As a rash of racist incidents and noose-hangings plagued the country late last year, I imagine G.W. Bush and his advisers sat around the Oval Office, twiddling their thumbs, saying, "Eh. Let's wait to address this until around the middle of Black History Month." And that's what they did.

Yesterday, Bush took his anti-noose stance public at a BHM event honoring Civil Rights hero John Lewis.

"The era of rampant lynching is a shameful chapter in American history," Bush said in an event marking African-American history month at the White house.

"The noose is not a symbol of prairie justice, but of gross injustice," the president said. "Displaying one is not a harmless prank, and lynching is not a word to be mentioned in jest. [Take that, Kelly Tilghman! -- Ed]"

Just so he never has to make this sort of speech again, Bush later took a firm stand against swastikas and those who insist on calling all Asian people Chinese. [MSNBC]