George W. Bush's best moment so far: catching a fish

When a German reporter asked Bush what the best moment of his presidency has been so far, Bush replied, “I would say the best moment of all was when I caught a 7.5 pound perch in my lake.”

As Tristero says on Hullabaloo:

"Just for the sake of argument, let's say it's true. He really did catch that large a fish and that was his happiest moment in five years. Does he realize what this says about him and his presidency?

"With all the daily opportunities available to do such good for your fellow country-folk, and the world, the only thing Bush specifically mentioned that made him happy is catching a big fish. In his own lake. Which could very well be deliberately stocked with big fish.

"There are, imo, only three ways to understand this comment, assuming it's true. Quite possibly it's the pathetic whine of a deeply, perhaps clinically, depressed man who believes himself a total failure. Or maybe this is a man so uninterested in his job, let alone in serving his country, that he has no business whatsoever being president. Or perhaps this is simply an arrogant bastard who holds in utter contempt anyone who dares to ask him a question, so he responds with the stupidest thing he can say. (Obviously, nothing precludes all three or some combination of two.)

"To be all pre-emptive about it, someone's bound to comment that maybe this just shows how much of a down-to-earth regular guy Bush is. Yeah? All the down-to-earth regular guys I know don't have their own lake, fer chrissakes. Those people are filthy rich, even if they wear jeans on their estates. But there's a character thing here, too. The down-to-earth people I know who hold important jobs are mighty proud of of what they do and mighty happy with their achievements. And they can tick them off without thinking too hard about what they might be. And, even as a joke, they don't talk about catching a big perch when a newspaper asks them to name their best moment in more than five years. They name their accomplishments. Or, if they're trying to play up the down-to-earthiness, they name their children or something they did with their spouse.

"The perch record in Texas is for a 12 pound 1 ounce Nile Perch caught in 1980 . But I gather that's very small, actually, for a Nile Perch (the fish itself is, via its introduction where it's not supposed to be, a textbook example of an ecological disaster). So if Bush caught a Nile Perch in his own lake, that is nothing to brag about.

"But here may be the smoking fish. According to this link of perch fishing records, which goes to 2003, the heaviest perch officially caught in the US (besides the Nile mentioned above) was a Sacramento Perch from 1971 weighing 4 pounds, nine ounces.

"LIke I said, I don't know enough about fishing to know whether I've been swimming up the wrong stream. But even if I'm way wrong, I wanna see a photo of this fish Bush is all boasting about catching all over the world.

"One last thing: A long time ago, when the country was led by a qualified and patriotic American, Candidate George W. Bush memorably said, 'I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully.'

"Well, if you believe the president's latest fish tale, apparently not."

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-05-07T100113Z_01_L07638085_RTRUKOC_0_UK-BUSH-FISH.xml&archived=False

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2006_05_01_digbysblog_archive.html#114702721390851346