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Buckingham Palace goes all-out for Obama state dinner

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But the president suffered a momentary lapse, pausing to ask for spelling help as he wrote a message in the abbey’s distinguished visitors’ book. Then he dated his note May 24, 2008. He wasn’t even president then.

Critics used this type of lapse to portray President Bush as an idiot. I wonder if they will try to portray President Obama in the same manner.

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Critics used this type of lapse to portray President Bush as an idiot. I wonder if they will try to portray President Obama in the same manner.

Is getting a date wrong once in the same league as repeatedly failing to produce grammatical sentences, falling off an unfall-offable segway and being unable to remain sitting on a sofa while simultaneously eating a pretzel?

Moderator: Back on topic please.

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B-Prezzy lookin good in the tuxedo.

Too bad when the Queen asks "So, what have you been doing for the last two years?"

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and a short meeting with newlyweds Prince William and Kate Middleton.

... poor newlyweds, whatever happened to a nice quiet honeymoon? I mean seriously did they have to drag them out for this dog and pony show?

pausing to ask for spelling help as he wrote a message in the abbey’s distinguished visitors’ book. Then he dated his note May 24, 2008.

He just sounds exhausted to me, this has been an insanely busy couple of months for him.

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Love the sound of that menu - mmmmm...lamb..... I like how this article is written - some nice details of the visit.

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Thats my President right there!!!! Hoorah!! Dinner with the Queen. He IS THE MAN!! I'm so proud of Barack Obama. For 8 years I was embarrassed to say George Bush was POTUS. Geez, all the pain and suffering. In my lifetime, that was easily the worst President I've ever seen. Made me leave the country.

Now we have an intelligent President, an American, a Nobel Peace prize winner, a hero, a President for the people of the United States who have long felt forgotten in their own country.

I want to say thanks to Britain for showing their absolute best to Obama. The U.S and The U.K should have a strong relationship. We are competitive with each other at times (World Cup) but there's no doubting our common heritage and values.

Long live The Queen!!

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Yeah, I agree that having dinner with Bush should be something of a nightmare. Obama at least behaves like a gentleman.

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I think getting the date wrong was due to extreme nervousness. He probably tried to look calm and collected but his heart was probably going a mile a minute. After all, Americans aren't exactly used to hobnobbing with royalty.

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It's kind of funny to witness all this. There's a saying "When you hate somebody, even something that is perfectly round look distorted and out of shape. When you love somebody, even the things that are distorted and out of shape look perfectly round." The Bush hating and the Obama's boots licking is a perfect example.

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The queen is said to be quite fond of the Obamas, having first met them in London in 2009. A palace official said the she was closely involved and interested in the planning of this state visit, a grand event that only happens about twice a year for a world leader of the queen’s choosing.

This natural chemistry is interesting. The first meeting was broadcast to the world and we all saw how they all smiled as if it were a family reunion or something. I think the Obamas probably felt they were meeting their own mom (or mum) again.

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Personally being English I would say Bush would be much more fun at dinner than Obama. At least he is likely to tell some jokes and be relaxed. Obama would be dull and worried about not being rude.

The gifts were a bit lame also. At least when African nations give gifts that normally have gold and precious jewels attached. A bunch of old photo's is like exchanging details on Facebook.

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British used to send African slaves to their colonies in the Americas, then, a black American is having dinner with the crown. Who could have thought that 250 years ago? It would even more ironic if he was of slave descendants.

More than that, treat the British well. They partially own the Fed.

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The menu, printed in French on dainty white cards, included sole, Windsor lamb with basil, green bean panache and Charlotte a la Vanille for dessert. Wines include Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos 2004 and Royal Vintage Port from 1963.

What a horrible menu. Everyone will probably go out afterwards and get some fish and chips.

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Appears to be typical English food. Boring.

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" The president, dressed in white-tie tuxedo, said in a toast that the relationship “never rests.” "

He completely flubbed the toast. I see the establishment media dutifully omits that.

But Obama was only off by three years when adding the date to his comment and and signature in the guestbook.

A performance worthy of GW Bush - or Joe Biden !

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Great Article,

Quite the slog to get through it all. Glad to see instead of throwing in President Obama's little "oopsie" in the guestbook thing, A.P made sure it was the very last paragraph. I'm just sure if it was President Bush it would have placed by A.P at the very bottom of a highly and very nice visit between our two countries heads of state.

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"What a horrible menu. Everyone will probably go out afterwards and get some fish & chips."

Ha ha ha!

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He IS THE MAN!! I'm so proud of Barack Obama. For 8 years I was embarrassed to say George Bush was POTUS. Geez, all the pain and suffering. In my lifetime, that was easily the worst President I've ever seen. Made me leave the country.

At least "W" didn't flub the toast with the queen like Obama did.

I want to say thanks to Britain for showing their absolute best to Obama. The U.S and The U.K should have a strong relationship. We are competitive with each other at times (World Cup) but there's no doubting our common heritage and values.

Let me see, Obama sent back a bust of Churchill when he came into office. So much for endearing friendship. Also, Britian has decided to pull troops out of Irag and Afg. I guess it is their right, but I seem to remember back before the US entry into WW2 how we supplied Britian through Lend Lease (which was actually illegal)to keep Britian in the fight. So that special trust and friendship is not there it seems.

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Why in french? Last time I checked they speak English in England.

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At least "W" didn't flub the toast with the queen like Obama did.

But Obama didn't choke on a scone and keel over the way "W" did on a pretzel, or vomit up on his hosts the way W's dad did.

Obama sent back a bust of Churchill when he came into office. So much for endearing friendship.

That is something that Glenn Beck told and it was proven to be a total lie. The bust of Churchill was on temporary loan from the British and the time had come to return it. I simply don't understand why conservatives can no longer discern the truth from total falsehoods.

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why conservatives can no longer discern the truth from total falsehoods.

Why don't you start yourself by looking at your own statment:

or vomit up on his hosts the way W's dad did.

Bush 41 was sick. Though it was bad timing to throw up on the Japan PM, and he did look silly doing it, he didn't look like a "doofus" like "O" did.

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Why don't you start yourself by looking at your own statment [sic]:

The truth is that Bush 41 did vomit up over his hosts. I would say that is a breach of protocol a bit more serious than contending with a band which started to play during a simple toast. But that last statement is an opinion, just as who looked like a "doofus" on the world stage.

The real, gross falsehood is the claim that President Obama sent back a bust of Churchill for reasons that were contrary to the aims of "endearing friendship." The truth is that the bust was lent to the United States and it was time to properly return it.

It takes a person of character to admit when they are completely wrong about something. I have not doubt whatsoever that President Obama has that quality of character. The same is not true, however, about his conservative detractors who have to concoct and repeat pure fabrications like returning a Churchill bust in order to project the worst about him.

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It takes a person of character to admit when they are completely wrong about something. I have not doubt whatsoever that President Obama has that quality of character.

@yabits: I am waiting for you to show me the link where Obama admits his faux pas with the Queen. I believe if you search for the Bush 41 apology you will find it.

This is not the first time Obama and his administration has made a fauz pas. Remember the little gaffe Hillary made when trying to make fun of the previous administration with the "restart" button with the Russians, and they told her on the spot that was the wrong word to use.

Still haven't seen the supposedly most "transparent" administration come up with any apolgy.

One more for the road, if Obama has real character, why set up a new position in his staff to counter any negative press. Negative press not so much from the right as much but that coming from the left.

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This is not the first time Obama and his administration has made a fauz [sic] pas....

I don't see how any of that justifies telling a falsehood about President Obama returning a bust of Churchill, suggesting it was done contrary to furthering the aims of friendship between England and the US.

If President Obama's opponents think he's so bad that they have to resort to telling lies about him, it reflects that much worse on his opponents. The problem with telling obvious falsehoods is that it leads to telling more out of desperation. We're seeing all too much of this kind of behavior from the Republicans.

if Obama has real character

He obviously has more character than those who spread obvious and purposeful wrong statements to attack him.

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I watched in amazement some of the vids from Buckingham Palace as our supposedly literary genius of a president flubbed a simple toast he had to read from index cards!

He makes me embarrassed to be American.

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Obama: "That's my desk!"

It's not his desk, it's the desk he's using until 2013, er, 2017.

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The truth is that the bust was lent to the United States and it was time to properly return it.

@yabits: Looking at a Telegraph article (and not Glenn Beck):

*...enjoyed pride of place in the Oval Office during President Bush's tenure.

But when British officials offered to let Mr Obama to hang onto the bust for a further four years, the White House said: "Thanks, but no thanks." *

So I guess all the comments you seem to be making about Obama wanting to keep our special relationship with Britian are just double talk.

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But when British officials offered to let Mr Obama to hang onto the bust for a further four years,

So the truth is that the bust was due for return. The team of President Obama decided to return it, according to schedule, and replace it with a bust of Abraham Lincoln.

So I guess all the comments you seem to be making about Obama wanting to keep our special relationship with Britian are just double talk.

If the special relationship requires keeping a bust that was loaned and was due for return should turn sour because the party returned it on schedule, it wasn't much of a relationship. The Obama-haters are using double-talk to try to create an issue where none exists.

Remember the little gaffe Hillary made when trying to make fun of the previous administration with the "restart" button with the Russians, and they told her on the spot that was the wrong word to use.

You got that one completely wrong too, since Hillary doesn't speak Russian. The gift to Hillary's Russian counterpart caused a gaffe by the Russian translator -- who translated "reset" as "overcharge." Both Hillary and the Russian Foreign Minister laughed and agreed that "reset" was the correct term.

Like blaming President Obama for continuing his toast when the orchestra mistakenly started early and castigating him for nothing more than returning a loaned item according to schedule, blaming Hillary for not being fluent in Russian shows the extremes the Obama-haters are willing to go to disregard the truth in the service of their hatred.

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Much ado about nothing. I'm not a supporter, but who gives a flying rat's backside if The President flubbed a toast, wrote a wrong date, if George choked on a Pretzel - whatever. Presidents are not infallible but rather normal human beings - given an awesome responsibility yes - but subject to a harmless misstep like the rest of us. I hang on the right, but calling him on it seems rather petty and childish. Best not to stoop to the level of former President's detractors.

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Recesssion ? 10 percent unemployment? Record number of foreclosures? Michelle Obama in a 2000 dollar evening dress will make the plebes forget all about it. I guess that is the reasoning. I sure as heck can't see why Obama's handlers let her indulge herself the way she does.

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