A Fishy Story, Part II

So was Bush joking when he told a German newspaper recently that his best moment in office occurred while he was fishing? I discussed the ramification in my previous post.

I found the transcript (finally) the other day, you can read it at the White House here.

Turns out Bush was joking, assuming that the laughter cue in the transcript is accurate. But the White House failed to clarify, and the media were perfectly content to leave the question of Bush's state of mind hanging in the air.

I am still not sure exactly how Bush intended his statement to be taken. Is Bush tired of petty attacks? Is he trying to mock his 31 percent approval rating? The humor is a little imprecise and people aren't sure he was joking. Not good. A sharper point could have been made by stating that his best moment in office was catching a fish, but adding the tagline "... or at least that's what my Democratic friends in Congress would like you to believe."

Or something like that. Maybe next time.