BUSH LIED, FISH DIED? I'd heard questions raised as to whether it was really possible for the President's finest hour to have been catching a 7.5 pound perch in light of the fact that American perch don't get that big. According to the White House, however, this is a complete misunderstanding -- he was being interviewed in English, then that got translated into German, and then translated back into English. What the President actually said was "the best moment was when I caught a seven-and-a-half pound large mouth bass on my lake." Bass do get big enough to make that plausible. Tristero reminds us of Bush's famous dictum, "I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully" (yes, that actually happened) which may be relevant here somehow.
More disturbing than this fish business, in many ways, were the President's remarks on the upcoming World Cup. We're fielding a very strong team this year, and Bush is normally the master of nationalistic bluster -- why couldn't he muster a stronger vote on confidence in the squad? Relatedly, we could really use some presidential intervention into the matter of Team USA Men's Basketball. Amare Stoudemire is supposed to be our starting center at the World Championships this summer, but he's injured, and Brad Miller isn't really an acceptable substitute. The President really needs to encourage Shaq or Ben Wallace to step up and join the team.
--Matthew Yglesias
