Thou Shalt Not Punch thy Commander-in-Chief in the Face...

Americans are no strangers to a little political squabbling, but White House brawls just simply aren't done... A lesson some hope Virginia Senator-elect Jim Webb has learned following his chilly exchange with the leader of the free world... or rather President George W. Bush at a White House reception for newly-elected members of the legislature.

What sparked this little incendiary interaction between the Senator and the President? Allegedly, President Bush asked after Senator-elect Webb's son, a Marine currently serving in Iraq. Webb responded, according to a Washington Post article , "I'd like to get them out of Iraq, Mr. President." Bush's linguistic finesse prompted him to retort, "That's not what I asked you. How's your boy?" The Senator-elected replied that that was between him "and his boy."

Some believe this shows Webb's lack of political politesse, not to mention a certain disrespect for the presidency, further revealed in his unwillingness to pose for a picture with the President. Moreover, he reportedly, in the Hill Newspaper, was tempted to –as the blog Wonkette puts it , – “slug Dubya in the face.” He, obviously, did not. But this encounter simply goes to show that Senator-elect Jim Webb came into Congress on his issue-based campaign and plans to stay there. Perhaps Jim Webb was just being polite not asking after the Bush twins, who were purportedly kicked out of Argentina , after their 25th-birthday excursion to the country… No doubt Senator Webb’s son is not having nearly as much fun…

Next time, perhaps it would be best if politicians in social situations kept to the weather…