Bush makes 13 year old girl cry!

[cui bono]

Bush's sarcastic response sends a girl into tears
RAW STORY
Published: Wednesday July 11, 2007

The Washington Times reports Jessica Hackerd was left in tears after Bush gave her a wry "yeah, thanks" in response to her query, drawing laughter from the crowd of 400 in Brecksville, Ohio Tuesday. Bush immediately began to backpedal when he saw the reaction from Hackerd, who told the Times she was crying because she is very shy and was nervous questioning the president.

"No, it's a great question. No, I appreciate that," Bush said, before giving a more-than-1,100-word answer about the death of his immigration bill.

The 13-year-old, who was at the forum with her parents and younger sister, continued to wipe tears from her eyes for several minutes, the Times reported, and Bush again tried to encourage the young girl.

After the appearance, a Bush aide ushered Jessica and her family backstage to meet with the president.

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Bushs_sarcastic_response_sends_girl_into_0711.html

[Betsy Ross]

1. Meet the President?

Adding injury to insult!

[polichick]

2. I'm a lot older than that, and he makes me cry too.

Chin up kid ~ vote Democrat!!! :)

[aquart]

3. No, dear. Vote Democratic.

No smiley makes up for Republican nomenclature.

[polichick]

6. I meant vote for a Democrat, of course.

Jeez.

(I think you're getting the "Democrat Party" confused with "Vote Democrat" ~ which is often used on campaign signs.)

[DrDan]

4. unbelievable . . . just unbelievable

[napi21]

5. If I were her parent, I'd have refused to LET her meet the AH!

Why the hell would she want to meet him after he treated her like sh*t? Soothe his own ego I suppose!

[cui bono]

9. I would have been afraid they'd declare her an enemy combatent

and have her locked up in Gitmo! Or maybe they'd just torture her into agreement backstage.

[goodgd_yall]

7. Now I see why his daughters having drinking problems. n/t

[jeff30997]

8. The poor girl cryed...

But thousands died!

[liberal N proud]

10. She will really cry when she grows up and realizes what bu$h cost her.

When our kids get the bill for this little part the bu$h regime is throwing they will do more than cry. They will be screaming at the top of their lungs.

[Bluebear]

11. Way to encourage kids to participate in democracy, you monkey. nt

[mailman82]

12. Poor Girl

Has anyone seen her since. Maybe they sent her Gitmo!

[DRoseDARs]

13. In Bush's *shudder* defense, that girl really needs to grow thicker skin or she'll never survive HS

...or middle school, for that matter. Bush was being sarcastic, not insulting. The crowd got the joke immediately because it was genuinely funny self-deprecation. His intention was NOT to make her cry, but to make a joke about how badly his effort had failed. Most middle schoolers are familiar with sarcasm. Hell, I dare say most kids already know how to sass their parents with sarcasm before they leave elementary school. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to scrape the top layer of skin off my body. A shower simply will not do after defending Bush...

[Cronopio]

15. He was being sarcastic *and* insulting. It's what he does.

And how do you know his intention? He mocked a fellow Christian on Texas death row for simply pleading for her own life. I have no problem believing that the Frat Boy's first response to her was his true feelings, and his backpedaling was just a panicked reaction to seeing a wave of empathy for her. If it wasn't for his tactical concern for himself, he wouldn't have even noticed her reaction.

It's the thicker skins in society (and, consequently, thicker heads) that are the problem, not the genuine reactions of 13-year-old girls to being publicly humiliated. Instead of cynically defending the viciousness of politics, why not argue for raising the level of the game?

[azurnoir]

14. Didn't he do something

similar during the run up to the '04 election? A young reporter asked him an "uncomfortable" question about Iraq but forgot to frame it in "Mr President sir" and Bushes reaction was to castigate the reporter for disrespecting him, thus getting out of the answering the question and publicly humiliating the reporter.

[Zywiec]

16. No one else would treat a 13 year old like that. n/t

[Dukkha]

17. remember the Kerry joke about study or go to Iraq?

The MSM had a field day with it. This insensitive tasteless joke will be ignored.

What a whining crybaby coward! and then there's that poor 13 year old.

[polichick]

18. He's so full of himself...

That he often seems to see people as props or pawns rather than real.

[Swamp Rat]

19. Bushler makes babies cry.

[Strawman]

20. Maybe he thought she was asking for a stay of execution

[katty]

21. he doesn't give a s*** anymore-he'll start using F-word in public

[Zodiak]

22. Bush knows what he is doing

from wiki:

Sarcasm from Greek σαρκασμός (sarkasmos), 'mockery, sarcasm' is sneering, jesting, or mocking at a person, situation or thing...Use of sarcasm is sometimes viewed as an expression of concealed anger or annoyance.

The bare fact of the matter is that sarcasm is not what you use with strangers...it is a hostile form of language and mocks the person you are speaking to. In this case, the President of the United States was mocking a middle-school kid who is VERY susceptible to shame.

This is the act of a bully.

I see this sort of thing all of the time on this board and in the public discouse...it is not engaging in good faith. Apparently, we are to assume everyone must have a thick skin (which is impossible as many people are somewhat histrionic...bell curves and all) and put up with this sort of behavior. If everyone had a thick skin, we'd all be insensitive assholes and bullies would have free reign.