Everyone’s favorite fish dicks rapper is back to his usual zany antics. No, West actually restricted himself from rushing the VMA’s stage this year, but the boy genius did find a way to make a lasting impression.

We’re not talking about his VMA performance, which was as equally dull as Taylor Swift’s reported slam (was that seriously an attempt at revenge!?). We’re talking about Kanye’s restoration of his public image through Twitter, which at least one news source suggested is working.

First, there was that bizarre, WTF!?-esque “Twitter-mance” with 16 year-old Justin Bieber. Then, Kanye recently hit up Taylor Swift, informing the girl that he wrote a song for her and would love to see her sing it.

Sorry, Kanye, but in some states its illegal to request that kind of action. Is the teenage audience REALLY the only demographic you have left? Because last time I checked, anyone of average intelligence deemed you a serious idiot. Sure, you may produce “dope” beats and catchy tunes, but you’re honestly about as smart as a fifth grader (or Jeff Foxworthy for that matter). Did your career not end the second the President of the United States called you a jackass?

Look, we all do stupid things (“off record” of course). We even like stupid people.

…Just not Kanye West.

While reflecting over the major events of the past summer three things come to our minds: an inordinate number of celebrity deaths, the heated town hall meetings over healthcare and the bad movies that made a lot of money at the box office.

TPH takes a look back at the summer of 2009. Despite the first section being labeled the “the summer of death,” we stayed away from tragic and horrible events like H1N1, Iranian election protests, deadly earthquakes and Al Franken being sworn in as a U.S. Senator. We decided to stick with more cheery subjects.

The summer of 2009 stretched from June 21 to Sept. 22.

The Summer Of Death
What most people will remember about the summer of ’09 is the death of Michael Jackson on June 25. Despite being a world class freak, Jackson was one of the greatest performers of all-time. His sudden death and the myriad of memorials that followed reminded us all just how good, and just how exploited, he really was.

The coroner ruled his death a homicide—he died from a combination of drugs in his system—and law enforcement officials are currently investigating.

The summer of 2009 will always associated with Jackson even though the questions surrounding his death may not be answered for years to come.

Besides the King of Pop, there were several over celebrity deaths this past summer: Ed McMahon (June 23), Farrah Fawcett (June 25), Billy Mays (June 28), Steve McNair (July 5), Walter Cronkite (July 18), The Taco Bell Chihuahua (July 23), John Hughes (Aug. 6), Eunice Kennedy Shriver (Aug. 11), Ted Kennedy (Aug. 5), and Adam Goldstein “DJ AM” (Aug. 28).

Cash For Clunkers
Officially known as Car Allowance Rebate System, Cash for Clunkers offered American citizens economic incentives to turn in their old jalopy for a new fuel efficient car. The program started on July 1 and ended Aug. 24.

Was it a success? If you judge it by the 690,114 dealer transactions then yes it was a success. If you judge it by the fact that taxpayers will have to pay for the $3 billion the government spent on the program then no.

Teachable Moment
On July 16, Harvard University Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. was arrested at his home by police investigating a 9-1-1 call about men trying to break into a house.

As the cop was doing his job, Gates broke out the “Why, because I’m a black man In America?” routine. Eventually Gates was arrested for disorderly conduct.

When President Obama heard of the incident he called it a “teachable moment.” The officer and the cop were invited to the White House for a beer with the President and Vice-President.

Town Hall Meetings and Tea Parties
When concerned Americans gathered at the various town hall meetings held around the country to question lawmakers on the proposed government takeover of healthcare, the media branded them as racist, crazy and on the fringe.

When Americans gathered at Tea Parties organized around the country to protest high taxes and big government, the media branded them as racist, crazy and on the fringe.

What we learned from these events is there are many Americans fed up with high taxes and big government. Sure, a few were a bit whacky, but for the most part they were honest Americans with honest gripes.

We also learned that if there’s one sign comparing President Obama to Hitler, the mainstream media will find it.

Track Gets A Bolt
He’s doing the impossible. He’s making us care about track and field in an off-Olympic year. Jamaica’s Usain Bolt shattered the 200m and 100m sprint records at the Berlin World Championships in August. Second-for-second, he’s the most exciting athlete in the world.

Oregon Rolls A Blount
The college football season opened Sept. 6 with a sloppy game between Boise State and the University of Oregon. After the game, Oregon running back LeGarrette Blount, who said earlier in the week the Ducks owed the Broncos an ass kicking, punched Boise State defensive end Byron Hout. ESPN’s cameras perfectly captured the moment. Blount was rightly suspended for the rest of the season but his throw-down gave college football fans something to talk about.

ACORN Falls & Takes The Mainstream Media With It
On Sept. 8 Hannah Giles and James O’Keefe released the first of five videos revealing employees of ACORN were more than willing to help a prostitute and a pimp get their business going. If that wasn’t bad enough, the ACORN employees also counseled the couple on trafficking underage girls from El Salvador.

Giles posed as the prostitute and O’Keefe played the part of the pimp.

Despite the undeniable evidence, the mainstream media ignored the story. There was a time when they would have jumped on a scandal like this and reported on it incessantly. Apparently those days have passed and so have the days of the MSM being relevant.

Rude Interruptions
First it was Joe Wilson shouting “You Lie” at President Obama during a joint session of congress (Sept. 9).

That weekend, Serena Williams threatened to shove a ball down a line judge’s throat at the U.S. Open (Sept. 12).

The following night, Kanye West interrupted Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at the MTV Video Music Awards (Sept. 13).

These incidents got the media and the blogosphere all lathered up and ready to extract a pound of flesh. Not to defend their churlish behavior, but the aforementioned outbursts were by far the most exciting moments of their respective events.

Beatles Infestation
For the umpteenth time in history, the Beatles dominated the summer. On Sept. 9, the band re-released its re-mastered catalog as well as video game, “The Beatles: Rock Band.” Both will introduce the Fab Four to a whole new audience.

While the Beatles were on everyone’s mind they weren’t the only thing that happened in the world of music this summer:

On Aug. 5, Aerosmith front man Steven Tyler fell off a stage during a concert in Sturgis. Tyler was hurt bad enough that the band had to cancel the rest of their tour.

On August 29, Noel Gallagher quit Oasis.

On Sept. 10, Phil Collins announced that due to a spinal injury he will never play drums again.

Good Box Office, Bad Movies
Hollywood may have set box office records this summer but their movies set back cinema hundreds of years.

Transformer 2: Revenge of the Fallen (released June 19) and G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra (released Aug. 5) took in pant loads of money but both were downright awful and insulting to our intelligence.

We left the theater asking who watches this stuff and then we realized we just did. No wonder Hollywood keeps churning out crap.

Conclusion
Did TPH miss something? Did TPH include something we shouldn’t have included? What will you remember about the summer of 2009?

President Barack Obama recently called Kanye a “jackass.” The Presidential remark was in reference to West interrupting Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at MTV’s Video Music Awards show Sunday night.

The President was apparently talking “off the record” but his comments were nonetheless tweeted by ABC News employees.

The folks in the ABC News room were listening to an interview between the President and CNBC’s John Hardwick (the two news organizations share the same fiber optics line), and didn’t know the comment was “off the record.”

One employee, Terry Moran, a former White House correspondent, tweeted: “Pres. Obama just called Kanye West a ‘jackass’ for his outburst at VMAs when Taylor Swift won. Now THAT’S presidential.”

Maybe “jackass” is a little crass coming from the leader of the free world but it was highly appropriate. Heck, it was appropriate had the President said it a week ago. It’s a comment just about everyone in America can relate too regardless of their political views or even their musical tastes.

So what did ABC News do? They apologized for releasing the President’s remarks and had the tweets deleted.

What else would expect from the All Barack Channel?

To think that the President can speak off the record is absurd and to do so when wearing a microphone is flat out ridiculous. ABC News is supposed to be a critic of the President not his censor.

There is a tradition amongst news hounds that pre-interview chatter is off limits but it’s doubtful they would have adhered to such an unwritten rule for other presidents.

It’s inexcusable that ABC is kowtowing to the President. How can anyone take them seriously now?

Besides, calling West a “jackass” makes it pretty clear that “President Obama doesn’t care about black people.”

Now that I stole the spotlight from Donald Trump, let’s see what other well-known public figures are saying about West’s immature behavior:

Donald Trump said West’s behavior was “disgusting” and said “we should boycott all things Kayne so this doesn’t happen again.” He also said, “He couldn’t care less about Beyonce. It was grandstanding to get attention.”

Good point Mr. Trump. If MTV has a “Best Co-Ed Video” next year, West will probably attack Beyonce for having no talent and not deserving the award.

 Joe Jackson said…

“I don’t know what he was doing, he jumped up on stage and snatched that microphone out of that poor girl’s hand. They should blackball him out of show business for that. He just leapt up there, that was bad.

I had just gotten through speaking to him, he was introducing me to his girlfriend, and then three minutes later he jumped up on stage. And people booed Kanye all night.”

…and Kelly Clarkson released this essay:

Dear Kayne,

What happened to you as a child?? Did you not get hugged enough?? Something must have happened to make you this way and I think we’re all just curious as to what would make a grown man go on national television and make a talented artist, let alone teenager, feel like sh*t.

I mean, I’ve seen you do some pretty shitty things, but you just keep amazing me with your tactless, asshole ways. It’s absolutely fascinating how much I don’t like you. I like everyone. I even like my asshole ex that cheated on me over you which is pretty odd since I don’t even personally know you. The best part of this evening is that you weren’t even up for THIS award and yet you still have a problem with the outcome. Is winning a moon man that much of a life goal?? You can have mine if it will shut you up. Is it that important, really??

I was actually nominated in the same category that Taylor won and I was excited for her … so why can’t you be?? I’m not even mad at you for being an asshole … I just pity you because you’re a sad human being.

On a side note, Beyonce has always been a class act and proved again tonight that she still is. Go TEXAS!!

Taylor Swift, you outsell him …that’s why he’s bitter. You know I love your work! Keep it up girl!

KC

Ouch.

Well put Kelly Clarkson.

And there’s more…

Pitbull called Kanye a “f**king disrespectful motherf**ker”

…and as always we found some great material on Twitter:

Pink: Kanye west is the biggest piece of s**t on earth. Quote me. Beyonce is a classy lady.I feel for her, too.Its not her fault at all, and her and taylor did their thing. And douche bag got kicked out. HA.

Katy Perry: F**K U KANYE. IT’S LIKE U STEPPED 0N A KITTEN.

Joel Madden: WOW Taylor Swift’s first VMA and she didn’t even get to ENJOY it. Kanye You were just a bully on that one man.

Adam Lambert: Kanye needs to chill. He freaks out every year. It ain’t that deep man.

John Mayer: Big love to my girl @taylorswift13. A class act.

Kelli Pickler: Tator Tot, you handled yourself with Grace. Kanye, go grow some f-ing b*lls bitch! don’t mess w/my lil sis!!

So the big question everyone is asking… Did Kayne West learn his lesson?

Early Monday morning before he boarded a plane at JFK, West was asked about hijacking Taylor Swift’s moment and for the first time in his life, he had nothing to say.

Kayne West proved yet again what a douche he is Sunday night at the 2009 MTV VMA Awards.

Moments after Taylor Swift arrived on stage to accept the award for “Best Female Video,” West stormed the stage, stole the mic from Swift mid-acceptance speech, and made what I assume he thinks was a “political statement.”

West quickly stated he didn’t want to steal the spotlight or ruin Swift’s moment, but that Beyonce’s “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” was “one of the best videos of all time.”

Kayne West, I’m beginning to think, truly is about as intelligent as a gay fish. West later apologized on his blog, but that doesn’t hide the fact he wanted to pull the race card on the selection for “Best Female Video.”

Let me guess, we just elected a half-black president yet the judges at MTV are racist for their “Best Female Video” selection?

What’s even more tragic about this situation is West actually feels a need to interrupt the MTV Music Video awards every single year. He treats the VMA’s like the Grammy’s which is sad because you can’t even find a music video on MTV before 1 in the morning.

Just because it’s called “Music Television,” does not mean it’s actually the best judge as to what is good music and what deserves an award. Keep in mind that the MTV Movie Awards (its parent award show) has nominated “Transformers” (2008), “Pirate’s of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” (2007), and “Titanic” (1998) as past “Best Movie” winners.

Instead, West actually felt the need to interrupt this pathetic award show and steal the spotlight from a 19 year old teenager who still actually watches this channel.

It’s like Christian Bale rushing the stage at “The Teen Choice Awards” and claiming Miley Cyrus was a bad selection for “Actress of the Year.”

Grow up Kayne West – and while you’re at it, stop being the world’s biggest hypocrite.

Remember a year ago when West bashed the Grammy’s for playing “the please wrap up your speech now” music while he was trying to pay a tribute to his late mother?

How do you think he would have liked it? Imagine someone rushing the stage, stealing the mic, and saying that ‘Lil Wayne deserves the award more?

Rappers with any talent are a dying art. The ones that represent the genre continually prove that their intelligence level equals the complexity and depth of their music.

The latest example of celebrity blogging comes from Kanye “Everyone’s Trying to Bring Me Down” West. Kanye went all kurazy on us and spat out how sick and tired he is of people knocking him. Kanye, I like you and I am a fan, but with the money you make don’t think for a second that you have a right to bitch back in this instance….especially since the people who you are upset at have a legitimate right to be upset (see Kanye Shows up at 4AM for a performance at Bonnaroo). And for the love of god, there isn’t enough money on the internet for me to share the $0.07 a day I am making with you. Stop your blogging and start reading our blog you selfish money-hoarding hog.