The time David Letterman's show sent Pat Buchanan's racist supporters into a rage

Good read on rejected on-air bits:

STEPHEN SHERRILL (1995–1996; The New Yorker)

It’s not really a rejected bit, but it’s one that never made air. Rodney Rothman, Bob Borden, and I were in New Hampshire for the 1996 Republican primary. One idea was to dump a bunch of Gatorade on a supporter of the winner. So we find a supporter outside Buchanan headquarters, where a celebration is going on. He agrees — we’ll do it when he’s leaving the party, and we’ll buy him a new suit. A few hours later he comes out, having had a few drinks. He says, great, let’s do it. So Bob dumps the Gatorade on him. For about 30 seconds, the guy is silent. Then he begins steaming — literally — because it’s really cold outside. It’s unclear how this was different than what he’d envisioned, but he’s getting very angry. So Rodney reminds him that we’ll buy him a new suit, and the guy shouts, “You Jews — it’s always money!” Then our camera man looks up and the guy calls him a “guinea.” Now he’s starting to attract the attention of nervous campaign staffers. As they hustle him away, he yells back at us that Whitey Bulger is a friend of his and he’s going to have Whitey take care of us. None of us know who Whitey Bulger is, but we AltaVista him later.

Back in New York, we show the footage to Dave. It’s funny, Dave says, but too weird. The footage goes to the lawyers instead.