Bush's high spot: a fish – World – smh.com.au
It might sound fishy but US President George W Bush says that catching a bass in a lake on his Texas ranch has been the high spot of his five years in office.
Asked by German newspaper Bild to name the "most wonderful moment" of his presidency, Bush said: "I don't know, it's hard to characterise the great moments.
"They've all been busy moments, by the way.
"I would say the best moment was when I caught a seven and half pound (3.4kg) largemouth bass on my lake."
Bush may have been joking.
Nonetheless, political observers were amazed how he let such a soft question go by, particularly at time when his approval rating is languishing at around a lowly 30 per cent.
In 2004 Bush was asked by reporters to name his biggest mistake, but he couldn't come up with any.
"At least this is balanced," said Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia's Centre for Politics.
"He can't think of the worst mistakes or his best moments. Maybe that's how he survives."
"I doubt his wife will be pleased," Sabato added. "If he wasn't going to name some official moment, the least he could have done was name some moment with Laura."
KRT
That’s an Atlantic striped bass, besides . . . . . .
Ingratitude to Fishery Observers
Mr. Bush ought to pay more attention to what he catches when he goes fishing. Bush likes to take a lot of time away from his duties as President to do some recreational fishing. Among the fish that he’s caught is the striped bass.
Now, why is Mr. Bush able to catch a striped bass? He can catch the fish for fun because of the work of fishery observers, who make sure that big commercial fishing operations stop the practice of catching and then discarding huge amounts of striped bass in order to get a small number of the more financially lucrative cod, haddock and flounder. Just a few years ago, striped bass were at record low levels. Thanks to fishery observers and other conservation efforts, the striped bass have made a modest recovery in their population.
Although these fishery observers have ensured that pleasure boating folks like Bush have the opportunity to play at Old Man and the Sea and catch striped bass for fun, when Bush goes back to Washington D.C., he shows nothing but ingratitude. Bush has asked Congress to cut the funding for fishery observers in 2005.