Bush Mocked As He Arrives on Inauguration Dais
POST UPDATED AT 6:45 p.m.:
The crowd packed on the west side of the Capitol grounds serenaded President Bush in mocking fashion when he took to the inaugural stage alongside Vice President Dick Cheney.
“Nah nah nah nah, hey hey, good-bye,” a section of the crowd chanted.
The crowd packed immediately below the podium received Bush in stony silence when he took his seat on the stage surrounding the podium where Barack Obama was scheduled to take the oath office to become the 44th president of the United States.
The jeers are among the final public feedback Bush will receive as president.
First Lady Laura Bush and Lynne Cheney received light applause when they were announced to the crowd.
Bush is scheduled to depart from the East Front of the Capitol by helicopter after the swearing-in ceremony.
Obama received the loudest sustained cheers from thousands who chanted his name.
Before Obama took the stage the crowd gave its warmest welcome to former President Bill Clinton and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.)
Vice-president elect Joe Biden and Michelle Obama also received warm welcomes.
House Democratic lawmakers formed a raucous audience from the section of seats rising immediately south of the speaker’s podium.
They launched into a “Rahmbo” chant when they spotted White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel.
Later, when President Bush left the Capitol grounds in a helicopter, he received some cheers from a crowd of onlookers.
But at least one man was seen giving the chopper what Bush used to call the “one-finger salute.”
Another man, with a thick New England accent, yelled, “Go back to Crawford!”
And a woman shouted, “Good riddance! He’s leaving!”
–Alexander Bolton, Sam Youngman and J. Taylor Rushing
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