A Man Who Loves His Work

BERLIN (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush told a German newspaper his best moment in more than five years in office was catching a big perch in his own lake.

"You know, I've experienced many great moments and it's hard to name the best," Bush told weekly Bild am Sonntag when asked about his high point since becoming president in January 2001.

"I would say the best moment of all was when I caught a 7.5 pound (3.402 kilos) perch in my lake," he told the newspaper in an interview published on Sunday.

He's the President of the United States, and his best moment was home catching a fish? He couldn't even humor us with something like "when I got the news that Saddam had been captured," or "the day I was reelected"?

I mean, it's true he hasn't had a lot of successes to point to, and he can't say something cloyingly patriotic like "the day Jenna and Barbara enlisted in the Army to help fight the War on Terror" since they still haven't. But still, a fish?

His lake, of course, is man-made, and stocked with fish. Fishing enthusiasts in the blogosphere are already pointing out that stocked perch aren't terrifically hard to catch. Of course we all know how Mr. Bush feels about "hard work." There is some controversy, in that standard perch apparently never grow to such a size. Might he be stocking his pond with exotic Nile perch, which grow quite large? (And, by virtue of the their catastrophic introduction to Lake Victoria, symbolize the concept of "invader species.") Or is it that he doesn't really know fish? (It's also possibly a translation error, since the Reuters story is going from the German story, not an official translation.) Of course, the President would never mislead about his accomplishments.

Me, I think that we should do Mr. Bush a favor, thank him for his service, and give him an early retirement, so he can get back to the fishing he loves so much.

Just as soon as Cheney is forced from office.

Update: The official White House transcript has him saying "large mouth bass." So maybe that part was a translation problem. But still, a fish?