Yesterday, we ran a brief item in this space about Texas Governor and US presidential candidate George W. Bush headlined "Bush flunks foreign policy quiz."
No sooner had the paper gone to press than a friend in Washington e-mailed us a copy of humorist Art Buchwald's recent column about -- you guessed it -- George W. Bush and "that quiz."
Buchwald, who has been writing humor columns for the Washington Post for centuries, said he was not as disturbed as most Americans were that Bush didn't know the names of the leaders of Pakistan, India or Chechnya -- although he did know the name of Taiwan's president. ("Lee!" Bush replied to a TV reporter.)
"There is nothing in the US Constitution that says the president has to know who the leaders of those three places are," Buchwald said.
But the famous humorist did have an interesting suggestion for Bush's campaign team, writing: "What Mr Bush has to do is rewrite his briefing book. When a TV interviewer asks, `Who is the president of Ireland?' his response would be, `I can't tell you that, but I can tell you who the leader of Taiwan is. It's Lee Teng-hui.'
"`You have just won US$200. Would you like to go for $1,000?'
"`Yes, I'll try education.'
"`How do you feel about prayer in school?'
"`Lee Teng-hui.'
"`Now one more question. If elected, who would you appoint as the chairman of the Federal Reserve board?'
"`Lee Teng-hui.'"
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