Crazy Town Handshake: Secret or Bush Secretly Mormon
June 5th, 2008So I got an email from a reader who happens to work in media. She mentioned a photo that was on the Associated Press website showing President G. W. Bush shaking hands with Mormon President Thomas Monson when the President was in Utah last week. It looks like Bush is working some mojo on the handshake.
I decided nothing of it, figuring either Bush was being a nutburger or perhaps playing a practical joke. I showed the photo to Heather and that lead me down the internet rat hole of searching and seeing what people were saying, if anything.
The photo:
Photo by Eric Draper.
source:
The White House website.
Which lead me to this post on freerepublic.com. The comments are priceless. Logic abounds.
The local ABC affiliate ran a story that features the handshake. Click the video link in the sidebar for quotes from the remaining 20% in the U.S. who still think the President is doing a great job.
Story of the President’s visit to Utah in the Salt Lake Tribune here. The Mormon-owned paper ran a story as well. It is here.
Forum post showing non-Mormon handshakes between Bush and other people where he’s not all jiggy up in the forearm area.
I normally wouldn’t devote such a great deal of time on a post like this, but I’m kind of wondering if maybe Bush wasn’t taking the mick? It kind of looks like Monson is giving it back to him, so maybe it’s more like Bush is all “How you like me NOW, huh?” and then Monson is all “Really? Back atcha, cap’n evangelical.”
Religious leaders and heads of state can be so cute sometimes. o
Tags: church and state, lds, mormon, mormon temple, secret handshake, tin foil hat
-
This entry is filed under utah. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You may leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed. Please read the Terms of Service before leaving a response.
June 5th, 2008 at 9:14 am
I haven’t read all the links your provided so this might have already been covered. Isn’t GW a Mason? I cannot remember but I think he is. I have known a few men who are members of the Masons and LDS. Oddly the Masons handshake is the same as the handshake you were referring to. I’m an ex-mo but some things I believe to be sacred and won’t get into detail about.
Anyway, I always found it odd that the same handshake is used by the Masons. Hmmmmmm……..
June 5th, 2008 at 9:18 am
Maybe it’s a Crip or Blood handshake. It’s gotta be a gang thing. I’m sure that Bush followed it up by rapping, “Got my mind on my money and my money on my mind.”
June 5th, 2008 at 9:41 am
Wouldn’t surprise me at all if Bush was a hardcore mo. Notice their eye contact too - there’s something going on there.
June 5th, 2008 at 10:04 am
I would just like to mention? Thomas S. Monson got OLD in the years since I was a Mormon kid watching General Conference on the giant 1980s satellite dish at my local meetinghouse.
June 5th, 2008 at 10:20 am
that handshake is a pretty common sorority/fraternity/secret organization shake. like sarah, i wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a masonic thing.
June 5th, 2008 at 10:26 am
I don’t believe that is a mansonic handshake but i agree with sarah and danielle… there is soemthing fishy about it.
June 5th, 2008 at 10:28 am
I love conspiracy theories…probably why I’m addicted to LOST. Anyway, this is really intriguing and some of those comments on the freerepublic website are just nuts! I only made it through the first 50 before seeing there was another 100 to go and the clicked off. Anyway, the one thing I have to say, though, is that it’s really hard to discern things from a single frame captured by a camera. Who knows what preceded or followed that split second.
Devil’s advocate position aside, I think it totally looks like a secret handshake. Side note…I think I was taught a similar handshake in high school that was to signify you’d give a guy a BJ…could it be a variant of that one?
June 5th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Maybe W. just shock his hand like that because he wants to, or maybe it is a secret handshake, between two guys. I have a handshakes for different people, does not mean a thing except brother hood.
June 5th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Nthing the Masonic handshake theory
June 5th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
I’m not a Bush backer, so I don’t really like what I’m about to say (in that it’s in their defense), but the handshake with the pointer finger going up the wrist is used on older folks a lot, I recently learned. No joking, as it’s meant to stabalize the hand in case they have arthritis or some other joint/tendon problem. It keeps the hand from shaking all over the place like a fish out of water.
There, I said it. The first and last time I’ll mention this Bush with any sense of positivity included.
I would much prefer that this came out as some sort of demonic handshake among old white guys who love to screw their countries. Ahhhhh…much better.
June 5th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
I have a genuine distrust of white men in suits, over the age of 50. Is it any wonder? But then you see the secret handshakes and you just have to marvel at the silliness of it all.
June 5th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
Bush looks like he’s a smart ass and President Monson looks like he’s got a switch out back in case Bush gets out of line. I think President Monson looks the same as ever, but then I could barely tell the difference between Kimball and Benson. I’ll probably get struck down for this but I think President Monson looks a bit like Danny Devito as The Penguin in Batman.
June 5th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
WUT????
June 5th, 2008 at 10:20 pm
Bush: What is wanted?
Monson: Tommy, being good and faithful wishes to speak to the President.
Bush: What is that?
Monson: Crazy Masonic, Mormon handshake.
Bush: Hmmph, Can it haz a name?
Monson: It can haz.
Bush: What is it?
Monson: I’ll tell you through the when the photographers go home.
June 5th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
My question: Are their pinkies interlocked?
If so, I think Bush just got endowed.
June 5th, 2008 at 11:40 pm
As a Mason AND Mormon, i can tell you that we do NOT have THAT handshake in Masonry. And no, I’m not just sayin’!
Bush is not a Mason either, but did become a member of Skull & Bones in 1968 when attending Yale.
To be honest, I’m pissed that Monson meets with ANY political leader in an election year, esp. given the constant, ‘we don’t tell people how to vote’ spiel.
The one thing to notice in the pic is that a certain other aspect of said handshake is missing, as you can see Monson’s other fingers grouped together.
What troubles me more is that head-like tumor growing out of Monson’s neck….eww. i’d get that looked at if that was me.
@dmx
June 6th, 2008 at 6:16 am
Saw this, this morning, linked from fark.com: The Etymology of Human Male Non-Verbal Communications. Too bad they didn’t include the aforementioned “Secret Handshake”.
June 6th, 2008 at 7:46 am
LMAO Wow. Personally, I think it just looks like a fumble…hands land in the wrong place and it’s easier to just let it go.
June 6th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
cap’n evangelical! I’m laughing so hard. I will now write that across Shrubya’s face, silkscreen the image across many t-shirts, and sell it at hipster craft fairs. Jon, I’ll give you half the proceeds.
June 6th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
Does he have two fingers stuck up that guy’s shirt sleeve?! I knew he was a big irritating cowboy…but this is like a layer of weirdness sponge-painted on top of that.
June 6th, 2008 at 6:46 pm
Jon.. is the Mormon Prez supposed to resemble the “bad guy” from HBO’s Big Love? Their likeness is amazing!
June 7th, 2008 at 11:08 am
Dude is correct about having to change up hand position when you shake a lot of hands. I’ve read that the queen of England and many others who have to shake for hours just get a totally painful hand, especially from people who want to show what a firm grip they have. Or maybe he’s holding M&M’s in his palm. Or maybe taking the geezer’s pulse; the guy looks way way old.
June 9th, 2008 at 10:00 am
WOW!! i am shocked at some of these comments. I think its fine for you to not like mormons or W, but come on! some just went a little too far. perhaps i am thin skinned