Anticipating the response of the humorless left-wing media addicts, I shall concede that this commentary is not dealing with any issue of political or policy importance. It is just one of those situations that evokes a hearty laugh.
I am referring to the reports in the London Daily Mail that President Biden let loose with a loud and long “beaner” – as my grandfather called them. It apparently happened while Biden was engaged in conversation with Camilla Parker Bowles, the Duchess of Cornwall, at the climate change summit in Glasgow, Scotland. By all accounts, the Duchess was not wearing a mask at the time. (No, this was not from some British sitcom – but it could have been).
According to the Mail, her ladyship has been losing no time in telling the tale of the telltale fart to the amusement of any and all who would listen. I will venture out on the limb of assumption to suggest that it evoked a round of hearty laughter upon every telling.
Passing gas, as the euphemism goes, is a standard laugh line for standup comics and sitcoms. It has even been used to get a laugh in television commercials. It is considered very amusing as a bar stunt – if you recall the “pull my finger” gag (no pun intended).
What made this bit of presidential flatulence even more humorous is that it occurred at an international conference dealing with the allegedly dangerous outcomes from the release of greenhouse gasses – specifically methane. In fact, Special Envoy John Kerry – in his address to the climate folks – expressed the unique danger of methane gas in heating up the planet.
Just so you know, methane gas is what we mammals tend to expel. That is why there is occasional efforts to minimize cow farting. And environmentalists have called upon the Greeks to eat less lamb. Apparently, those wool-producers are prodigious gas factories.
We can all sympathize with Biden. Is there anyone among us who has not had an unplanned escape from the rear exit of the elementary canal? Of course, the humor level notches up a bit when the event happens among British royalty – who may have the most stringent social protocols in the world. Flatulating in public is “just not done.”
Biden’s embarrassing breech of diplomatic etiquette is not unique, however. Check out the Internet for the time President George H.W. Bush vomited in the lap of Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa during a 1992 State Dinner in Tokyo.
In terms of laugh provocation, Biden’s faux pas was a gas. (Sorry for that, but I could not resist).
So, there ‘tis.