from the President, and asking for his autograph. One I can chalk up to an attempt at facetime...the other seems like a grab for memorabilia.

That said, even if it's happened with past Presidents, I still think it's inappropriate.

LOL, no, sorry, that's a very generous reporting of the "clarification". It was a totally misleading, made-up representation of his place and role in the intial rescue efforts. And a really, really stupid move for him and his team. Who the crap is advising the Republicans these days? For the love of god!

I've been in the gallery for a SotU before and they do "rush the aisle", Repubs and Dems alike, regardless of what President of what party is walking down the aisle. It's a funny sight, especially from above.

Wait . . . someone is advising the Republicans? I figured they were making it up as they went along!

It's not the handshake part that I find ridiculous, it's the "lining up for hours" part.

I found the actual quote; it's from the New York Times live blog of the speech:

I feel like this is a blind item! Are we talking about President Bush or the Jonas Brothers here?


ETA: I agree with you on it being inappropriate, obviously, but I just want to point out that the "celebrit-ization" of politicians is hardly a phenomenon that just came along with Obama. And given his historical position, I don't find it surprising that people, especially those in politics, want his autograph--but I think they should be able to restrain themselves. It's hard to put your faith in lawmakers who act like hysterical Miley Cyrus fans.

Can he sell his autograph - to help the budget?

His point didn't seem to be about his participation to me when I recently watched a clip. He seems to be stressing that government solutions to problems are sometimes more of a hindrance than a help, which as long as the story involving Lee and the boats is accurate and I haven't seen any claims that it isn't, Jindal's direct participation is kind of incidental.

Sure, it would have been more accurate to say, "a few days after Katrina I heard a story from Sheriff Lee about bureaucrats limiting the rescue. Sheriff Lee said that a few days before. . . " but when Jindal heard about it seems pretty unimportant to the overall point to me.

Durrr fuck my life.

How insipid.

Yes. Clearly this is the first time this has happened. Thank God we had all those snipers in Sarajevo to protect Hilary.

And she got called on it. That's my point.

So what? Members of Congress are human too. They aren't cold, lifeless, stiff people who don't have any emotion. I can only imagine that many of them would like to receive an autograph from the first AA president.

Besides, I'm sure there have been members of Congress in the past who have asked for autographs from sitting presidents. It's what people do when they meet someone famous.


I have to admit I don't understand why people are so upset or concerned about his celebrity status. Whether people treat him like a rock star or not has nothing to do with his ability to serve as president.

I just started singing Pink.

So what? I'm still a rockstar.....

:p

I don't know, it feels like a pretty sound breach of decorum to me - in any professional context in which I've met a celebrity, it would have been wildly inappropriate of me to ask for an autograph, particularly when "on the job." It's not about being "cold and lifeless" - it's about not being a dipshit when you're wearing a suit.

Agreed - there are certain positions and professions where you have to put aside some "normal" human reactions, and to me being a member of Congress is one of those places.

When you're a member of Congress, you may get into a situation where you have to run up against the President and his/her policies. It could be something as simple as overriding a veto, or it could be something as serious as an impeachment proceeding. Either way, I think it's the job of the Congressperson to make sure that there is nothing in their actions that would allude to any bias or favoritism in those situations.

If I knew that a sitting Congressperson had asked for the President's autograph, to me, it would bring up red flags.

Why wouldn't they just sit in their normal assigned seating?