Is Kanye West a “jackass” for his comments on Taylor Swift at the VMA’s?

 

Apparently President Obama thinks so. While waiting to go on air in an interview with CNBC's John Harwood, the President -- unaware he was being recorded -- said:

 

"I thought it was really inappropriate, you know? It's like, she's getting an award -- why are you butting in? The young lady seems like a perfectly nice person. She's getting her award. What's he doing up there? He's a jackass." (You can hear the audio here. [5])

 

After making the remark, Obama realized what he said, and added "Where's the pool?"

The comment was presumably lost in the nether -- it was nowhere to be found in CNBC’s official transcript of the interview the president gave the cable network Monday in connection with his Wall Street speech.

 

But then came ABC’s Terry Moran, who posted it on his Twitter site. Tweeted Moran: “Pres. Obama just called Kanye West a "jackass" for his outburst at VMAs when Taylor Swift won. Now THAT'S presidential.”

Moran subsequently removed the tweet (though it is still accessible online), and ABC News apologized for it.

“In the process of reporting on remarks by President Obama that were made during a CNBC interview, ABC News employees prematurely tweeted a portion of those remarks that turned out to be from an off-the-record portion of the interview,” ABC News said in the statement, first reported by Politico.

 

“This was done before our editorial process had been completed. That was wrong. We apologize to the White House and CNBC and are taking steps to ensure that it will not happen again.”

CNBC declined comment.

The White House didn’t immediately return a call for comment.

The president was also interviewed by Jay Leno yesterday on the premier of Leno’s new show and in a tongue-in cheek-interview traded jokes with Leno.

“Let's talk about the auto companies. What do you think of General Motors?” asked Leno.

“I own it,” replied the president.

“Let's talk about television. Now, the ladies of 'The View' -- they are getting more and more popular every day. Why is that?” said Leno.

“The loudest, shrillest voices get the most attention,” replied the president.

By the way, the president is slated to make an unprecedented blitz of appearances on the Sunday news interview shows this weekend to talk up his health-care plan. He's appearing on ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC and Univision.

 

He follows all that with an appearance on "Late Night With David Letterman" next Monday.

 

The exception is Fox.