"I have, like, no earthly idea what you're talking about"

Bush on Music Royalties:

Q Mr. President, music is one of our largest exports the country has. Currently, every country in the world -- except China, Iran, North Korea, Rwanda and the United States -- pay a statutory royalty to the performing artists for radio and television air play. Would your administration consider changing our laws to align it with the rest of the world?

THE PRESIDENT: Help. (Laughter.) Maybe you've never had a President say this -- I have, like, no earthly idea what you're talking about. (Laughter and applause.) Sounds like we're keeping interesting company, you know? (Laughter.) Look, I'll give you the old classic: contact my office, will you? (Laughter.) I really don't -- I'm totally out of my lane. I like listening to country music, if that helps. (Laughter.)**

**see comment #11 in above link (laughter laughter!!)


What's even MORE AMAZING is the White House Transcript of this ACTUAL, marvelous, fabulous gathering that took place in Nashville last week.

w visited the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center to discuss the budget and reach out to the "good, solid Tennessee citizens who are entrepreneurs, risk takers, dreamers. (Applause.)"

This actually took place. At first I thought it was a spoof or something. I felt like I was reading a SNL transcript. I must be losing it - it appears to be a true blue 'meeting of the minds'. A real ho-down - lots of laughter and applause!

He spoke of our soldiers:

".....there's no more amazing experience than to meet those who have served in harm's way and to realize the strength of spirit of American citizens who volunteer during a time of danger. And one of the young men I have met during my presidency -- I did so in my home state of Texas -- who is with us today, a man who is recovering from terrible injury, but has never lost the spirit of life: Kevin Downs. (Applause.) He's a good man. We're going to get him some new legs, and if he hurries up, he can outrun me on the South Lawn of the White House. Proud that Kevin's mom and dad are here with us, too."

The Economy:

"I want to spend a little time on the economy -- more particularly, the budget. You've got to worry about your budgets; we've got to worry about your budget, too, since you're paying for it. (Laughter.)"

Difficult times:

"We were confronted -- this administration has confronted some difficult economic times, particularly earlier in this administration. There was a recession. There were the terrorist attacks that affected the economy in a very direct way. There were corporate scandals which created some thousand -- uncertainty about our system that needed to be corrected. And we responded to those problems by cutting taxes."

and something about the Nashville Bun Co. and English Muffins:

"The Nashville Bun Company folks are organized so that they pay tax at the individual income tax level...
English muffin manufacturing company -- English muffin machine manufacturing company is more likely to have work. In other words, there's an effect, the tax code can affect commerce. And that's exactly what we did, and we cut the taxes and it's worked. This economy is strong. Unemployment has dropped........
--------


So.... there you go!

There you have it.

Where's Toby? - I need to borrow your fucking boot.....

I have, like, no earthly idea what to say.


Crossposted at BigBrassBlog