Bush's Best Moment As President
 

Bush's Best Moment As President: Catching A Fish
(AP) WASHINGTON President Bush says his best moment as president was the time he caught a 7 1/2-pound largemouth bass.

During his more than five years in office, Bush has traveled the world's most impressive cities, met with world leaders and entertained celebrities.

But when the German newspaper Bild asked him to name his best and worst moments as president, Bush gave an offbeat answer about the best moment, while giving a more predictable response about his worst.

"The most awful moment was September the 11th, 2001," Bush said, adding that it took time to understand the depth of the terrorist attacks on the United States. "I would say the toughest moment of all was after the whole reality sunk in and I was trying to help the nation understand what was going on, and at the same time, be empathetic for those who had lost lives."

Bush admitted it was not easy to pick a best moment because "I've had a lot of great moments," according to a transcript of the Friday interview released Sunday.

"I would say the best moment was when I caught a 7 1/2-pound largemouth bass on my lake," Bush said, laughing.

Hey. I thought it was a perch? :eyebrow:

At least he and I agree on his finest moment in office.

Apparently the article was originally in German, and "perch" and "bass" are very similar words in German.

Amen.:D

If Bush allows the next President to be sworn in, that will be his finest moment.

Actually, I believe W's finest moment was his press conference with Tony Blaire today. Did anybody else see it? Asked what was his greatest mistake, the guy actually said his language and attitude at the beginning of the conflicts in the Middle East was immature and inappropriate. He stated that he deeply regretted saying "Bring it on!" and other "cowboy attitude" comments which gave a poor impression of the USA. I mean, WOW! Sure, somebody else told him he had to say it, but at least he DID say it in front of God and everybody. Wow.

It's a step in the right direction, but I still don't trust it....

Ah, the smirk. You'd think the puppet masters would have trained that out by now.

I appreciate any individuals journey towards wisdom. I even appreciate the president finally being able to state the obvious. Unfortunately, it will be sort of useless to us to finally have a president who has attained the mimimal skills and experience to govern if he does so in his last months, weeks, or days in office.

I was not a big Kerry fan, but IMO he would have been a better choice because he would not have had to wait an extra year to admit GWB's failures. The same holds true for McCain, and anyone else running in the last election.

As the talking heads remarked on one of the panel shows last night "that's great, but will it affect policy?"

The Chinese are carrying our debt and OPEC and Russia hold most of the oil we need. Any idiot can see that our economic destiny is no longer in our hands and won't be until we take care of our national debt and energy use.

NOW we are talking about energy, 5+ years into the presidency. During the first term, when oil was running about $20-30 a barrel, Cheney convened a closed conference of oil and energy executives. None of them mentioned that oil would probably be at $70 a barrel in 2006? Noone considered the blow to our economy? Or did they know pretty much what was going to happen and just decided to sit back and let the profits roll in? The oil executives are out to make a buck, that's their job, but Cheney and Bush are supposed to be working for us.

Our two chief executives are both from the oil industry and it took them 5+ years to recognize and start to deal with energy dependence? As always, this begs the question "Are they stupid or crooked?"

Or both? :(

Actually, he was asked what he regretted the most, nothing at all about his mistake. You and I *both* heard "what was your biggest mistake" via the awesome power of wishful hearing... :(

I was impressed and surprised too by hearing those words in that voice (radio only). I didn't hear the smirk, but I did hear the now common structure of saying "I'm sorry you took my words wrong" "apology". Let me see if I can recall the words...(decided to look up the transcript instead)

Regrets

President Bush was asked: "...Which missteps and mistakes of your own [do] you most regret?" He replied:

Quote:

Originally Posted by President George W Bush “Saying "Bring it on." Kind of tough talk, you know, that sent the wrong signal to people. That I learned some lessons about expressing myself maybe in a little more sophisticated manner. You know, "Wanted dead or alive," that kind of talk. I think in certain parts of the world it was misinterpreted. And so I learned -- I learned from that. And, you know, I think the biggest mistake that's happened so far, at least from our country's involvement in Iraq, is Abu Ghraib. We've been paying for that for a long period of time. And it's -- unlike Iraq, however, under Saddam, the people who committed those acts were brought to justice; they've been given a fair trial and tried and convicted.”

Emphasis mine.

In the first case, it's the classic, "I regret you misunderstood me". That is very different from an apology. In the second case, it's "I hate standing in the corner/being fined/being caught and punished". Not an apology. Not contrition. It's a start. But it's only words now. I'll be more impressed as suitable actions support these words.