And the PR machine continues to sputter...

In a time where “President” Bush's popularity has reached an all-time low point, I think it's appropriate to figure out why. Our “Puppet-in-Chief”, who has the wisdom and common sense of a blow-up doll, decided he'd make nice-nice with African-Americans (a segment of the population where his approval rating is lower than his IQ – if that is indeed possible) by visiting Howard University, a traditionally black university, for a "youth summit."

That sounds nice… doesn’t it?

Well, what someone in the Bush administration forgot to do was to check to make sure the timing was not going to inconvenience anyones work. Instead, Bush and the Misses shut down the Blackburn Center.

Did I mention that this is where the dining hall is located.

Did I mention it was right at meal time and that it was soul food day, one of the most popular dining hall attactions all year long. Can you guess what happened?

Protests ensued.

Were the protest only about the food? Of course not. The protests were about the war in Iraq, the 2000 soldiers who have died in the conflict, and the fact that the students of the university were not allowed to attend the event.

During the protest, dozens of students locked arms around a flagpole in the Quad (which at that time had been designated forbidden zone at the center of the campus) and refused to move despite warnings from campus security that… wait for it…

… that Secret Service rooftop snipers might open fire on them.

Nice. Smart guys. Real smart.

So… something that should have been a much-needed Bush Administration public relations coup (a visit to a historically black college to show concern for at-risk youths) instead ended up as yet another Katrina-like moment, with the president appearing spaced-out, waving and smiling for television cameras while students were trying to break through campus security to get to the cordoned-off cafeteria so they could eat.

Sounds bad doesn’t it? Well, it gets so much worse than this…

Well, maybe not so much worse, but ironic.

I know, I'll say it gets ‘ironically’ worse? You all like that? Good.

On a day when the U.S. Senate passed a resolution that called for paying tribute to civil rights icon/hero/legend Rosa Parks, who died last week, campus security guards were telling students that if they wanted to eat they'd have to come back when the president and first lady were gone, go to a service door at the rear of the dining hall and ask for a chicken plate to go.

Nice.

By the way, according to the Howard University website, a student meal plan at the school can cost as much as $2,500 a semester.

So there you have it. On the very same day that Congress paid tribute to one of the most important Civil Rights figure in history who protested against Jim Crow laws requring blacks to sit at the back of the bus and forbade them from eating at lunch counters, Bush's minions push hundreds of African-American students to the back of the proverbial ‘lunch-counter bus line.’

Irony has never been served up on a bigger platter. Personally, I think this also goes to show just how nervous Karl Rove is in trying to save his own ass; allowing the President to run amok on his own without a guardian or parent around.

And then there was the nice reception the “President” got in Argentina (hell all of South America), but that’s for another day…