The Honey-I'm-Home Kiss. George W. Bush kisses wife Laura so much in public that every kiss looks familiar. This kiss says "we're married and have been for a while." Oh, yeah, and what's for dinner, dear?
Posted on 12/01/2003 4:48:02 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
In politics, there are many kinds of kissers.
There are baby kissers who smoochie-oochie wee ones in exchange, they hope, for their parents' votes. There are butt kissers who move their lips but aren't exactly puckering up. Then there are the serial kissers who lock lips with spouses (or mothers) at inaugurations, on birthdays, anniversaries and election days, after concession speeches and on the stairs of private jets. To them, every event is a kissing op.
President George W. Bush's kisser is always in overdrive. If it's not wife Laura he's bussing, it's mother Barbara, or Oprah Winfrey, or a lobbyist, or a legislator, the top of a bald guy's head, somebody else's mother, a grieving kid, a tired firefighter, etc., etc.
Al and Tipper Gore's long, slow, deep, wet kiss that seemed to last three days during the 2000 Democratic convention set the gold standard for political kisses. Gore's campaign gained momentum in the days after The Kiss. The heat of passion melted his icy image in a way no debate could, and supporters of the newly virile Gore wore campaign buttons that captured the moment.
Maybe he should have saved his moves for Katherine Harris.
"What do you do to top that?" asks Tampa political consultant Wayne Garcia. "What kind of sexual activity will we see next?"
Indeed, since the Gores' public display of affection, no political kiss has titillated us the same way. Certainly not Arnold Schwarzenegger's polite peck with wife Maria Shriver at his inauguration as California governor. For sure not Sen. Bob Graham's open-mouth grope of wife Adele after he announced in early November he would not seek re-election.
Garcia doesn't see the kiss as a political tactic "that has a lot of legs," but he does think we are seeing more kissing. Or at least more pictures of kissing politicians.
"It might give them dimensionality beyond the headlines," he says. "If it's something that's natural, it might help." That said, Garcia has never discussed kissing as a plan of action with a candidate.
The public kiss between politicians and spouses has always been there, he says, but we never paid much attention until Gorelock. Now it's okay to be passionate, he says.
Make love, not war?
All this talk of smooching sent us to the Associated Press photo archives for a Peeping Tom tour of political kisses. We found that a kiss is not just a kiss. Sometimes it's just plain gross.
The Honey-I'm-Home Kiss. George W. Bush kisses wife Laura so much in public that every kiss looks familiar. This kiss says "we're married and have been for a while." Oh, yeah, and what's for dinner, dear?
The Sucking-the-Air-from-the-Room Kiss. Elizabeth and Bob Dole were totally into each other the night she won a U.S. Senate seat in 2002, but the smashed noses look painful. Closed eyes, tight squeeze, good effort. Thank heavens for Viagra.
he What's-Up-With-This-Kiss? Kiss. Is Sen. Bob Graham talking to or kissing wife Adele? Is she worried about her lipstick and is that the Star Trek "Live Long and Prosper" sign she's laying on Graham's face? This is the kind of photo that makes mere mortals glad they aren't celebrities. An awkward moment captured for eternity. Ewwww.
The Get-a-Room Kiss. Al Gore said the message sent when he took Tipper in his arms at the 2000 Democratic convention was for her and her alone. And she got it, loud and clear, she said later. Months after, they poked fun at themselves and the kiss on Saturday Night Live.
The Beak-to-Beak Kiss. Maybe the allegations of sexual misconduct cooled the public ardor of Arnold Schwarzenegger and wife Maria Shriver. This peck at his inauguration as California governor on Nov. 17 couldn't look more prim. Not really what you'd expect from a barbarian bad boy.
The Oh-the-Humanity Kiss. Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter are famously in love, but he looks like he's thinking more about his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech than kissing in this 2002 photo. Jupiter may be aligned with Mars, but their lips are way off.
The Long-Kiss-Goodbye Kiss. Embattled California Gov. Gray Davis grazes the cheek of wife Sharon on the last day of his antirecall campaign. The corners of their lips meet but not much else. Her downturned mouth doesn't show much pleasure. Neither did voters.
The Man's-Best-Friend Kiss. This wasn't the most interesting kiss of the Clinton presidency, but it was the one caught on film. First dog Buddy gets a lip-smacker from President Bill Clinton in 1999. What we really wanted to see was a Kiss-and-Don't-Tell Kiss with Monica Lewinsky.
I think that it's only fair to note that, like so many other Clinton associates, Buddy is now dead. Connect those dots, baby!
Darn right! I've seen so many photos of dreadful expressions the last few days ... politicians "do" Thanksgiving ... and I'm so grateful that nobody is taking pictures of me all day, making sure to catch me looking awful!
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