Animadversions.

I spell it G - O - P [update: or should it be A - P?]:

Audience boos as Bush offers best wishes for Clinton’s recovery.

Absolutely shameful. It’s too bad the Daily Show isn’t on tonight.

[update] Some folks think the AP is making the story up since they watched the speech live and didn’t hear any boos. Possible, but I’m unconvinced, given the fact that news broadcasts tend to go heavy on the mic-levels for speakers and try to avoid picking up crowd noise.

[update 2] Tom McMahon with a few words about the AP’s editing of their initial report:

[A] bunch of beer-drinking, sausage-eating, cheesehead-wearing, cream-lapping Milwaukeeans would never boo somebody for having a heart attack. Too close to home, ya know. And I’m speaking as a Milwaukeean who attended a Cardiac Rehab class with my butcher (really!).

Listening to the mp3 on Tom’s site, I can definitely say I don’t hear the overwhelming chorus of boos that was initially reported. It’s mostly applause, with some sort of “ooo” sound mixed in. Maybe “woo,” maybe “boo.”

That being said, I still don’t buy the assertion from certain folks that the AP tried to pull a fast one here. Poor choice of words? Absolutely. Ridiculous interpretation of a response that was, at worst, mixed? You betcha. But it’s almost too stupid to be intentional.

As for the actual audience reaction, the applause was an odd response - boos or no boos. Of course, it’s hard to say exactly what a crowd should do when they get news like that. Kind of like when a player on the opposing team gets hurt during a football game.