CNN has corrected a bogus story the network's Rick Sanchez pathetically aired Wednesday about leaders at last Saturday's G20 meeting snubbing President Bush as if he had "cooties."
For those that missed it, Sanchez played a video (embedded below the fold) of Bush seemingly being ignored by most of the leaders of the free world as they lined up to take a group picture:
I want you to look at this video, all right. It seems almost sad. Look at this. This is the president of the United States walking out on stage to take a picture with world leaders invited to the G20 summit over the weekend. Look at him. And he seems like the most unpopular kid in high school that nobody liked -- you know, the one with the cooties?
Actually, what seems sad, Rick, is that as your colleague Jeanne Moos reported Friday, you didn't know what you were talking about (video embedded right, h/t Hot Air via NBer R D Helms):
JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the story of the snub that wasn't. Take one unpopular American president hosting a summit. Surround him with world leaders shaking hands with everyone but him. Next thing you know it's the diss heard around the blogosphere, link back to CNN.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: I want you to look at this video, all right? It seems almost sad.
MOOS: "The Daily Show" played it. It's the show closing moment of Zen. The White House probably wasn't feeling so Zen when it heard interpretations like this.
VOICE OF SANCHEZ: And he seems like the most unpopular kid in high school that nobody liked. You know, the one with cooties.
MOOS: Cooties? You can't shrug off cooties.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: How are you doing?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you very much.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning.
BUSH: How are you doing?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm fine. Thank you.
MOOS: It turns out the president had already shaken everybody's hand earlier that same day. In fact, he had shaken most of their hands twice starting the day before. Responding to the where's the love perceived snub, the White House noted the president had already greeted all of those leaders prior to this picture, whereas the other leaders had not had the opportunity to greet each other yet that morning.
(on camera): When it comes to diplomatic protocol there is one unshakeable rule, shake hands no matter how much you like or dislike a leader, unless you're outright enemies.
(voice-over): The snub that wasn't occurred as the leaders were lining up for a group photo. They took the picture and they had to turn around and do it again, because Argentina's first female president arrived late. Oops. Take two.
Despite the snubber-in-chief talk, there was plenty of back slapping and patting at the summit. As for likening the president to --
SANCHEZ: The one with the cooties
MOOS: Tell that to Italy's prime minister. He and President Bush palled around like a couple of old coots.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
Kudos to Moos for exposing her colleague as the boob we all know him to be. However, it would be nice if all the leftwing websites that gleefully posted Sanchez's report (video embedded below) -- including the Huffington Post -- would publish a retraction.
Don't hold your breath.
