If you were to look at Drudge's homepage yesterday, it would look like the student wearing the T-shirt that says: "Please don't ruin my graduation. Support '09 Commencement" is opposed to President Obama speaking at Notre Dame today.

Nope:

Students hold signs, wear shirts denouncing protest methods

"I want to put out positive, supportive message instead of these gory images," Baldridge said. "Our graduation shouldn't be a soapbox."

Seniors Matt Degnan and Sawyer Negro stood at Notre Dame Ave. and Angela Blvd. Friday with about 10 other students and faculty members in shirts designed by Degnan that said "Obama? Fine by me" and "Please don't ruin my graduation. Support '09 Commencement."

Drudge is really scraping the bottom of the barrel. Well, I guess he always has.

Der Spiegel: (h/t Barbara)

The US is not happy about Germany going international with its hunt for the CIA agents responsible for kidnapping Khaled el-Masri. American diplomats vented their anger in meetings with German government officials.

The case of Khaled el-Masri has managed to drive a wedge between Washington and Berlin. The German investigation into what exactly happened to the German citizen Khaled el-Masri, and who was responsible, is becoming an increasingly prickly thorn in the side of Germany-US relations. Indeed, after a Munich court issued arrest warrants against 13 CIA agents at the end of January for complicity in his kidnapping and subsequent torture, high-ranking US diplomats sought to convince the German government not to expand the search for the perpetrators internationally, German government sources have told DER SPIEGEL.

Following the Jan. 31, 2007 issuing of the arrest warrants, US diplomats spoke with foreign policy advisors of German Chancellor Angela Merkel to express Washington's displeasure that the case was being forwarded to Interpol, the international police organization that facilitates policing cooperation among 186 member countries -- including the US and Germany.

The AP ran an item yesterday about the now-infamous massage Bush gave German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the G8 Summit earlier this week. The AP didn't actually do a story about the incident; it did a story about blogs laughing at the incident.

An impromptu back rub that President George W. Bush gave German Chancellor Angela Merkel is now massaging millions of funnybones.

A 5-second video and series of photographs recently posted on YouTube.com and various blogs show Bush surprising Merkel at the G-8 Summit by quickly rubbing the back of her neck and shoulders. The chancellor immediately hunches her shoulders, throws her arms up and grimaces, though she appears to smile as Bush walks away.

The video has been one of the most popular clips on the Web and spawned countless remarks on the particulars of etiquette for world leaders.

In other words, the president's frat-boy tactics aren't necessarily enough to prompt a story in the Associated Press, but dissemination of the video of those tactics is.

Why has the media blown this story off?

-- Guest Post by Steve Benen, The Carpetbagger Report

She sure doesn't seem too happy about it to me.

Mash: At the G-8 summit, President Bush grabs German Chancellor Angela Merkel from behind and gives her a quick massage before rushing off. Chancellor Merkel is not amused.

Download | play -WMP Video-QT later

This has been an awful trip for Bush to say the least on so many levels. Please list all the problems he has had in the comment section.

Taylor Marsh: This is why Iraq and the Middle East are in flames, and we have no credibility around the world. We have a prepubescent president in charge. It is an outrage.

Lindsay: Every woman will recognize the guy who sidles up and starts "casually" giving you a backrub without even looking at you, because he wants to preserve deniability in case you freak out. Like any practiced groper, Bush stares right past Merkel as she recoils from his touch.

The Republic T has more..

Peering into your Soul

President George W. Bush said on Sunday he gained a glimpse into German Chancellor Angela Merkel's soul when they met in Washington last week.... read on"

He said the same thing about Putin in 2000. How has that worked out so far?

(h/t Richard)

Update: "U.S. President George W. Bush told a German newspaper his best moment in more than five years in office was catching a big perch in his own lake. "You know, I've experienced many great moments and it's hard to name the best," Bush told weekly Bild am Sonntag when asked about his high point since becoming president in January 2001."I would say the best moment of all was when I caught a 7.5 pound (3.402 kilos) perch in my lake,"...read on"

Jesus General has a nice letter he's sending off to Rep. Don Sherwood

AmericaBlog also says: As my colleague Angela says, "Nothing says love like a good choking."

Do you notice how the party of the moral values either are cheating on their wives, dying from drug overdoses in Hollywood homes, and strangling people?