Bush on visiting a prison ministry program: ‘Everyone was black, of course.’
Bush on visiting a prison ministry program: ‘Everyone was black, of course.’
In his new book, Speechless: Tales of a White House Survivor, former Bush administration Matt Latimer describes a 2008 California GOP fundraiser he attended while working in the White House, where the President gave a speech to donors about his personal struggles with alcoholism. Bush then went on to make racially charged comments about his visit to a prison ministry program (p. 177):
He talked about his own failings with alcoholism as the reason he supported his faith-based initiative. “My philosophy is, find somebody who hurts and do something about it,” he said. “Don’t wait for government to tell you what to do.” He bluntly talked about his own situation. “I was beginning to love alcohol over my wife and kids. It got to a point when Billy Graham came into my life. But I was hardheaded and didn’t want to listen for a while. And then I stopped drinking overnight. I am a one-man faith-based initiative. Alcohol was competing for my affections. And it would have ruined me.”
He said things that could ruffle feathers, such as how he’d recently gone to a faith-based program run by “former drunks.” He said he went to see a prison ministry program, noting that ‘everyone was black, of course.” All eyes turned in search of the sole African American in the audience of donors. They wanted to see if he was offended.
Latimer adds that that the African-American man didn’t “appear to be” offended, and he defends Bush by saying that he “didn’t mean it in a derogatory way. He just liked making blunt observations to shock his audience.”
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Latimer adds that that the African-American man didn’t “appear to be” offended, and he defends Bush by saying that he “didn’t mean it in a derogatory way. He just liked making blunt observations to shock his audience.”
well he might be right as we all dam sure was shocked at his performance.
September 23rd, 2009 at 12:35 pm***
when bush joined skull and bones,
“everyone was white, of course.”
:|
September 23rd, 2009 at 12:36 pmOf course.
Um, you see… Bush was just complaining about the racial bias inherent in the criminal justice system! Yeah, that’s it.
Of course he’s never touched the sauce since. Sure.
September 23rd, 2009 at 12:37 pmBut of course.
Bush was just joking about there being WMD’s in Iraq.
Of course!
September 23rd, 2009 at 12:40 pmLatimer adds that that the African-American man didn’t “appear to be” offended, and he defends Bush…
Why is anyone surprised that Alan Keyes was at a GOP fundraiser?
September 23rd, 2009 at 12:40 pm.
Symptoms of a larger ill…
… [Bush}went to see a prison ministry program, noting that ‘everyone was black, of course.”
…All eyes turned in search of the sole African American in the audience of donors. They wanted to see if he was offended.
One is exemplified by the prison population’s ethnic makeup the other is exemplified by the audience Bush kept. Two different worlds, one ill.
.
September 23rd, 2009 at 12:40 pmJack Abramoff isn’t black.
September 23rd, 2009 at 12:41 pmNo racial profiling in the GNOP though huh? But what else would you expect from the mouth of Alfred E. Neuman?
September 23rd, 2009 at 12:42 pmCaption Contest:
Show us on the doll where the bad president touched you…
September 23rd, 2009 at 12:43 pmHe was shilling for the Prison Industrial complex……..
September 23rd, 2009 at 12:45 pmdigdiggy says
No racial profiling in the GNOP though huh? But what else would you expect from the mouth of Alfred E. Neuman?
September 23rd, 2009 at 12:47 pm————————————————————-
What me(bush) worry?
Serious facepalmage.
Really, if you want to run for politics, folks, see people for what they are, how they act, and how they can better the nation and the world, but do not try to associate those things to the color of their skin, the gender of their partner, or the God they worship.
You can learn a lot from a dummy.
September 23rd, 2009 at 12:48 pmeveryone was black, of course….
Oh come on, dipshit, surely there was a Mexican or an Indian in the crowd wasn’t there?
What a pitiful excuse for a human. And to think that POS was pResident.
September 23rd, 2009 at 12:49 pmCaption Contest: Mister your breath smells like whiskey.
September 23rd, 2009 at 12:49 pmIn Bush’s defense, some of his best friends are African-American…
/snark off
September 23rd, 2009 at 12:50 pmFrom Bush’s 12-Step Program:
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves and accused our opponenets of our failings.
September 23rd, 2009 at 12:52 pmNow that’s the kind of guy you’d want to have a beer with!
September 23rd, 2009 at 12:54 pmZooey says:
Caption Contest:
– - I told you, my name isn’t Malia OR Sasha!
September 23rd, 2009 at 12:57 pm***
#17,
until he sticks you with the tab.
:(
caption contest:
“you’re looking for an ounce of what?!”
:)
September 23rd, 2009 at 12:59 pmCaption Contest: I told you to bring your own crayons to class.
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:00 pmLooks like Bush doesn’t really want to touch the girl in the photo. And the girl looks like she doesn’t trust him.
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:02 pm“everyone was black, of course.”
Now if Obama said anything like this about white people the birthers would be rioting.
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:03 pmThe one black guy out of hundreds at a Bush event “didn’t appear to be” insulted by Bush’s racial slur.
Gee, what a surprise!
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:04 pmCome out, come out little passive aggressive troll — rather than just voting things down like a weenie.
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:05 pm“So I decided to have the Presidency ruin me instead, except not “ruin” as in “go broke”, cause, well, uh – y’know…”
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:05 pmCaption contest: “Cracker, please!”
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:06 pm***
#22,
cd,
iotbbiyw
*
it’s ok to be blunt if you’re white.
**
:|
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:06 pmHow many lives and dollars would’ve been saved,
had he just let the bottle do its job?
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:07 pmyeah, like he turned out sooooo great after he “quit” the booze, greatest syntax mangler since Yogi!
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:08 pmEven that little girl knows “George Bush Hates Black People”.
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:08 pmHey zooey, in case you haven;t done so yet, check out the watering hole comments
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:10 pmWhat, exactly, was Bush’s point? That the only people in prison are black? And, if so — is this because only black people commit crimes? Or is it because only black people get sent to prison for their crimes while white criminals do not?
Or maybe Bush meant that only black prisoners would turn out for a prison ministry program, while white prisoners do not?
Or maybe prisons in Texas are racially segregated?
Or perhaps Bush felt compelled to mention the color of the prisoners to demonstrate that he can “reach out” to black people?
No matter how you slice it, it was an incredibly dumb thing to say. But consider the source.
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:12 pm5th,
Just saw your comment. Most excellent! I’m off to school in a minute, so I alerted the other Critters. :)
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:12 pmCaption: Did I ever tell you about the pet goat?
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:13 pmBush’s “blunt observations” weren’t made to shock his audience. They were and are born of stupidity. If there were a faith-based initiative that could alleviate stupidity I would donate to it now. Ignorance can be cured with education; what Bush suffers from is part of his physiology and can’t be cured with medicine or prayer and yet this man was elected President twice. That says a lot about his family name and the stupidity of America.
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:13 pmZooey, awesome. Learn stuf, follow your dreams, and don’t get stuck in any high school musical jam, m’kay? :D
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:14 pmThere would be one white guy in prison if G.W. Bush ever answered for his crimes, i.e., if justice was indeed (color) blind.
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:15 pmAll eyes turned in search of the sole African American in the audience of donors. They wanted to see if he was offended.
_____________________________________________________________
I find it fascinating that everybody would be concerned if an African American would be offended at that remark. I know a lot of white people who would be offended. And the suggestion that they wouldn’t be offended because they’re white is in itself offensive.
Can we quit thinking that prisoners only come in one color?
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:15 pmCaption
Girl: Who do you think I am, Andrea Merkel?
or
Bush: You’re Iraq, see, and I’m invadin’ yer personal space!
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:18 pmI seen some pink prisoners in Arizona.
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:18 pmBush’s favorite movie:
Birth of a Nation.
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:22 pmIronic that when people point out that the vast majority of the teabaggers (or whatever name their corporate masters have created for them this week) were white, progressives were castigated for making racially charged statements… but when the former President says this, he’s just being blunt.
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:22 pmThese sort of statements make it difficult for me to believe that Bush ever learned anything at Yale and Harvard. It proves money can buy you a diploma. Yale and Harvard should be embarrassed.
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:24 pmBush “didn’t mean it in a derogatory way. He just liked making blunt observations to shock his audience.”
Like Limbaugh, Glen Beck? Because Bush was actually “just an entertainer”?
Well yeah he was “just an entertainer”, and a lousy one.
And what exactly was the purpose behind supposedly seeing if he could shock is audience?” What did he say next? “Just kidding” ?
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:25 pmI’m usually first in line to bash President Bush, but I think people are taking this way out of context.
It is unfortunate that in America the incarceration rate for blacks is far higher than for other ethnic groups. That’s worth noting. Give President Bush credit for recognizing a problem.
Unfortunately, President Bush failed to address that issue in any meaningful way while he was President. There are solid steps that he could have taken — most notably to start treating drug abuse like a public health issue rather than a criminal issue — but he failed to take those steps.
Don’t call him a racist for pointing out a problem, but do call him a failure for refusing to respond to the problem.
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:26 pmpretty sure bush didn’t intend to be the absolute worst excuse for POTUS but it is what it is…
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:27 pmSo, in reference to Michael Steele’s idiotic comment yesterday, I wonder what MLK would think of Bush, particularly this comment.
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:29 pmFormer Texas Rangers owner Bush’s latest quote:
“My bank account is empty”
Bush on the sale of the Texas Rangers.
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:29 pmSkeeter,
You don’t honestly believe Bush was recognizing or pointing out the problem do you?
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:30 pmDefinitely one of the best (and most telling) photos I’ve seen on TP.
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:30 pmSkeeter1 says:
And what exactly was the purpose behind supposedly seeing if he could shock is audience?” What did he say next? “Just kidding” ?
H emight not be a racist in the classic sense, but he’s a bigot and the effect is the same.
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:32 pmCaption Contest –
Bush: So what are you in for?
Girl: WHAT? Mister, this is a middle school.
Bush: Sorry, I figured it was a prison since there are black people here.
.
NinerFan says:
The one black guy out of hundreds at a Bush event “didn’t appear to be” insulted by Bush’s racial slur.
Gee, what a surprise!
Yeah, he just kept smiling and edged quietly towards the exits while scanning the crowd for the guy holding a rope.
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:37 pmYes he is.
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:38 pmskeeter-1 “Unfortunately, President Bush failed to address that issue in any meaningful way while he was President.”
Yeah , that was such a shame. There he was, the POTUS, but he was so damn busy with the responsibilities of his office like cycling and reading L’etranger and ignoring terrorist warnings and taking longer and more vacations than any other POTUS in history that he accidentally forget to do anything about the inordinate incarceration rate of African Americans, just like he accidentally forgot to give a damn about New Orleans.
Spare me your intellectual piety, skeeter.
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:38 pmActually, Bush tried to get out of the room and found the door locked. After pulling on it a few times he asked the little girl for directions.
And she’s like, what are you, some kind of retarded old white guy, get away from me.
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:39 pm23. NinerFan says:
Michael Steele…..paging Michael Steele……would Michael Steele please report to the Grand Dragon’s booth.
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:40 pmOr-
Caption Contest- No, you can’t copy my homework, Katrina ate it.
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:40 pm“…he ‘didn’t mean it in a derogatory way. He just liked making blunt observations to shock his audience.’”
And, when he ordered that suspects be tortured by contractors, employees and members of the Central Intelligence Agency and the Department of Defense, he didn’t mean it in a hurtful way, you know? He just wanted some to get to the ‘truthiness…’
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:40 pmThat look that poor kid is giving the ex-Prezdrunk is very revealing.
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:43 pmPart wariness, part loathing, part geez, get your lily white paws offa my shoulder, perv!
Ummmmm, if all (white) eyes looked around the room to see if the only black attendee was offended, then more than likely, the shifting of uncomfortableness was due to the fact what was said WAS OFFENSIVE!!!
Ohhh, such the burden Caucasians must endure in this country.
/snark (with additional slap to forehead)
by the by, when will Benn Gleck denounce such antics of our former president, and call him a RACIST!
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:44 pm“it’s ok to be blunt if you’re white.”
Joe I know you’re being sarcastic (least I hope you are) but bush wasn’t being blunt he was being racist.
You would think he would have some compassion for people who were trying to stop drinking through Chrisitanity but no he thinks it’s just fine and dandy to degrade them.
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:46 pmcd,
There’s a difference between a rich drunk and a poor drunk. Ask Bush, he’ll be able to explain it.
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:49 pmThinking about numbskulls made me think of Sarah Palin:
OT — was this covered earlier?
Sarah Palin made her Asian debut with a speech in Hong Kong, which was closed to the press, Palin blamed the government for the current financial crisis.
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:50 pmTwo American delegates were so disgusted with her, they walked out.
Marie,
Unfortunately she does kind of represent (almost) half the american populace. No wonder the world thinks we’re a bunch of morons.
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:52 pmWould have ruined me??? Well, I guess that is correct, he ruined himself but query the effect of losing the few brain cells he had to begin with to being a boozer and coke-head.
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:57 pmMarie, I’m not usually one to blog-whore, but for a reliably reconstruction of Palin’s Hong Kong speech feel free to click on this link:
http://tpzoo.wordpress.com/2009/09/23/the-watering-hole-september-23-mozilla-firefox/#comment-129695
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:59 pmoops,
reliably sourced
September 23rd, 2009 at 2:00 pmThe kid in that picture is giving Bush an ooshka-ooshka look if I’ve ever seen one.
September 23rd, 2009 at 2:01 pmCare to explain b-cup?
September 23rd, 2009 at 2:05 pmtony and lido
Don’t call him a racist for pointing out a problem, but do call him a failure for refusing to respond to the problem.
Well, I don’t know about everyone else, but I’m certainly not accusing him of being racist for pointing this out. I’m accusing him of being an idiot for not having tact enough to NOT point it out in this forum. But that’s just me.
September 23rd, 2009 at 2:09 pmOh, for cryin’ out loud! I can’t take any more of this guy.
September 23rd, 2009 at 2:20 pmShouldn’t his motto have been printed:
Find a rich person who hurts and do something to help them
September 23rd, 2009 at 2:32 pmIt’s the “of course” which makes him look like a racist. The way he says it, as if it was obvious that those prisoners should have been black (or else they wouldn’t be prisoners).
September 23rd, 2009 at 2:38 pm73. Luis Chapulin,
Of course, in the ideal repub world, wouldn’t that be the case ?
Sorry – couldn’t resist saying it.
September 23rd, 2009 at 2:40 pmIn all seriousness, in the picture, the look on the kid’s face and Bush hanging over him.
It really looks to me that Bush is seriously infringing on the kid’s space.
Is Bush just unobservant or is this him performing a status move on the kid ?
September 23rd, 2009 at 2:42 pmSo there were no “little brown ones” there?
September 23rd, 2009 at 2:52 pmYcchhhh…what an incredibly smug, biased, stupid, oblivious, and arrogant human being Bush is in so many respects. The primary reason why there are so many African-American men in prison has everything to do with economics and almost nothing to do with race. It really doesn’t matter whether Bush did or did not consciously intend to be derogatory when he made a statement which implied — however indirectly — that it was
September 23rd, 2009 at 3:18 pmvirtually a fait accompli for a prison ministry to be serving an exclusively African-American population. I for one fail to understand why the race of the people involved was in any way critical to the point he was trying to make anyway — and this plus the particular way he chose to frame his comment leads me to suspect that he has an unconscious (or possibly not so unconscious) racial bias. Considering what his own mother was quoted as saying about the victims of Hurricane Katrina (many of whom were also African-American), I don’t think this is far-fetched at all — the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree as often as it perhaps should.
Maple Street
“status move on the kid.” Friggin hilarious.
September 23rd, 2009 at 3:21 pm“…of course.”
September 23rd, 2009 at 3:37 pmAny more proof needed that Bush is a racist?
“Spare me your intellectual piety, skeeter.”
And read what I wrote you half-wit.
Seriously, read what I wrote, and then you will realize what an idiotic statement you wrote.
Every time I start to think that people on the left may have more wit and intelligence than those on the right — every time I start to feel somewhat superior for not siding with the knuckle draggers — I come to this site and realize that ignorance crosses party lines.
September 23rd, 2009 at 3:41 pmMapleStreet says:
Is Bush just unobservant or is this him performing a status move on the kid ?
Maybe he was about to go for his patented shoulder rub move. The ladies love it.
.
smidget says:
Well, I don’t know about everyone else, but I’m certainly not accusing him of being racist for pointing this out. I’m accusing him of being an idiot for not having tact enough to NOT point it out in this forum. But that’s just me.
If he were to use that as an opening to express outrage over the inherent racism in society, the statement would be OK. But like everything else, he just thought it was funny.
September 23rd, 2009 at 3:43 pmSkeeter- the “of course” makes Bush a racist. But we knew that about him already.
September 23rd, 2009 at 3:43 pmAbsolutely spot on chimmpy…..Once he got back to living back down south his classic, southern upbringing came sprouting forth once again…FULL-BLOWN OUTRIGHT FLAMING RACIST. This dweeb is bigot thru-and-thru…born into that…. practiced it coming up as a kid…and lived it to one degree or the other every day of his miserable life.
What a waste of space he is as a human…
September 23rd, 2009 at 3:44 pmGeorge says – Hehehe, people say I still drink, heck no, I was a sober as the Pope at that Chinese Olympic Event, I was stoned on mushrooms and cocaine baby, wow, what a time I had, just tripping and seeing giant terrorists in pink psycho-deliac turbans and TNT speedos. Made it hard to walk out of there though, stairs are hard when you are really high. I was so high that I wanted to nuke something real bad, anything, New Orleans was already trashed so I thought that I would do that, BOOOOMMMM, they were all poor and black anyway, so it would work out fine for them. My mommy don’t like em either, not at all, she always said, “Why do they have to be all poor and stuff, can’t they inherit some money or something?”, my mom was real smart, if they would just inherit some money then they could move somewhere else…What you say Dick?
Dick says – I need fresh blood from cute black kittens and puppies.
September 23rd, 2009 at 3:53 pm“Skeeter- the “of course” makes Bush a racist. But we knew that about him already.”
No, what makes President Bush a racist is that he doesn’t care about people other than white males from Texas.
The “of course” states what is true. That statement alone could have been made by anybody, since it states an unfortunate fact.
Under the American system of justice, people of color are put in prison at much higher rates than others, and much of that is tied to the way we treat drugs.
Have a lot of money? You get arrested for drugs and find your way to counseling. No money? You get locked up.
President Bush recognized that there is a problem, and failed to act.
September 23rd, 2009 at 4:15 pmI’m usually first in line to bash President Bush, but I think people are taking this way out of context.
It is unfortunate that in America the incarceration rate for blacks is far higher than for other ethnic groups. That’s worth noting. Give President Bush credit for recognizing a problem.
Unfortunately, President Bush failed to address that issue in any meaningful way while he was President. There are solid steps that he could have taken — most notably to start treating drug abuse like a public health issue rather than a criminal issue — but he failed to take those steps.
Don’t call him a racist for pointing out a problem, but do call him a failure for refusing to respond to the problem. — Skeeter1
********************************************************
With all due respect, Skeeter, the reason why the people on this thread are criticizing Bush’s remarks is because the fact that African-Americans are overrepresented in the prison population has far less to do with racial factors than it does with economic ones — but the way in which Bush chose to phrase himself, whether he consciously intended this or not, seemed to imply that African-Americans are in some way more inclined by nature than by circumstances to commit crime (a belief which is inarguably racist). If there were any truth to this idea, you would see a high percentage of African-American men regardless of economic status being charged with crimes and/or sentenced to prison — but to the very best of my knowledge, this is not what you see. The primary reason why African-Americans are overrepresented in the prison population is because they are overrepresented in the percentage of Americans living at or below the poverty line — and this in turn is due to a variety of factors, most of which are (again) economical rather than racial. If I may so bold, the fact that you are apparently ignorant of this doesn’t put you in a terribly good light.
I grant you that even at the best of times, Bush is an excruciatingly bad orator when left to his own devices — but there are those (and I am one of them) who also believe that the way in which people choose to express themselves can sometimes reveal feelings and beliefs which they might not want to acknowledge even in the privacy of their own thoughts. As an example — as I pointed out in my earlier post — in what way is the racial background of the prison ministry clientele even remotely relevant, never mind important, to the point Bush was primarily trying to make? None as far I can see — so why did he feel that it was necessary to bring it up? Like it or not, one possible and quite plausible explanation to that question is the presence of an unconscious racial bias.
September 23rd, 2009 at 4:17 pm“And what exactly was the purpose behind supposedly seeing if he could shock is audience?” What did he say next? “Just kidding” ?”
Fifth Estate, you really need to read before you comment.
Nowhwere does it say that he made the comment to shock his audience. Instead, the speech writer said that the comment could “ruffle feathers.” That’s more of a reflection on the speech writer in failing to recognize a problem that on Bush.
September 23rd, 2009 at 4:19 pmBluestocking,
First if President Bush said “I’m going to sit in that chair” certain people here would construe the remark as racism. At times, the hatred for Bush here gets the better of some people.
President Bush was undoubtably one of the worst presidents ever. Maybe Harding was worse. But I doubt it, since Harding was just corrupt and didn’t blunder into a major war.
But the fact that he was a terrible President does not mean that every word out of his mouth was terrible (although most were). This is such a case.
With regard to the rest of your note:
Do you have any data to back that up? The numbers that I’ve seen show that race does play a substantial role. Given the history of this country, that is something that we can expect. Racism exists and it exists on juries that are more likely to find a black man guilty than a white. As such, my recollection that the numbers show higher rates for blacks than for other groups would be consistent with the way the legal system operates.
With regard to the remainder of President Bush’s comments: We don’t know the rest of the context, since none was provided. Since we don’t know what we went on to say, it is impossible to judge.
The bottom line is that President Bush was a terrible President and a failure generally as a man. There is enough stuf that he actually did to keep people angry. But let’s stick to the real and the verifiable and not create false issues.
We on the left need to be different than those on the right. We need to be the sane ones. We need to be the rational. We need to be the ones talking the real issues. And unfortunately,the comments here are the exact opposite. This is to President Bush what ACORN is to the right. We need to be better than that.
September 23rd, 2009 at 4:30 pmCaption contest:
Girl: “Somebody come get this fool off me!” “Security!”
September 23rd, 2009 at 4:33 pm81. El Bruce,
I was about to reply that at least Merckel was in the same weight division and able to return a fair fight.
But then I looked at that kid’s face – it looks to me like they are fighting hard to exercise their self-restraint.
September 23rd, 2009 at 4:40 pmWere they all 100% black? Or maybe 75% or 50% like Obama.
September 23rd, 2009 at 4:54 pmkwsventures, are you 100% ignorant, or maybe 75%.
September 23rd, 2009 at 5:28 pmElBruce, where/when was that photo shot? looks like bush was downing a brewski . . .
September 23rd, 2009 at 5:28 pmAs David Duke said recently: What used to be said behind closed doors, are now being said in the open. He should know.
September 23rd, 2009 at 5:31 pmFolks are now embolden.
As we observe tha yahoos, can you imagine how many school yards bullies are being created?
Skeeter1 says:
But the fact that he was a terrible President does not mean that every word out of his mouth was terrible (although most were). This is such a case.
This particular statement is blatantly racist, regardless of who said it.
Just as some people would say that anything Bush said is racist, there are some people who will never admit that anything he says is racist. If Bush said “I’m going to lynch a n***er,” they would be here complaining about being taken out of context, etc.
Kind of like you’re doing now.
Getting all up in arms over things like this does not in any way detract from serious outrage over the abuses and incompetence that were the hallmarks of his Presidency. In fact, they highlight them, by pointing out that such abuses were not anomalous, but were typical of such a person.
September 23rd, 2009 at 5:34 pmkwsventures says:
Doesnt it embarass you to be so stupid, such an ignorant racist punkass troll? Shouldnt you just sit down and cry about how stupid and pathetic you are? It should shame you that you dont have a shred of deceny, integrity, honesty, self respect. Just STFU PUNK. You disgust enough people when they have to smell you
September 23rd, 2009 at 5:35 pmThe majority of prisons are filled with blacks. It’s not racist, just a fact. It doesn’t mean the black man sitting in the audiance was a criminal.
September 23rd, 2009 at 5:51 pm97. Most means > 50%. To jump from there to saying that they **ALL** were, **OF COURSE** is at best rude and insensitive and very likely to be taken as a racist statement.
September 23rd, 2009 at 5:56 pmBluestocking, Bravo! Thank you for an eloquent PSA and especially the part about unconscious racial bias. That isn’t a part of the debate as much as it should be. Trying to peg a racist or bigot is usually hard becuase their beliefs are unseen even to themselves.
I don’t like to quibble, but wanted to say something about the economics of being black. Yes, historically in America, black people as a group have been poor, but mass incarceration only exploded in the last 30 years. America went from having a prison population of around 200,000 to a population of 2.3 million. Black people have always been poor, but only within the last 30 years have they been incarcerated so massively.
It’s interesting–and this supports your point– that this explosion coincided with an economic downturn in urban centers; the Black men whose fathers and mothers traveled north for factory jobs were laid off as factories closed down. (POTUS often tells the story of steel mills being closed down in Chicago and his community organizing efforts there.) When President Reagan announced the pre-emptive war against drugs to cover up his malfeasance in Nicauragua, he needed something to bolster his arguments for the war.
How about a bunch of black men wandering around aimlessly in urban centers, where Reagan administrators admit they collected their images and pseudo-horror stories about a New Black menace–black men on drugs? Crack cocaine hit urban centers first, and black men who have historically been stereotyped as criminals were prime targets of the war on drugs. It was believable that Black men on drugs were criminals worthy of “get tough” polices and inordinately heavy prison sentences, because their inherent criminality has been a fictive part of our cultural unconscious/imagination for so long. Of course, they aren’t the only casualty. The image of the black welfare queen also originated around the same time. (I should note that this image originated in Chicago, where POTUS is from.) There are so many others that have been hurt indirectly by these policies too–prison building projects often go to rural, impoverished white areas, promising jobs. They fuel racial animosity–usually between poor white people and poor people of color to make money.
In short, we must understand racial and economic factors working together. My information comes from a book called The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Color Blindness. It’s due out in 2009 by Michelle Alexander.
Again, Bravo.
September 23rd, 2009 at 6:00 pmPoliticallySTUPID
The statement was racist. You are a moron. Really why do you continue to embarass yourself by continually exposing how absurdly stupid you are? Just STFU till you grow a brain. Just let the adults talk
September 23rd, 2009 at 6:03 pmPolitically Superior says:
The majority of prisons are filled with blacks. It’s not racist, just a fact.
Selection of which facts you feel are relevant to the discussion can be indicative of racially bigoted leanings. You don’t have to be incorrect to be a racist. If you walked up to a black person at the bus stop and started citing statistics about childbirth out of wedlock, that’d be racist too, even if your statistics were accurate.
September 23rd, 2009 at 6:09 pmAs if I really care what you think. Uh, no.
September 23rd, 2009 at 6:37 pmBush knows how to keep the spotlight of racism directed at the GOP.
Heckuva Job, McFlightSuit…
September 23rd, 2009 at 6:59 pmkwsventures says:
As if I really care what you think.
And yet you’re still here…
September 23rd, 2009 at 10:09 pmPatrioticLiberalChristian says:
From Bush’s 12-Step Program:
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves and accused our opponenets of our failings.
September 24th, 2009 at 2:03 am_________________________________________
I don’t care who you are, that’s funny… because it’s true.
it reflected attitudes that he may or may not have been aware of. it certainly does not reflect things that Colin Powell or Condoleeza Rice felt, and they were pretty close to him, undoubtedly closer than the anglo speechwriter trying to spin any verbal foible into a narrative that may or may not be accurate, a speechwriter with a clear desire to sell books. I find it to be a loathsome remark, no matter how spun or unspun. I also find race-baiting by Jimmy Carter, Maureen Dowd, and Charles Rangel to be even more loathsome.
September 24th, 2009 at 11:54 amHmmm…
Anyone want to make a guess why prison ministries~and prisons~are disproportionally full of black men?
Policies, perhaps?
Tis a quandary.
September 24th, 2009 at 12:09 pmI must admit that most of these responses are pretty disappointing. They seem to be more reflective of anger and bitterness than a willingness to honestly access a situation. Can’t we appreciate Bush not focusing just on taxes or terrorism, but instead turning attention to the needs of prisoners? Maybe we’d all disagree on how to approach these things, but isn’t it remarkable that a world leader would stand up in front of an affluent crowd and say these kinds of things? Not only was he remarkably transparent with his only struggles, but he also sent the message that those behind bars deserve concern and respect.
September 24th, 2009 at 1:38 pmThings like this certainly aren’t going to do much to open the pocketbooks of big donors, but they are things that anyone who cares about justice should appreciate–regardless of how we feel about other aspects of President Bush’s views.
‘Alcoholism was ruining his life…’ so he rose to power stealing two elections, staged 9/11 terrorist attacks, misled this country into a criminal war with no end and ruined the economy. The only ones who got to benefit from all this were the ‘have mores’. Bravo idiot! Mission accomplished!
September 24th, 2009 at 2:00 pmThank you for your sharing.!
September 29th, 2009 at 7:03 amBush’s new drug of choice was being a powerful abuser and we are all paying a price. burun estetigi
September 30th, 2009 at 7:43 am