# Oh good God, Bush... again **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 27, 2008, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-good-god-bush-again/454406 "2008-06-27T05:20:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/59ef9b/32.png) [@Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_fight_the_hypothetical)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-good-god-bush-again/454406/1 "2008-06-27T05:20:56Z")
The fucking election can’t get here fast enough. Jeebus. > **[Bush To Filipino President: "I Am Reminded Of The Great Talent Of The -- Of...](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bush-to-filipino-presiden_n_108985)** > > Bush To Filipino President: "I Am Reminded Of The Great Talent Of The -- Of Our Philippine-Americans When I Eat Dinner At The White House" ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-good-god-bush-again/454406/2 "2008-06-27T05:39:37Z")
Please tell me that was a parody. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-good-god-bush-again/454406/3 "2008-06-27T05:50:03Z")
> [@](#): > > PRESIDENT BUSH: Madam President, it is a pleasure to welcome you back to the Oval Office. We have just had a very constructive dialogue. First, I want to tell you how proud I am to be the President of a nation that – in which there’s a lot of Philippine-Americans. They love America and they love their heritage. And I reminded the President that I am reminded of the great talent of the – of our Philippine-Americans when I eat dinner at the White House. (Laughter.) > > PRESIDENT ARROYO: Yes. > > PRESIDENT BUSH: And the chef is a great person and a really good cook, by the way, Madam President. > > PRESIDENT ARROYO: Thank you. :smack: He’s not even trying anymore, is he? Is he going to visit Calderón next and tell him what a great job the Mexicans do on the lawn? ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-good-god-bush-again/454406/4 "2008-06-27T05:53:10Z")
At least he didn’t give her a back rub - yet. ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-good-god-bush-again/454406/5 "2008-06-27T06:02:33Z")
Wow. He’s now being even more embarrassing than Cretien was towards the end of his term as Prime Minister. He’s making Dan Quayle look like a Mensa man. ---
**Author:** ![MovingTarget](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/edb3f5/32.png) [@MovingTarget](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovingTarget)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-good-god-bush-again/454406/6 "2008-06-27T13:48:24Z")
:smack: that’s pretty much all I got. MT ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-good-god-bush-again/454406/7 "2008-06-27T13:54:02Z")
Whew, I was scared he’d been dancing again. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-good-god-bush-again/454406/8 "2008-06-27T14:44:03Z")
[Jon Stewart as Bush] I made a funny. He he he.[/JSaB] ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-good-god-bush-again/454406/9 "2008-06-27T16:31:23Z")
What’s so wrong with that? Some of my best friends eat at the local Chinese place! ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-good-god-bush-again/454406/10 "2008-06-27T18:35:36Z")
Well I don’t think it was racist - after all a chef in the White House is hardly a menial position. But one reason why I’d consider it inadvisable to harp (even in an articulate way) on the large number of **$country** -Americans when meeting the president of **$country** : it could very well taken as “rubbing it in”. After all if the US have been the country of opportunity for many Filipinos, by implication the Philippines were not. ---
**Author:** ![MrSquishy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9e5f3/32.png) [@MrSquishy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrSquishy)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-good-god-bush-again/454406/11 "2008-06-27T18:47:26Z")
Can somebody explain to me what’s wrong with what he said, instead of just all the :smack: s? I’m not being disingenuous, I honestly don’t get it. ---
**Author:** ![CRich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@CRich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CRich)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-good-god-bush-again/454406/12 "2008-06-27T18:56:45Z")
Well, first off, he’s almost incoherent at an event in which you would have expected him to have prepared something nice to say. Secondly, he just said that Filipinos make really good cooks. Wow. What tact and diplomacy. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-good-god-bush-again/454406/13 "2008-06-27T18:58:43Z")
[QUOTE=MrSquishy] Can somebody explain to me what’s wrong with what he said, instead of just all the :smack: s? I’m not being disingenuous, I honestly don’t get it. [/QUOTE] I think the eyerolling is because the complementary comment would have made more sense if he’d said something like “our Surgeon General/Attorney General/Secretary of State/whatever is an immigrant from the Philippines” rather than “my cook is from the Philippines”. It’s more of a menial labor position (maybe not entirely, but he’s not talking about his [Executive Chef](http://www.whitehouse.gov/government/scheib-bio.html)), so it’s like he’s saying “the only US Filipino of importance that I know is a line cook.” It’s awkward and dumb. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-good-god-bush-again/454406/14 "2008-06-27T19:05:23Z")
For starters, Bush is right: there are more Philippine-Americans in the U.S. than in any other nation. Perhaps more importantly, the executive chef at the White House, Cristeta Comerford, is a Filipina\*. So what he said was goofily phrased, as ever, but it was true and he wasn’t saying “oh, all the busboys are Mexicans like you!” or anything like that. \*I didn’t know her name offhand, but I attended the Daily Show taping the day she was appointed to the job. It was one of Stephen Colbert’s last appearances and I’d interviewed him that afternoon. He was the Senior White House Gastronomist or something. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-good-god-bush-again/454406/15 "2008-06-27T19:14:06Z")
:smack: I withdraw my comparison to a line cook then. Stupid me, trusting the White House’s website. It’s still kind of a lame comment. “Filipinos are great; I love my chef!” How are you supposed to react to that?