When Bush Got 'Drunk' -- As Meltdown Approached

It's fun, sad and fascinating to look back one year at one of the few YouTube highlights or lowlights of the George W. Bush presidency. In his fumbling way, was he actually trying to warn us -- despite himself -- about a coming disaster?

One year ago, after it first gained wide attention here at HuffPost, media commentators weighed in on the brief video captured (probably via cell phone) at a private fundraiser in which President Bush joked about Wall Street getting "drunk" with profits. Then he made light of the U.S. housing crisis in the context of his wife's home-hunting. Dan Froomkin, then at the Washington Post, called it Bush's "YouTube Moment," which makes you marvel -- yes, he has had relatively few of them, at least of the "whoops, that was private" variety.

"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. The question is how long will it sober up and not try to do all these fancy financial instruments."

Amazingly, earlier that same day at another fundraiser in Tucson, Bush, according to Daniel Scarpinato of the Arizona Daily Star , had fretted about this eventuality. "So sensitive were Republicans about information getting out about the goings-on at the Tucson fundraiser . . . even W. himself," he wrote, "made sure to ask the 400 or so people at the event to turn off any recording devices. 'I don't know a lot about technology,' the president said, according to one insider, 'but I do know about YouTube.'"

At least he didn't say "the YouTube" or "the Tubes."

Here is some other commentary. Read it knowing that the Wall Street collapse came just two months later:

--David Gaffen at the Wall Street Journal's Marketbeat blog, headlined his post "Happy Hour in Washington," and noted: "What we are sure of is this: if Wall Street was drunk, who was the bartender handing out free drinks? Our thoughts at right." That image shows Alan Greenspan and President Bush.

--Floyd Norris of the New York Times targeted the same pair on his blog: "A Federal Reserve chairman once said that the Fed's job was to take away the punch bowl when the party was getting good. Unfortunately, the Greenspan Fed and the Bush administration did all they could to keep the punch bowl full, fighting off efforts to regulate 'fancy financial instruments' or restrain the excessive leverage that will now lead to massive government bailouts to avert a financial disaster."

Julie Mason and Alan Bernstein in the Houston Chronicle, the first newspaper site to run the video after the local ABC affiliate had beat them to it: "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....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."

Stephanie Kirchgaessner in the Financial Times: "Mr. Bush has rarely been caught on video making such frank remarks before a friendly audience about a politically sensitive topic, proving that even the carefully guarded White House is susceptible to being caught off guard in the new era of the endless Internet campaign."

Greg Mitchell's latest book is "Why Obama Won." He is editor of Editor & Publisher.

Comments

[1088]

In 7 months everybody wants President Obama to fix everything, in spite with all the push back with the Blue Dogs and the Republicants.

[kareemachan]

And so many have forgotten how it came about in the first place - selective amnesia is alive and well, unfortunately.

[uniquelyme]

Absolutely! I've seen trolls on Huff Po here talk about how 6 months should be plenty of time to fix what Dubya and Company did in 8 years.

[johnie2xs]

PART 1

RUTHLESSNESS; The same ruthlessness, with which the "Financial Fagins" dispersed their ragtag rabble amongst the players on Wall Street, should be employed now by the Obama administration and it's minions in an effort to right the wrongs done to the American people, and the world. The question, though, is will it happen?

I think not. The Republican meme of deception and manipulation is an art cultivated by decades of being in in the ding weeds. They've planned and plotted for so long, they only needed that trigger moment. Beginning in the Nixon years, on through Reagan and Bush I, the plans lay in cold storage. Bush II was the trigger moment.

They, through those years, sent expeditionary units out (Bombing Cambodia, Reagan Hostage Delay, Savings and Loan, Project for a New American Century) to see what they could get away with; you get the picture. They stretched that envelope again and again, culminating now most recently, with the unprecedented rape of our financial systems.

[johnie2xs]

PART 2

The ironic part of this, in my mind, is how successfully they use their own transgressions against the Democrats. They claim the Dems obsession, with bringing up the Bush ineptness of the past eight years, as being whining for political advantage. And the Democrats say nothing. Is it total stupidity on the part of the Democrats, or are they just going along, to get along?

And do we want to know?!?!

My belief is that the corporate ideology (Fascism), of the Rethuglican Party, deserves the level of condemnation, till now, reserved for few other transgressions perpetrated one man on another.
I hesitate to bring up the word "Holocaust", but if one were to gauge the level of pain, suffering, and death perpetrated by their actions over time, a respectful case could be made against them, and an equitable comparison made.

The newest incarnation of these followers of their vaunted Rasputin,( Reagan), now use the call of the Birthers, the stigma of calling adversaries Rascist, and the terrorizing of the elderly and the disadvantaged, as there tools to hang on to whatever power of theirs that may remain.

It's not Bi-Partisanship that's needed; It's Conviction­...Theirs.

[johnie2xs]

Yeah!!! It made it !!

[telebob59]

And worth the effort, sir. I find echoes of Dave Emory's (For The Record, Spitfire) work in what you've so thoughtfully laid out. I had stopped commenting altogether for a few months after repeated deletions for reasons which I could not concieve or fathom. It's happening again, of course...i­s it a glitch, overworked moderators or just plain sloppy moderation? I've stopped wasting my time wondering. I'm just waiting for some troll type to rake you over the coals for calling their beloved Reagan "Rasputin," but not really. If there was a true conservative with genuinely formed opinions of their own who could make a similar analagous connection between Obama and a historical figure from another era, I would listen. Comments like yours and the incisive writing of bloggers/reporters are why I visit HuffPo daily: not the vacuous tit-for-tat between those who know no other way of communicating, or being.

[drumz]

Well said johnie! And I concur. I do not think the Democrats will do it because of the big money corporate interests. We need campaign finance control big time because money is ruining our democracy.

[johnie2xs]

Thank you, drumz.
Not to quibble, but it goes beyond campaign reform, all the way the way to the total elimination of lobbyists, and lobbying as an occupation and business. Since the corporations of this country were given "personhood", vis a vis the Supreme Court decision "Santa Clara Co.vs Souther Pacific Railroad" 1886, we have been collectively screwed. Change that decision,and everything changes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_personhood_debate

[yappnmutt]

an excellent post except that the most brilliant participant of all cannot be ignored. clinton's machiavellian genius was the perfect setup for shrub's brutish simplicity. the two party system is the perfect cover for birds of a feather. obama is just another protector of the status quo in the clinton aviary. you are right. the solution is not bipartisan. it is no partisans.

[johnie2xs]

I agree that the triangulation method, Clinton used as his legislative template, did more to promote the desires of the Rehtugs, than what the Democratic party would have preffered. That having been said, the non-stop 24/7 365 onslaught on Clinton, and his administration by the Rethuglicans, did nothing to accommodate an atmosphere in which reasonable legislation could flourish.

Bottom line was,Clinton was screwed, no matter what he did.

[greenchili]

Great post......­.I have been saying it for years, the two party system is an illusion for the masses. Republican, Democrat, they are one and the same. "WE the people" need to find our voice, we need to understand the people who are running our country are not looking out for the best interests of the many, they are looking out for the few. We have a Oligarchy government, no one likes to admit this fact but you can not come to any other conclusion when you read and understand the definition of Oligarchy, ( if the shoe fits, right? ) I am afraid "we the people" will not find our voice in time before we make the small step to Fascism. As long as politicians are allowed to stuff their "war chests" with hundreds of millions we will never see change, that is why they call it "bought and paid for."

[CompashCat]

Johnnie, you mentioned something that I've been wondering about for a long, long time. From the phony hostage release that issued in Reagan's "Morning in America" BS, to the S&L Scandal and subsequent hand-slap, to the Lewinsky embarrassment, to the 2000 stolen election, I've been watching those whose values I respect get bullied into laughing-stocks for the history books while the Power-mongers get their way every time. Why do the Democrats allow them to continually get away with it? Why does the media enable the crooks and facists?

I had a glimmer of hope with the election of Obama, but now it is 1993 all over again. The Right always seems to control the dialog, and the news. It is so frustrating!!!!!!

[johnie2xs]

You're making me think...an­d I hope it comes out right.

Some people like money, for what it can buy.
Others like it, for what it can influence, or accomplish.
Now these first two satisfy most people. You and I are probably as good examples of most...I'd suppose; it's normal.

Since most people have a heart, I've always felt that Democrats represented most people.I like that idea...I accept that idea.

Now there's one more basic use for money...th­e most insidious.­..the most corrupting
...money for the sake of money for the sake of power. The Republican way.

Recently we've been treated to an even more diabolical branch of these villains, 'The "C" Street Boys'. Their calling takes the Rethuglican meme to its grandest point.
Wrapped in Christ, they believe themselves on a mission that puts them above the mores of the rest of us. They believe that what they do is for the Christ. And however they do it, is sanctified by that fact. They believe themselves to be the new CHOSEN.

This creates quite a conundrum. How do you convince a nation supposedly based on Judeo-Christian ethics that these guys are the enemy...th­e anti-chris­ts...the BAD guys.

The short of it is, Cat, to beat them we have to be them...or like them.

Pretty distasteful, don't you think? This is the best I can figure. Hope it helps you.

[Dredd]

So "the wall street" and "the google" were drunk, but so was the Bush II DOJ and the Bush II FBI within it, according to Rep. Rush Holt.

He points out that there have been no indictments and arrests in the anthrax murders of 9/11, and the government was sued and lost in accusing one person of doing it. Also the lab where they say the stuff came from was shut down because they lost track of what they have and don't have.

Rep. Holt, who is also a scientist, is introducing legislation for a new 9/11 investigation about the "drunk" anthrax investigation by the Bush II administration.

http://blogdredd.blogspot.com/2009/08/911-conspiracy-theorists-take-hit-4.html

[outnow]

Bush accidentially blurted out the truth on video. Whose foot was on the accelerator pedal prior to the wreck? "W" and Greenspan. Bush knew that they were driving under the influence and doing shooters as they raced down the road. They all knew that it would crash but the motive was not getting high; the motive was money. Knowing that the system would crash, it is an easy thing to move money around beforehand. Greenspan admitted as much on his 60 minutes interview.

[flatus]

They had to keep the party going. How else to keep alive the illusion that tax breaks for the wealty was working?

[mommadona]

Republican Parties - "Best little whorehouses in Texas'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mNDHTfdn1A

[peterg76]

The financial system works when the government and the financial sector are in an adversarial relationship. Government on behalf of the financial sector is a form of feudalism.

[schatsie]

Heck I want Obama to fire all those Goldman Sacks alumni and hire these journalists who saw the mess coming....­.this is NOT ROCKET SCIENCE and the CEOs are not that good or we would not be in this pickle....

Obama could hire all the old Viet Nam Vets and do better than these crooks....

[LTBROWN]

Exactly and we have to start yelling THAT on every roof top lol.

[vippy]

but, but, but we are all cowards!

[realpolitic]

Bush must put things in a very simple way so he can understand them. He knows he used to get drunk and that it is bad. So he says Wall Street got drunk on derivatives, as if it hurt no one but them. With vision like that, no wonder we had such a disastrous eight years. We, as a country, just barely survived the Bush two terms.

[Telemachus]

Are you sure we survived? Or are we like Nick Cage's character at the end of "A Perfect World", when the police sharpshooter says, "Oh, he's dead -- he just don't know it yet."

[realpolitic]

Didn't see it, but it sounds like a good movie! Yes, we are still the walking wounded.

[johnie2xs]

More like Cage in "Wicker Man".

Played, and incinerated.

[BocaMom]

Obama's numbers are going down the tube so we are going to bring Bush back into the conversation???
This is ridiculous. We need turn Obama around and have him live up to his campaign promises from getting us out of the war to helping gays to fixing the economy and getting America back to work!

[ChimpNchief]

Yawn! How original.

[HST]

Yeah Obama had a whole a 6 months to fix all of Bush's mess we should quit talking about the measley 8 years Bush trashed just about everything including the constitution.

[gorideabike]

President Obama said it was his economy now. Yes. He owns it. He is taking responsibility. What a concept!

[newleaf]

you can't clean up all the elephant poop from an eight-year-long circus in just six months. An individual family can't get a bankruptcy cleaned up in six months. Surely it's logic that it takes longer for a country to get back on its feet after financial disaster.

[vippy]

I sincerely believe that the minute Obama went to Washington someone whispered in his ear about the Grassy Knoll and Roswell and there went the "change."

[slg]

The other time he got caught on tape making frank remarks about a politically sensitive topic was when he and the First lady busied themselves looking for weapons of mass destruction in the White House while their Soldiers were busy getting blown up in a Sovereign Nation thousands of miles away. It was shockingly awful.

[HalfBakedSushi]

It's the Republicans, but it's not JUST the Republicans.

Never forget that. There are Democrats complicit in this mess as well.

[rich misty]

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=drown+government&btnG=Google+Search&aq=o&oq=

Every Republican in Congress, every single one of them, has signed a pledge to a man who wants to drown "We the people" for the purpose of generating private profits. It is criminal ideology.

[schatsie]

But but but ,,,,,,they are all God Fearing Christians­.....

[Eidolas]

Get out the tinfoil hats!

[gorideabike]

Republicans and Democrats make great theatre in front of cameras and on the floor of the House and Senate, but they are friends in private. They represent the same lobbiests. Not you or me. N

[GreatNews27]

Follow the money. It all flows into the personal wallets of Republicans. This 'collapse' was no mistake. There were no drunks. These men learned at the foot of Enron. And it is still happening. Since I do not believe president Obama to be a stupid man, I can only assume that he is in on the ongoing crime. Let's see, he continues torture, warentless wiretapping, war without end, drug raids on medical mary jane, state secrets, Gitmo, forever imprisonment, politizing the DOJ, bowing down to Republicans, and has a merry old time doing it. My conclusion? There are no honest human beings left in this country. They are all criminals or frauds. Is it too early to impeach?

[deeplycynical]

I'm not totally in your camp yet, but, Obama's puzzling actions are moving me in that direction.

[wietog]

It's possible that our current president Barack Obama - who is polite, well-mannered, respectful and, to some degree, still naiive enough to be trusting and an optimist, doesn't realize that he is being used, lied to and manipulated.

While I am glad to have someone in office who is INTELLIGENT, I wish he would be more OBJECTIVE.

He obviously defers to those who are "expert". What he needs is to promptly identify and cut the heads off any snakes in the grass...

[pfc1369]

Even if all you say were true, what good could impeachment possibly do?

That last word is anticlimactic and nonsequitorial.

[kindGSL]

An impeachment is the House saying, "we notice all this wrong-doing and we are throwing you out of office for it" then the Senate votes it up or down. Anyone who votes to protect them is obviously involved in covering up their crimes. The investigation will uncover all of that.

Many or even most of our Senators are involved. So the good that it does is in direct proportion to the upset it causes. People arguing against that upset are arguing for the destruction of our constitution, in other words, treason.

[Mugzi]

You are certainly welcome to your own opinion and on the surface, it might appear so...I don't agree though. Yes, it sounds quite simple to just say NO or just "fix it". As adults, we know that is not always the case. Many times, the "fix" takes longer and is more convoluted that the "disease". Obama is not the messiah as the gop mock, he is man with a full plate and it certainly won't be solved in months - it will take years.

[kindGSL]

I did not think it would be possible to 'fix' it without at least another midterm election.

But the midterm election won't do much to fix it either if the bad lawmakers are not exposed for who and what they are.

This did not happen by accident. If the on-going cover up is allowed to continue, so will be our inability to solve our problems. We should have a full investigation.

[newleaf]

Obama's going to have a hard time fixing anything, with the Party of No standing in his way on every turn for the sole purpose of exacting retribution for losing, and to try to gain control again in the midterms and 2012.

[rich misty]

You are wrong and cannot supply credible documentation to support your bizzare allegations.

I will start with your first false statement:

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2008/0801.panetta.html

Every other accusation that you make are just as easily refuted. All of them.

[kindGSL]

I believe Mike Ruppert could take you on. His website is "From the Wilderness. "

I discovered him researching the Drug War. He has a lot of proof. I think you would be impressed. He discusses the financial ties of organized crime and our government and has a very sophisticated partner who helps him with that.

[johannesrolf]

no, it's too late. Bush and his criminals have left the building.

[jsgaetano]

The fact that the Bush administration was so secretive, banned recording equipment at all their appearances, and refused to talk under oath, all should have been obvious signs of the huge and epic criminality going on in the very heart of their operations.

[Passenger57]

Especially during their 9/11 Commission "interview" : together, not under oath, no recording devices, no transcripts, no record of what was asked or the responses whatsoever.
And they got away with it!
For all we know, Cheney could haev said : "Ask either one of us a question and I'll chew your faces off".

[schatsie]

can you not see the old Cheerleader grasping the hand of the 5 time deferment guy...what a pair.....

[kamachanda]

The best part was when Bush talked while Cheney was drinking a glass of water.

[kindGSL]

It is obvious signs.

Anybody with a lick of sense would be screaming for an impeachment and be demanding to know what did they know and when did they know it.