To Hug or Not to Hug?

Check out this article on a different facet of the Palin pick: how should McCain greet her on stage? Handshake? Hug? Kiss on the cheek?

For now, the rule is simple: Hug your running mate, kiss your wife.

 When Senator John McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, came out on stage to congratulate his running mate, Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska, after her acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul last week, he gave her a hug, not a handshake. Palin got another hug at a rally here outside Kansas City on Monday.

The same McCain-Palin embrace — businesslike, to the point — was on display at a rally over the weekend in Colorado Springs, but this time McCain’s wife, Cindy, was on stage. Moving quickly after his clasp of his running mate, John McCain took a short side-step and planted a peck on his wife’s cheek.

It has been nearly a quarter century since Walter Mondale almost never touched Geraldine Ferraro in public when they shared the Democratic presidential ticket in 1984, and it is safe to say that times have changed. Back then, Mondale had a strict “hands off” policy and did not even put his palm on Ferraro’s back when the two stood side-by-side and waved with uplifted arms.

The experts (How do you get to be an expert in etiquette, anyway? Is there a school? Imagine saying, ”I’m majoring in manners!”) seem to think the hug is okay since McCain (the boss) initiated it.

On a related note, if a man is hugging a man, well, things can get awkward. Read this post to get a better idea of how to do it or not to do it (there’s a photo of McCain not doing it well) – the back slap is crucial. Or, you can just watch this video (h/t: Ryan Bays):