Latest Bushism:

Here’s Slate‘s latest Bushism of the Day:

I’m honored to shake the hand of a brave Iraqi citizen who had his hand cut off by Saddam Hussein.

Here’s the full context — note that Slate persists in refusing to even link to the full statements:

I’m honored to shake the hand of a brave Iraqi citizen who had his hand cut off by Saddam Hussein. I’m with six other Iraqi citizens, as well, who suffered the same fate. They are examples of the brutality of the tyrant.

I am also here with Marvin Zindler, of Houston, Texas. I appreciate Joe Agris, the doctor who helped put these hands on these men; Don North, the documentary producer who made a film of this brutality, which brought the plight of these gentlemen to the attention of Marvin and his foundation. These men had hands restored because of the generosity and love of an American citizen. And I am so proud to welcome them to the Oval Office. . . .

That’s right: Bush was holding a ceremony involving several Iraqi men who had their severed hands replaced with high-tech prosthetics. In the course of doing so, he said he was honored to shake hands with one of the men — presumably (I haven’t seen the video, but I have no reason to doubt it) while or right after in fact shaking hands with him. Quite possibly the reference to shaking hands was a deliberate way to stress the attempt to make these people as whole as possible. Even if it wasn’t deliberate, it was perfectly accurate.

So Bush’s statement is an error / humorous gaffe / telling of his supposed inarticulateness because . . .?

UPDATE: A reader writes:

Actually, . . . it was kind of cool. The news clip I saw from the White House showed the president taking hold of the one Iraqi man’s new prosthetic hand and shaking it. Not just a statement, then, but a real action with meaning. From what limited contact I have had with folks who either have a prosthetic limb or use a wheelchair, it is the recognition of the aid (as opposed to the studied avoidance of contact or acknowledgement of the aid) that means the most. I suppose it is because the new limb (or other aid) is now as much a part of the person as those limbs they were born with, so other people’s acknowledgement that the prosthetic is there, is recognition of the whole person.

Naturally, people with prostheses likely have a broad range of views on this subject. But this message seems to me to support the view that Bush’s approach — an emphasis on the person indeed having a hand to shake — was at least an eminently legitimate way of dealing with this.

FURTHER UPDATE: Thanks to reader Stuart Sechrist, here’s a photo of the handshake, on the USA Today site: