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Bush caught on video: 'Wall Street got drunk'
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WASHINGTON — Unaware he was being recorded, President Bush at a Houston fundraiser last week compared Wall Street to a drunk with a hangover and cracked jokes about the ailing housing market.
“There’s no question about it. Wall Street got drunk — that’s one of the reasons I asked you to turn off the TV cameras — it got drunk and now it’s got a hangover,” Bush said at a private fundraiser for Republican congressional candidate Pete Olson. “The question is: How long will it sober up and not try to do all these fancy financial instruments?”
The president’s blunt remarks were a sharp departure from the more measured tones he uses publicly to discuss the economy and national housing market collapse.
Economists in large part blame the current mortgage foreclosure crisis on complex financial instruments devised by Wall Street after Congress deregulated the banking industry a decade ago.
The jocular tone Bush used to describe a serious subject also underscores the pitfalls of being candid in an age of tiny camera phones.
News reporters were prohibited from the Olson event in River Oaks last Friday. The short video clip, apparently made by an attendee at the fundraiser, was obtained by KRTK-TV in Houston.
“And then we got a housing issue, not in Houston, and evidently, not in Dallas, because Laura was over there trying to buy a house today,” Bush said, to laughter.
On the video clip, which is posted on YouTube, Facebook and the ABC affiliate’s Web site, a supporter can be heard asking Bush about Crawford.
“I like Crawford,” Bush said, to more laughter. “Unfortunately after eight years of asking her to sacrifice, I’m now no longer the decision maker.”
Of their house hunt, Bush said amid laughter, “We’ve been on the government pay for 14 years now. It goes slow.”
Before friendly audiences, especially in Texas, Bush tends to be more relaxed and candid than he appears at the White House.
Even so, Bush, a Harvard MBA, has been meticulous in recent months about guarding his rhetoric on the economy and the markets, and White House officials also are mindful of how their words could effect the markets.
White House spokesman Scott Stanzel, who was on the Houston trip with Bush last week, said he never heard Bush use that specific comparison before. But he said the president’s overall message is consistent.
“He was talking about the problems in the credit market and the problems caused in part in the mortgage market,” Stanzel said.
Posted by Jim_in_Erie on July 23, 2008 at 7:46 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Of all the things that I wish President Bush had been a little more candid about, the failure of the housing industry in this country isn't even in the top five.
But I'll bet that his flippant comment becomes part of yet another anti McCain ad.
I swear, you'd think Bush was indeed running for another term.
BTW, it seems to me that the drunk/hungover comparison is pretty accurate. And it is NOT the rest of the country's responsibility to help cure the problem.
Posted by clackmon on July 23, 2008 at 8:31 a.m. (Suggest removal)
'White House officials also are mindful of how their words could effect the markets.'
You mean AFFECT. And 'also are'? Where was this written? Oh.
Posted by windyridge on July 23, 2008 at 8:58 a.m. (Suggest removal)
“I like Crawford,” Bush said, to more laughter. “Unfortunately after eight years of asking her (Laura) to sacrifice, I’m now no longer the decision maker.”
I think he meant to say: "I'm no longer the Decider!"
Posted by super_boulder on July 23, 2008 at 9:04 a.m. (Suggest removal)
"Can you please turn off the camera's" -- In a room full of camera crews. Are you kidding? That should be the first signs to keep it running.
I wonder if the camera crew will be invited back.
Posted by MikeEllis on July 23, 2008 at 10:09 a.m. (Suggest removal)
This is the best you have to make fun of this guy? I actually thought it was an interesting analogy, and wish he would be this open in public.
Posted by ogghead on July 23, 2008 at 10:23 a.m. (Suggest removal)
It's not an analogy, MikeEllis--more of a personal confession, really.
The Crawford "Ranch" was a campaign prop Rove convinced Bush to buy before the 2000 campaign. Now he can get rid of it--Laura had nothing to do with this decision. And now Chimpy can start drinking again, if he hasn't already.
Posted by zivo24 on July 23, 2008 at 11:55 a.m. (Suggest removal)
"And now Chimpy can start drinking again, if he hasn't already"
After 8 years of having both Cheney and Rover's arms up his butt..he's gonna need a bottle of somethnig to ease the pain when they get pulled out.
Posted by mcmann on July 23, 2008 at 4:08 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Why didn't the DC ever say anything about Bush's departure from the recent G-8 summit? With a grin on his face and his fist in the air, he proudly exclaimed, "Goodbye from the biggest polluter in the world." And note that the US is the second-biggest polluter, actually, trailing China.
What a guy.
Posted by MikeEllis on July 23, 2008 at 4:28 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I'm not sure how the Camera decides what to publish, but clearly the different departments don't collaborate. There was an editorial cartoon today that referenced (I assume) a story that the news sections never carried. Completely typical.
I don't like having to get my news from my TiVoed version of the Daily Show, because by then all the good jokes are taken.
Posted by nuggethillrd on July 23, 2008 at 4:52 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Fund raiser for another Oil man bent on screwing us! Remember what the last 8 years have been and don't go for another 4 of these crooks. Don't blame this mess on the Dem's, the Gop put us in this mess! They could care less about all the people looking for jobs that they slashed and the people they put out on the street! He is the devil!
Posted by samsmargolis on July 23, 2008 at 5:02 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I think Wall Street got stoned, not drunk, based on the whole "stoned people are not violent" argument from the 420 folks.
Posted by JakPott on July 23, 2008 at 7:51 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Yeah ! And you know who was all there cheering on the bank de-regulation back in the day...
Thanks guys !!
Posted by Ralphie2 on July 23, 2008 at 10:38 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Send Karl Rove to jail!
www.sendkarlrovetojail.com
Posted by bringit on July 24, 2008 at 4:34 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Yep. The pirates got drunk, hijacked our economy and are now hell bent on lining their pockets at the expense of the average taxpayer.
These bastards have been hiring MBA's for Wallstreet for over $400k fresh out of school so they can teach them how to steal creatively. Too bad the BushTraitor can't say this stuff from the press room.
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