There's Something Truly You-Know-What About This Story
by tristero
Bush claims he caught a 7 1/2 pound perch* in his very own lake.
Yeah, right. Gotta picture? But just for the sake of argument, let's say it's true (but see below). 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.
Oh, by the way, check this out. Turns out the BBC also has an article about the same Bild am Sonntag story. Here is more of what the president of the United States said to the German press:In a more serious moment, he said he understood German opposition to the war in Iraq.
"The Germans today simply don't like war... And I can understand that.
"There is a generation of people whose lives were thrown into complete disarray by a horrible war."
It's sad, isn't it? I count at least two reasons weep your eyes out after reading this.
First of all, who knew? The Germans today simply don't like war. Unlike we Americans, who still really, really dig war. That poor, traumatized country. They have no idea all the good times they're missing.
But more importantly, we have a president who actually said to a German newspaper, "The Germans today simply don't like war..." That's why everyone I know who travels abroad makes a point of telling the people they meet within twenty seconds that they didn't vote for George W. Bush, ever. I'm far from ashamed to be an American, but I'm thoroughly ashamed that this malicious moron is the leader of my country.
(And let's pass over in silence that the generation thrown into complete disarray is retired. Or that that horrible war, unlike the pretty good war in Iraq, was in fact started by the Germans).
But we digress. Let's get back, shall we, to whether or not we should believe Bush actually caught a perch weighing 7.5 pounds. (See update at the *) I'd like to caveat this by saying I am not a fisherman, so if I'm wrong, please correct me.
It is true: 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.
Hat tip to Peter Daou.
[Edited slightly after original posting.]
[UPDATE: More proof that Bush never did believe that human beings and fish could peacefully coexist. Check it out: A story on the front page of today's paper reports that "the Bush administration proposes to roll back 'critical habitat' for the ever-declining salmon and steelhead trout by 90%. Developers applaud the plan." Who on earth could possibly think this is a good idea? Do millions of Bush supporters have some personal vendetta against fish? Does Bush have something against fish? Like I said, it's a mystery. I don't understand the country or the times that I'm living in.
]
Update: Digby here, rudely horning in on tristero's post.
Julia from Sisyphus Shrugged emailed me with this little gem from January of 2003:
THE PRESIDENT: This is pretty good (inaudible) in there.
Q Is this man-made, sir?
THE PRESIDENT: Man-made.
Q How many acres?
THE PRESIDENT: About 11 acres lake, 17 foot deep. The deepest spot, I put 600 black bass in there a few years ago, and about 30,000 bait fish. And they're about two-and-a-half to three pounds now. A bad time to fish, because the fish are lethargic during the cold. We've got blue gill and shad and perch.
*[UPDATE: According to Salon, it was a large-mouthed bass. According to the commenters to this post, catching a 7 1/2 pound bass in an artificial lake stocked with bass is not a big deal. A few points:
1. I still wanna see a pic of that fish before I'll believe it.
2. One of the trackbacks informs us that Bush was laughing when he boasted of this. As if that makes it any less bizarre a statement - that's just the old "I'm jes' regular folks" nonsense Bush pulls, to distract people from the fact that he's a rich prick who has an artificial lake stocked with sport fishes on his private estate.
On the other hand, Salon also reports that Bush feels that part of the toughest moment of the past five years was trying to "be empathetic for those who had lost lives." I believe that. Bush has always had problems empathizing with people and I'm sure it was real tough for him to try to do that.
3. Notice, in Digby's update to this post that Bush is quite specific about the number of Bass and bait fish added to his pond. He is also clear and his thinking is organized. A far contrast to when he is talking about taxes or anything connected with the job of being president. Fishing: Bush really cares about that and pays attention.
4. The translation issue here is a minor one - in fact, obviously the whole thing is trivial when measured against the monstrous problems Bush has created and lied about. But it does highlight how important language fluency is, and that reminds me, again, that those who don't speak Arabic or Persian well have no business passing themselves off as experts on the Middle East. They may be knowledgeable about US foreign policy towards the Middle East, but they are in no better position to make specific reccomendations about what to do than I am. They really don't know what they are dealing with, only how the US has dealt with the Middle East, which is a very different matter.]
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