If you are one of those people who finds late night talk shows beneath you, you've been missing a mini-firestorm surrounding the White House and the Late Show with David Letterman. Earlier in the week Letterman showed clips of a speech Bush made in Orange County California. During the speech a young boy could be seen in the background doing everything he could to stay awake. He yawned, he cracked his neck, he streched and then yawned some more. Harmless fun, right?Well, the next day or so CNN ran the clip and the anchor commented that they were being told from the White House that the boy was not at the rally and was edited in. Later, CNN corrected that statement by saying that the White House had commented that the boy was there, but not neccessarily seated behind the president.
So, Letterman goes on his show the other night and basically calls out Bush -- calls him a liar. Then, he gets a note from his staff, while in the middle of taping, that says CNN called to apologize -- The White House, as it turns out, had never contacted CNN.
Letterman, after realizing he had falsly accused the White House of lying, later joked that someone was going to start looking into his taxes. He also found the whole thing a little fishy:
"I mean, it just seems all just a little too tidy, just a little too neat. And now, the guy, the kid in Florida -- and his old man -- was really upset in the beginning. . . . Well, now everybody down there loves it. Everybody couldn't be happier; everybody thought it was hilarious. So you see, it's just a little too tidy. Stuff like this never ends happily, certainly not happily for me. I was waiting for the lawsuit, I was waiting to be arrested, I was waiting to be beaten to a pulp, and now, oh . . . we couldn't be happier."
The boy is scheduled to be on Letterman tonight, and anyone with a chance should check it out. The clip of the boy is hilarious, and not to be missed.
Tony
