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Bush at fundraiser: “Wall Street got drunk”
By AUDREY M. MARKS
Comments made behind closed doors at Republican congressional candidate Pete Olson’s River Oaks fundraiser Friday afternoon have made their rounds on the Internet and are now making headlines.
President Bush made the trip to Houston on Friday to help raise money for Olson’s campaign against U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson, D-Stafford.
Unaware cameras were secretly rolling, Bush likened the troubles on Wall Street to when a drunk gets a hangover.
The video made it’s way to partner station, ABC13's Miya Shay’s blog and has caught attention across the nation.
"There's no question about it. Wall Street got drunk, that's one of the reasons I asked you to turn off the TV cameras, it got drunk and now it's got a hangover," Bush said on the video. "The question is: How long will it sober up and not try to do all these fancy financial instruments?"
White House officials say this sentiment on the market slump is no different than any offered by the president before.
While the comments elicited laughter from fundraiser attendees. Not everyone is smiling after the comments have been made public.
“The current recession wasn’t caused entirely by Wall Street,” Anthony Gutierrez, campaign spokesman for Lampson, said in a release. “Four dollars per gallon gasoline and the mortgage lending meltdown aren’t the result of Americans’ collective delusion as [former Sen. Phil] Gramm suggests. The proof is in the rising energy costs or the number of foreclosures that occurred over the past year or the pensions that were lost during the Enron scandal.”
Last week former Sen. Phil Gramm called the U.S. a "nation of whiners" about the economy and that the nation is in a "mental recession."
Olson went to work for Gramm in 1998.
President Bush made the trip to Houston on Friday to help raise money for Olson’s campaign against U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson, D-Stafford.
Unaware cameras were secretly rolling, Bush likened the troubles on Wall Street to when a drunk gets a hangover.
The video made it’s way to partner station, ABC13's Miya Shay’s blog and has caught attention across the nation.
"There's no question about it. Wall Street got drunk, that's one of the reasons I asked you to turn off the TV cameras, it got drunk and now it's got a hangover," Bush said on the video. "The question is: How long will it sober up and not try to do all these fancy financial instruments?"
White House officials say this sentiment on the market slump is no different than any offered by the president before.
While the comments elicited laughter from fundraiser attendees. Not everyone is smiling after the comments have been made public.
“The current recession wasn’t caused entirely by Wall Street,” Anthony Gutierrez, campaign spokesman for Lampson, said in a release. “Four dollars per gallon gasoline and the mortgage lending meltdown aren’t the result of Americans’ collective delusion as [former Sen. Phil] Gramm suggests. The proof is in the rising energy costs or the number of foreclosures that occurred over the past year or the pensions that were lost during the Enron scandal.”
Last week former Sen. Phil Gramm called the U.S. a "nation of whiners" about the economy and that the nation is in a "mental recession."
Olson went to work for Gramm in 1998.
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