George W. Bush is certainly not smart.
Now that my stance on our president’s intelligence is clear, I would like to say that Kanye West and anyone else who chooses to blame Bush for everything is an uneducated buffoon, still trying to figure out the inner workings of programming a microwave.
In case you missed the rapper’s brilliant remark, Kanye West made this statement: “Bush doesn’t care about black people.”
Recently, Time magazine named him the smartest man in popular music. As far as business is concerned, I would have to agree. His newest album, Late Registration, and latest single, “Gold Digger,” have been doing well on the billboard charts since his comments.
Last Registration debuted at No. 1 on the Pop 100 album chart. Before Kanye made his Sept. 2 remarks, the album was at No. 54 on the rap album chart. Now it’s No. 1, noted as the greatest gainer.
And “Gold Digger” has hit the jackpot. On the Hot 100 singles chart, it climbed from No. 19 to 1, becoming the greatest gainer of airplay. On the Pop 100 singles chart, it skyrocketed from No. 94 to 2. “Gold Digger” even became the No. 1 ring tone (these stats were taken from the Sept. 7 update on www.billboard.com; new stats should be available tomorrow).
Despite West’s stuttering during his speech, these figures tell me that maybe he had something in mind other than defending victims. Maybe he wanted more money, and I doubt he’s using all of it for the victims of Katrina.
CNN.online said Wednesday that West said he wouldn’t make any similar remarks during the NFL’s opening kickoff concert.
In the article, West said, “We need entertainment to lift people’s spirits.” Well, they would have needed it more right after the disaster when West started his unimpressive verbal assault.
The article also said West “sidestepped questions about his remarks,” to which he explained that the week’s happenings had been “a lot of pressure for one human being.” In this statement, he reveals his true arrogance, talking about the pressure on him. What a pompous imbecile. What about the pressure on the people who were directly struck by the hurricane? Maybe it’s West who doesn’t care about the blacks in New Orleans.
But he probably cares about his music being popular.
Then on Friday in People magazine, our favorite rapper finally defended his comment.
Topping even his most unintelligent words, he claimed that what he said against Bush was “the least” he could do for the devastated people near the coast.
I doubt victims of a catastrophe really need some overanxious, verbally inefficient man to continue the mistaken habit of blaming one person for all of our problems.
Even worse, West said that he informed Mike Meyers that he would ad lib, which tells us that West probably wasn’t overcome by emotion when he made the comments. He was probably thinking about what kind of car he could buy, and he became confused about engine sizes.
On the other hand, West had every right to say what he said. I don’t agree with networks censoring him. I don’t agree with limiting viewpoints, however poorly thought-out they may be.
But when it comes down to it, West was more of a jerk than Bush. He used emotion to sell music. Thank you, Mr. West, for looking out for all of us.
Kanye West is certainly smart.
Yet I’d rather have the guy we have as president, even though that’s not saying much.
And for the record, I researched some of Bush’s efforts to help blacks. If Bush didn’t care about black people, he wouldn’t sign bills to donate billions to Africa or attempt to help minority students.
I’m so much smarter than West.