Why is Schumer touching Rangel's face?

Caption: Eliot Spitzer, New York's governor-elect, middle, met with Representative Charles Rangel, right, and Senator Charles Schumer, at a breakfast with the New York congressional delegation."

I'm sure professional politicians like Charlie Rangel deal with this sort of thing all the time. Still, Chuck Schumer appears way out of line. Who touches their colleagues like that?

HT: Gothamist.

Comments

[The Phantom]

Nah. They go way back, are in a good mood after the election, and are playing around. I'd imagine Schumer was fooling around about Rangel's new haircut or whatever.

[Lindsay Beyerstein]

I didn't realize they were longtime personal friends. In that case, it makes sense.

[Hugo]

I do touch my friends -- those I know well -- in a very similar way. I always like seeing physical affection between Anerican men.

[Lindsay Beyerstein]

I guess I'm filtering public face-touching through some very personal preconceptions.

If they're personal friends, it's a totally different thing.

[Tom W.]

Lindsay, they go back 30 years....Rangel is a political father figure in some ways for Schumer, the master of local Dem politics whose shoes he's following in. There's a lot of affection there, I think.

[John Lucid]

They're all smiling and laughing because now that the Democrats control Congress they can pass legislation to mandate abortion, ban religion, take away guns, remove feeding tubes, and burn all flags. And order all citizens to gay marry.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I now give you Mr. and Mr. Rangel-Schumer. You may kiss the husband." The Honorable Eliot Spitzer presiding.

[1984 Was Not a Shopping List]

I also found it simply cameraderie, which I'm happy to see; although I wanted to add a caption: "capisce?"

[Neil the Ethical Werewolf]

I thought the tongue sticking out was sort of weird. But in any case, I'm happy to see those three goofing around together, since I'd heard that Schumer and Spitzer didn't like each other very much.

[Mino]

You never know. It could be that Schumer is a racist asshole, like that wedding photographer from a while back.

[The Phantom]

Mino

Yeah, I'm sure that everyone's a racist asshole, with the exception of you of course.

[Craig Johnson]

"Boundaries"
Years ago, as a psycho-sociological experiment, a Southern Mediterranean Jew and a Stockholm Swede were put in an empty room and filmed through a one-way window.
As they conversed, they went round and round and round in a counter clockwise motion akin to a dance.
It seems that Southern Med Jews, when conversing, get close and look directly into the eyes of the person with whom they speak.
The Swede keeps a largish distance and does not look 90 degrees direct at his fellow conversant. So the Swede continually back pedals and turns slightly sideways while Our Med chap chases him: hence the dance.
How the viewer sees and feels about Chuck touching Charlie bespeaks the viewers boundaries.
Dance anyone?

[soullite]

You don't have to be a racist to have personal boundry issues. Some people like to touch other people. Even friends of the same gender. I'm a guy, and people have still touched me in a manner that seemed overly friendly. Some people just seem to need to turn conversation into a tactual experience. But these guys are from the same state, and have likely known each-other for a long time. A hand on the cheek is more a sign of affection than it is a sign of superiority.

If he had given chuck Rengel a peanut and patted his head, then I think the time would come to be pretty pissed.

[The Phantom]

Swedes keep a big distance because of guilty conscience about treatment of Norwegians in 19th Century, incl sale of tainted fiskeboller in logging camps outside of Tromso.

[norbizness]

Perhaps you didn't hear Rep. Rangel say: "Chuck! Check out the shave I got with the power of four blades from the Schick Quatro!"

[rob helpy-chlak]

The federal legislature itself is a pretty touchy feely group. I heard an anthropologist on NPR who studies corporate culture discuss the implicit rules for touching in the house and senate, and then narrate a video of some congressional interaction. Pretty much all touching was ok, but women had to initiate any touching between men and women, and the woman would also set the level of touching.

Listening to the anthropologist narrate the congressional interaction was a hoot. I was really expecting her to say that the senators had started to pick lice from each other’s hair. There was also a spontaneous male/male backrub, which made wonder if I’d really feel comfortable working in that environment.

I was tempted to mention this when Bush tried to give Markle a rubdown but (1) Bush was never in the federal legislature and (2) he violated the federal legislature’s rules, too.

[Republic of of Palau]

Whereas we English have a personal boundary of about 300 yards. Our immediate vicinity plus a couple of blocks around is about right.

And that's if we like you.

[Njorl]

Despite my screen-name, I am not a Swede, but I do have personal space issues. I like to keep at least at arms length.

I actually went through the "Swede/mediterranian Jew" dance once, but it was Italians, not Jews. A friend I graduated with was a 2nd generation Italian, and the first in his family to get a degree. They had a big party to celebrate, and I was invited. One after another, middle aged Italian men, each about a foot shorter than me, chased me with stories about how hard it was in the old country as I casually shifted my weight to my back foot over and over. Eventually, one backed me into a corner, grabbed my arm and started punctuating every sentence with a finger into my chest. I panicked, grabbed him by the shoulders and held him at arms length. He didn't even slow down, but at least the finger poking was stopping a foot short.

[The Phantom]

"I am not a Swede"-Njorl, 2006

"I am not a crook"- Nixon, 1973?

But on the bright side, I'm about to get my Joe Lieberman victory brews. DJA, you still in? Six pm at the Raccoon Lodge?

[Magnus Malmborn]

Phantom, do you have any citations for that? It's definitely one of those things you are not told in school.

For full disclosure, I am a Swede, and yes, I have done that dance on occasions. Never with a Mediterranean Jew though.

And about that tongue: I bet his lips were just dry. Cameras have an uncanny tendency to freeze those fleeting moments no one notices, and make them seem bizarre and grotesque. I have a sequence of pictures I shot of my laughing grandfather, and in every frame it looks as if he's crying.

[The Phantom]

--Phantom, do you have any citations for that? It's definitely one of those things you are not told in school.--

Not handy, but I believe I've heard it on audiotape. I believe he said it at a press conference in the Watergate meltdown days

Off to Raccoon Lodge

[Magnus Malmborn]

I'll rephrase it: Do you have any citations about the Swedes distancing being a result of guilty conscience about treatment of Norwegians in 19th Century?

Please answer, or I'll hunt you down and force feed you lutefisk! (Ha! As if, I'm keeping it for myself ;) )

[Steve]

Who knows what Charlie did just before the pic was snapped. Who knows what their interpersonal collegiality entails. Besides, senators outrank reps, and a little semi-gay congressional cheek-pinching or fanny-patting never hurt anybody. Live a little.

[Molly, NYC]

I don't know what exactly happened in this particular photo. But I've seen Congressman Rangel work a room a few times, and if he's got personal space issues, I missed 'em--he shakes hands, hugs supporters, kisses the ladies, all that. This photo seems in line with that, even if the touching's going the other way.

[1984 Was Not a Shopping List]

Laughing at Njorl's story.

I had a class in small-group communication in junior college, and as an experiment, the teacher said, "OK--everyone pick a partner. Place your desks five feet away from each other, and converse." We did. "OK, now three feet away." We did. "OK, now get one foot away from each other and converse." "Now six inches." By the time I was six inches away from the poor guy--and I think he was Scandinavian--I thought he was going to have a heart attack. Nervous, shaking, stammering--it was a trip.

[1984 Was Not a Shopping List]

>By the time I was six inches away from the poor guy--

From my fellow student, that is, not the teacher directing us.