What is it about the seemingly inevitable goofiness that accompanies the awarding of medals by the Hungarian government to American politicians? First, there were the unintentionally hilarious misstatements made by then-foreign minister Kinga Göncz to then-outgoing US SecState Condoleezza Rice, and then the predictably pathetic gonging of reviled former New York Governor George Pataki. And now we hear that the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary, Middle Cross was given this week to US Representative (and two-time Democratic Presidential hopeful) Dennis Kucinich, the currently leader of the "Hungarian caucus" in the US Congress. As for why this is goofy, the pic is a clue: It's one of the first image search results that comes up on Google for Kucinich (who, by the way, is of Croatian ancestry), both because he's a major political oddball, and because he has the distinction of being the only currently-serving member of congress to claim to have seen a UFO.

While these medals are usually proposed by the government rather than President László Sólyom (in whose name they are granted) you have to sort of wonder if the somewhat similarly… distinguished Sólyom had a hand in this one. Either way, wince.