President George W. Bush faced a rare display of hostility from the public at a forum, when a man said he should be "ashamed of yourself". The president, whose job approval ratings have sunk to all-time lows, had invited questions from the audience in a bid to show he was not out of touch with voters.
A man who appeared to be in his 50s and bore a slight resemblance to John Kerry, Bush's defeated Democratic foe in the last election, said: "Okay, I don't have a question.
"What I wanted to say to you is that I -- in my lifetime, I have never felt more ashamed of, nor more frightened by, my leadership in Washington, including the presidency, by the Senate, and ...," the man said, as the audience began booing.
"No, wait a sec -- let him speak," Bush said.
"I feel like despite your rhetoric, that compassion and common sense have been left far behind during your administration, and I would hope from time to time that you have the humility and the grace to be ashamed of yourself inside yourself," the man said.
He did not mention the continuing war in Iraq, which Bush is seeking to justify, but criticized the administration's wiretapping without warrant, environmental policy and the president's restrictive views on abortion.
Bush defended the wiretapping as constitutional and authorized under the "war on terror".
"You said, would I apologize for that? The answer ... is, absolutely not," Bush said.
Heh.