That headline overportrays it - Bush says he “was most disgusted” by this accusation of racism by Kanye West - it was the lowest blow he received:
Lots to comment on -
Really? Being called a racist by a moronic twit is the lowest blow? People with a LOT more credibility and gravitas worked really hard to call you criminal, stupid, a disgrace to your office and country - and THAT’s what you single out?
And while Bush has every right to feel however he feels, do I detect a bit of - dare I say it? - tone-deafnessin his firmly-held beliefs? ;) While he may know in his heart that he is not a racist, he must acknowledge that there was failure in the Katrina response, and that many/most blacks and many others interpreted that failure, on some level, as confirmation of the systemic neglect - racism - they feel has been there all along. And since he was President, that feeling occurred on his watch. So he may be disgusted, but he should not have been surprised - and trying to distance his personal beliefs from what was going on while he was President rings false somehow. The “racist narrative” associated with Katrina has been fairly well established - for him to not to demonstrate that he factored that into his thinking - even if only to raise it and refudiate it - just reinforces the image of clueless disconnectedness.
Started in the Pit because it would likely end in the Pit anyway…have fun Bricker.
9/11
Katrina
Deaths of thousands of soldiers
Deaths of thousands civilians
Being scorned and insulted and treated with little to no respect by a large section of the planet
and more.
And being called a racist by another moron is the lowest moment.
Man this guy just doesn’t stop being a tone deaf stupid motherfucking cunt.
When Bush did eventually turn up he talked about how he understood the suffering because his good friend Trent Lott had lost his home, but he was going to rebuild and it was going to be glorious.
Wow - the guy with 1) insurance, 2) another home and 3) millions of bucks has to rebuild, just like all the other folks with none of those things. Yes, those are directly comparable, George.
It’s not clear from the article that Bush was specifically referring to Kanye West’s comment in his book. Lauer tried to make that connection in the interview, and what Bush said was:
Emphasis added.
The quote in the OP is from his book, and there isn’t enough context in the article to know that Bush was referring to West’s comment. The quote refers to “people”, and a lot of people called him a racist, not just KW.
Really? Okay. It seemed pretty clear to me that Lauer quoted Kanye, and Bush basically said “when you cut to the chase, he’s calling me racist”…but ymmv.
Bush has always struck as one of the more racially progressive figures in the GOP. Granted, that’s not saying much, but he did promote a lot of qualified minorities in his administration, never tried playing the race card himself on the campaign trail, and seemed genuinely interested in reaching out to the Hispanic community. So, yeah, I agree with him that Kanye’s assertion was ridiculous.
Having said that, however, if he sees this as the lowest point in his presidency, then the man needs to do some serious introspection.
I hate, loathe, and despise George Bush but I never thought he was a racist or that his handling of Katrina was based on racism. I thought it was more or less typical of his general incompetence.
If it was Kanye’s words that hurt Bush, it’s odd because whatever one thinks of GWB, “thin-skinned” wouldn’t be one of those things. And being called “racist” by someone as clearly out of it as Kanye seems like the kind of thing any politician has to take in stride. Remember how Mike Myers was standing with Kanye during the Katrina telecast and had that “I have nothing to do with the crazy person next to me” look the whole time? Any number of nutballs have called politicians of every political stripe racist, up to and including Obama.
If it wasn’t Kanye, well, I’d like to know who it was calling Bush racist.
When has a President ever commented on what a rapper/singer’s I don’t know his music. But I know he’s a douche. comments have meant to them?
I only learned this morning, because of this Bush Comment, how to pronounce Kayne’s name. Which I promptly forgot how to pronounce it. I always thought it was Kane. It’s Kay-nah, right?
How about if Bush and Kayne square off in a cage match. Pay Per View for Charity. Money going to Katrina victims ( and me, since it was my idea.)
I can’t muster up much outrage over this. Bush was wholly incompetent, but I think on some level he knows that. I sort of remember him even joking about what a bad president he was. But he is not a racist.
This. The thing that’s almost tragic about George W. Bush is that, in many ways, he isn’t a bad man. I think he was genuinely offended by the charge of racism because he genuinely believes racism to be wrong. I think he genuinely, sincerely wanted to be a good President - and in cases where good intentions were more-or-less all that was required, he actually pulled it off. Recall his Manhattan speech in the aftermath of 9/11 - he was acting on his “gut”, and it worked.
The problem is that the Presidency requires more than decency and gut instinct. It demands a very high degree of intelligence, judgment, and intellectual curiosity - a President needn’t be as smart as his advisors, necessarily, but he has to be smart and knowledgeable enough to push his advisors to produce good products. Bush couldn’t do that, so he started in over his head and he stayed there.
Bush’s tragic flaw - or so we’d describe it if this were literature, rather than the real world - is that he couldn’t understand any of this. He utterly lacks self-awareness, and he didn’t seem to have anyone else who could tell him that he should not be President.
While he may know in his heart that he is not a racist, he must acknowledge that there was failure in the Katrina response, and that many/most blacks and many others interpreted that failure, on some level, as confirmation of the systemic neglect - racism - they feel has been there all along. And since he was President, that feeling occurred on his watch. So he may be disgusted, but he should not have been surprised - and trying to distance his personal beliefs from what was going on while he was President rings false somehow. The “racist narrative” associated with Katrina has been fairly well established - for him to not to demonstrate that he factored that into his thinking - even if only to raise it and refudiate it 
- just reinforces the image of clueless disconnectedness.