George Bush and Kermit Ruffins
Picture the White House South Lawn. Now envision it full of Mardi Gras themed decor and New Orleans music. That was the scene this week as Dubya the Incoherent not only avoided any mention of the state of New Orleans, his promises to the Gulf Coast or his abyssmal failures here but also levied a racist insult on one of our best loved musical luminaries.
I want to thank our Chef, Paul Prudhomme, from New Orleans, Louisiana — one of the great chefs in America. Thanks for coming, Paul. (Applause.) I thank Tony Snow and his bunch of, well, mediocre musicians — (laughter) — no, great musicians. Beats Workin, thanks for coming. (Applause.) Kermit, come up here. Kermit, we’re proud to have you.
MR. RUFFINS: Well, thanks for having us.
THE PRESIDENT: Kermit Ruffins and the Barbeque Swingers, right out of New Orleans, Louisiana. (Applause.)
MR. RUFFINS: Thank you. Thanks for having us. We’re glad to be here.
THE PRESIDENT: Proud you’re here. Thanks for coming. You all enjoy yourself. Make sure you pick up all the trash after it’s over. (Laughter.)
From the Official White House Transcript. Hat Tip to Slate for pointing it out.
I am beyond words. The C Student In Chief underwhelms me constantly with his idiocy and lack of tact. (NOt to mention corruption, neglect of his duties, reckless endangerment of the population f the Gulf Coast, etc, etc, etc….) Our musical geniuses are NOT garbage collectors!
Mr. Bush, you are cordially invited to go to hell.
June 22nd, 2007 at 9:35 pm
Our musical geniuses are NOT garbage collectors!
Umm… I think it’s pretty clear from the transcript you posted (and from the video of the event) that “You all enjoy yourself. Make sure you pick up all the trash after it’s over” is addressed to the crowd, not to either set of musicians (or to Paul Prudhomme). Nobody standing with a group of musicians in front of a crowd exhorts the *musicians* to enjoy themselves.
Note, from the link you posted, that Slate agrees with me and retracted its statement.
June 23rd, 2007 at 2:41 pm
absolutely appalling. The only trash I see that needs cleaning up is living in the White House.
June 23rd, 2007 at 5:45 pm
Loki-poo, far be it from me to defend Head Douche In Charge, but he was addressing the crowd, not Kermit. There were 5000 other things he could’ve said, but in this case Bush was not being racist.
June 24th, 2007 at 12:48 am
Not outright racist, perhaps, but certainly a condescending prick.
June 25th, 2007 at 9:41 am
The bloggers of skippy the bush kangaroo salute and whole heartedly support LOKI and Humid City….and all the bloggers from the great city of New Orleans.
June 25th, 2007 at 9:52 am
That kind of crap got Imus fired, I wonder why Sharpton and Jackson are laying low on this one.
June 25th, 2007 at 11:14 am
Yes, I did retract the title of the piece after watching the video. As I said in that comment, I had only read the transcript and in the reading of it, it sure looked like it was directed to Kermit.
On the other hand, some of the comments I’ve gotten are really angry. I’ve posted them as I’m not one to only post comments that are complimentary or those who agree with me.
That having been said, I am still appalled by the insensitivity of the statement in any context given the condition of the city Bush promised to help, the city I live in.
And I still think a Mardi Gras party for Congress in the middle of June is strangely insensitive no matter what.
June 27th, 2007 at 10:26 am
You must remember that Shrub is really a chimp. I know this is unfair to all the chimps, but, but…
Molly Ivans would have had a field day with this stunt.