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Guess You Had To Be There
By Tom Shoop | Thursday, March 30, 2006  |  09:34 AM

In his appearance yesterday at a meeting of Freedom House, an organization that promotes democracy around the world, President Bush was a regular stand-up comedian. The transcript of the event is riddled with references to audience laughter. But it's a little hard to tell exactly what was so funny:

Q: I have a question. I am from Mali. A couple of years ago, the Millennium Challenge Account was created to help countries that were already on the path to democracy. Looking at a country like Mali in West Africa, where just yesterday we celebrated 15 years of freedom, we haven't seen any money yet. (Laughter.)

THE PRESIDENT: I like a good lobbyist. (Laughter.)

Q: Are you now confident that Charles Taylor, the recently recaptured Liberian warlord, will stand trial?

THE PRESIDENT: I am much more confident today than I was yesterday. (Laughter.)

Q: Mr. President, I'm from the Public International Law and Policy Group. I'm also from Egypt and I aspire to one day go back there and join Egyptian politics. So my question is --

THE PRESIDENT: Go for President. (Laughter.)

Q: Good afternoon, Mr. President. I'm glad to see you here speaking today. I have a question about the immigration issue that's going on right now. And I'm just curious -- the Senate will probably pass a measure, the House has already passed a measure. And I'm curious what kinds of components are you looking for in an immigration bill that you can support? And how do you reconcile a guest worker for undocumented residents who are here, versus those who are on line and in the system waiting five and 10 years to get here?

THE PRESIDENT: No, that's a great question. Thanks. It's obviously topic du jour. (Laughter.) Pretty fancy, huh? Topic du jour? (Laughter.) I don't want to ruin the image. (Laughter.)

At one point, an audience member tried to get into the act with a quip of his own, but Bush was having none of it. "I'm the funny guy," he insisted.