Transcript of Bush's interview with the German Bild tabloid

[Kellanved]

Kai Diekmann of Germany's BILD am Sonntag newspaper recently interviewed President George W. Bush in the Oval Office. Here is a full transcript of the interview.

BILD: BILD has 12 million readers. It's the largest newspaper in Germany. And there's one thing which is really special about our newspaper -- every German who wants to work for the newspaper, he has to sign in his working contrasts some beliefs -- and there's the belief you have to be for reunification, you have to be against totalitarianism from riots on the right side and the left side, and you have to be for the peace and for the understanding with Israel, and, since September 11th, we have a new belief -- you have to be for partnership with America. Otherwise, you can't work for us, you can't come -- you have to sign it in your contract.

Bush: My kind of guy. (Laughter.)
...
BILD: The U.S. economy is booming.

Bush: Yes, it is. Thankfully.

BILD: Yes, it is booming because you made big tax cuts.

Bush: True.
...

BILD: The famous picture when somebody gave you the information?

BUSH: Yes, that. I think, like all of us, it took a while for the -- it was more than a moment. It was the event and the aftermath. On a situation like that, it takes a period to understand exactly what was going on. When somebody says, America is under attack, and -- you've got to fully understand what that meant. And the information coming was haphazard at best for a while. We weren't sure if the State Department got hit. I'd heard the White House had got attacked. Of course, I was worried that -- my family was here.

And so 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.

The best moment was -- you know, I've had a lot of great moments. I don't know, it's hard to characterize 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-a-half pound large mouth bass on my lake. (Laughter.)

BILD: Perfect.
...
http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,414977,00.html


Edit: to add a little info about Bild:
http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,412021,00.html

[charlie]

1. Hey, what happened to the perch? n/t

[Kellanved]

2. Lost in translation, I guess

n/t

[BlueEyedSon]

3. A stocked lake, no doubt

probly a secret service SCUBA diver is assigned to swim under the boat and hook W up to a nice pre-sedated fish....

[Crankie Avalon]

4. How dare you, sir!

Are you trying to minimize this president's greatest achievement while in office? I say, let's be fair. What's his is his. Let's agree that catching that fish was the highpoint of his presidency and not risk seeming petty or quibbling about it.

[BlueEyedSon]

8. A great accomplishment like that is rarely the work of one man, even for

our fearless leader!

:evilgrin:

[ChairmanAgnostic]

7. Ah, shades of Brezhnev.

During the last 10 years of his life, his failing health was so poor that they used heavy duty drugs to prop him up at times. When he went fishing, the KBG would hook his line with fish, while another in the boat would help him reel it in. I met one of the frogmen who helped with the "fishing".

[charlie]

5. Oh shit

Run for cover, Germany! Our gibbering idiot has decided to "bring democracy" to your country.

"The point now is not what went on in the past. The point now is how do we work together to achieve important goals. And one such goal is a democracy in Germany (sic)."

[Kellanved]

10. Oh, we'll be fine.

He doesn't have a mandate; he's got a date with Frau Merkel.

Just to think about the absurdity: she was summoned to Washington to discuss two world moving issues: a) Iran and b) the fact that prostitution is legal in Germany. :banghead:

[baldguy]

6. This one?

[BlueEyedSon]

9. no, thats a bass

[Rose Siding]

11. Wild. You KNOW Jr was on the horn to Alberto-

"Kin we git us somma them working contracts heh heh can we?"

[tanyev]

12. You can't work for BILD unless you are pro-America? WTF?

[MissHoneychurch]

13. BILD is the "news" for stupid people

no one in its right sense reads BILD here. Alone the headlines are made to throw up.

[tanyev]

14. I guess that's how they got an "exclusive" George Bush interview.

[MissHoneychurch]

15. Exactly

Every other real journalist of a serious newspaper like Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung or Die Zeit would have asked questions * wouldn't have been able to understand in the first place.

[Kellanved]

16. My bet is that Focus will get one.

Friede Springer, Burda, Christiansen - all the big Merkel supporting power-women of the German conservative media landscape.

[MissHoneychurch]

17. Please NOT!!!

It is bad enough that Merkel has her head in his ass. Why does the media have to follow that? Yuck!!!