President Winks, Brits Blanch

The British tabloids have a touch of the vapors over the fact that President Bush dared wink at their monarch:

When you've just made it sound like the Queen is more than 200 years old, there may be a few ways of recovering from the gaffe.

But turning to her and giving her a sly wink is probably not included in any book of royal etiquette.

That's what happened yesterday after George Bush mangled his greeting to the Queen on her state visit to the U.S.

Stumbling over his words, he came perilously close to suggesting that the monarch had toured the States in 1776.

And although the President's following wink was initially rewarded with a regal glare, the Queen did at least seem to see the funny side of the blunder.

After the blunder the President paused and turned to the Queen to acknowledge his gaffe, joking that she "gave me a look that only a mother could give a child."

Ripples of laughter echoed around those gathered at the event and the President laughed off the mistake and continued his speech.

Hey Brits - she's your queen, not ours. You're the ones with the Oedipus complex involving an 81 year old woman. America has managed to mature as a nation beyond the need to worship an old lady and her dysfunctional family.

I thought Bush handed the gaffe pretty well, and if the Brits have had their sense of humor bred out of them, that's not our problem.