In Which Chuck Todd Learns: Sebelius Is No One to Sneeze At

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So flu season, friends, is upon us. And in The Year of the Pig (Flu), the line between common courtesy and public health is thinner than it’s been in quite a while.

I mention that because, at this morning’s White House press conference, Chuck Todd learned about that line the hard way. While HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius briefed at the podium, Todd sneezed–and, rather than burying the sneeze in the crook of his arm (GOOD FORM), sneezed into his hand (BAD FORM). At which point, Sebelius and Robert Gibbs and basically the entire White House press corps proceeded to mock him.

“I mean, what is that about? Jeez,” Sebelius exclaimed, after plaintively miming the proper sneeze-in-sleeve etiquette to a red-faced Chucky T. “I don’t know. Who’s got some Purell? Give that to Mr. Todd right away.”

Awkward video here.

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Megan Garber is an assistant editor at the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University. She was formerly a CJR staff writer.