Denys,

From your second link:

"While the Mendozas relaxed at the gathering, they looked up and saw
president Clinton walking into the crowd and attempting to shake hands with
people there. As the president walked up to Mrs. Mendoza and pushed his hand
towards her, she was repulsed and became angry.
"Mrs. Mendoza did not feel it was appropriate for the president of the
United States to impose himself on her and she had no intention of shaking
his hand. Further, Mrs. Mendoza was upset over last month's bombing deaths
of 19 U.S. airmen in Saudi Arabia. The president grasped her hand and she
protested with words of protest: 'You suck, and those boys died!'
"Mrs. Mendoza has said the president looked her in the eyes, then motioned
to an assistant and pointed her out, as he continued on past her through the
crowd attempting to get photos of people shaking hands with him."

I enjoyed the calm, even tone and righteous indignation with which the
oppression of these citizens' civil rights was recounted.

When I need to relax, I, personally, always make it a point to be in the
area of the president of the United States and his Secret Service entourage
and press corp.  There is simply no better way to find a "relaxing place"
than to track the movements of that bringer of calm, the U.S. President.  As
such, the number of times I have been startled by the unannounced presence
of, and accosted by, the President in his never ending attempts to shake my
hand, is difficult to judge.  He's somewhat like that pet who shows interest
only in the one person NOT trying to feed him a snack.  So, again, I can
completely understand this woman's shaken reaction to the interruptive
treatment and complete disregard for personal space which that man rains
down on every, single person unfortunate enough to be within two hundred
feet of him.

Fortunately for Mrs. Mendoza, she was self-assured and quick-minded, and was
able to verbalize her desire not to shake hands with the President who was
obviously taking full advantage of an opportunity to stop a U.S. Citizen's
pursuit of happiness in the form of "relaxing" (possibly in a lawn chair) at
some gathering of like minded individuals.  Yes, she immediately spoke up
and said "I do not want to shake your hand" or at least, something like it.

The very next sentence in the article even made the point about the
President and his handshaking fetish: that after looking longingly into Mrs.
Mendoza's eyes, obviously wishing he had her courage of conviction and
strength of character, he motioned for one of his many blue dress wearing
assistants to rush to his side, and made note of the remarkable woman.
After that, he moved past her through the crowd, a crowd which was
attempting to take pictures of him shaking hands with others.  Many is the
day I wished I had a picture of a politician shaking someone else's hand.

Anyway, thank you for such an enlightening quote.  It made my Monday morning
so much more than it had been.

Rs~
Russ Smith
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Denys Beauchemin" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, November 07, 2003 2:17 PM
Subject: Re: [HP3000-L] OT: Freedom/Free Speach/Democracy in the US of A


> http://members.aol.com/basfawlty/shake_bc.htm
>
> http://www.dailyrepublican.com/clintoninsulted.html
>
>
> Denys

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