The world press on the pretzel incident.

Thursday, January 17, 2002 12:01 A.M. EST

Yesterday's Los Angeles Times featured an article on world press coverage of President Bush's pretzel incident. These below were taken from either the Times account or the Web sites of the newspapers cited:

To Vima, Greek daily:
George Bush attempted to taste the biscuit with his attention focused on a football game--a combination of actions that, it appears, proved difficult.

London Telegraph:
This is exactly the sort of accident that befalls Homer Simpson, night after night, in The Simpsons cartoon series. . . . What is so comforting is that here is a president who finds himself conducting an international war against terrorism, with great competence, but who still finds the time to while away his Sunday evenings in front of the box, watching football and munching pretzels.

Berliner Zeitung:
Even in his wildest dreams, Osama bin Laden couldn't have managed what one tiny pretzel did this weekend. According to reports from the White House, it not only brought the mightiest man in the world to his knees but flat out on the floor.

Gazeta, Russian daily:
Bush's organism, although weakened and unconscious, managed to cope with the indisposition. The organism first rejected the pretzel but later swallowed it and digested without mercy.

Arab News, Saudi English-language daily:
It seems hardly credible, but according to top US medics, pretzels can make you faint. We are therefore assured that when President George W. Bush passed out in front of his television set, long enough to fall off a sofa and cut his face, it was nothing to worry about. . . .

While no one believes that it is anything serious, there are already speculations about the impact of a lame-duck White House on the world. These are particularly dangerous times internationally. The United States has assumed considerable responsibilities and powers in its campaign against global terrorism. . . . If . . . Bush’s unusual collapse is a symptom of more serious medical problems, we can be absolutely sure that, lacking any clear direction from a troubled White House, Washington’s foreign policy will click back on to its traditional Zionist track. Palestinians will continue to choke on Israeli aggression, while the US president may again choke on a typical Yiddish pretzel.

London Independent:
Momentary loss of consciousness, otherwise known as fainting, has been seen as a sign of weakness in leaders down the ages and across cultures. So, while it is easy to laugh at George Bush's brush with a recalcitrant pretzel--and this is precisely what the presidential spin doctors wanted the ever-vigilant White House press corps to do--his precipitate descent to the floor while watching the Green Bay Packers take on the San Francisco Giants invites deeper musing.

Was he poisoned perhaps? Has the stress of fighting the war on terrorism while fending off inquires about the collapse of his friend Ken Lay's Enron overwhelmed him? Was there maybe some family tiff? Or, perish the thought, did he reach for something stronger than his regular non-alcoholic beer?

It's worth noting that President Bush was actually watching the game between the Baltimore Ravens and the Miami Dolphins, not the Packers and the San Francisco Giants. We'd have loved to see the latter game, though we're not sure what sport they would have played.