Bush Offends Interior Decorators

At his televised news conference Wednesday, Bush acknowledged that Democrats had taken control of the House of Representatives. Then, instead of directly recognizing Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) as the first Madam Speaker, he quipped that he had sent the woman who would be second in line for the presidency "the names of some Republican interior decorators who can help her pick out the new drapes in her new offices."

(Aides in Pelosi's office took the remark as simply a partisan punch line, saying Friday that the White House had not sent along any names of decorators.)

Some Washington decorators, however, aren't laughing.

Victor Shargai, who has furnished the interiors of offices in the Capitol and on the Hill, found Bush's joke "demeaning" -- to women and to decorators.