WTF?! Today on hypebot I found something that did not surprise me, yet the shock and awe lingers even as I type this. The post was a simple question and answer quote. The question was put to President George W. Bush after a speech he gave in Nashville last week. It’s a simple question, one that has even been discussed on the Congress floor. But as we know, Congress is hip enough to discuss the music industry, like the intellectual rights of mash-ups. Our President, unfortunately, is not hip. Not even a little bit. That is no surprise, but this example is still unsettling.

I know there is no need to make up stuff like this, but just to play it safe, I quoted directly from the White House transcript of the event:

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.)

EDIT: Found this video of the incident:

You can check out the full transcript here:
White House Website
If you scroll past the speech to the questions, I believe it is the second question asked.

Wow.

Found on hypebot

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