Rather More Schandenfreude

When Ra^therGate first broke, Jonah Goldberg had the killer quote: "Is it possible to die of Schanenfreude?" Well, move over, Jonah: President Bush trumped your ace, according to RatherBiased.

As is traditional, the President hosted top TV news journalists this past Wednesday to preview themes for that evening's State of the Union address. The luncheon was "the first time the outgoing anchor and the president have met since Rather's apology for the [phony Texas Air National Guard] story." It may also be their last encounter, because Rather's retiring on March 9th and has been unofficially banned from interviewing Bush. Rather was silent when Bush answered audience questions.

But the two men did speak, according to Fox's Chris Wallace appearing with Fox anchor Brit Hume:

At the very end as the President left, he asked Mr. Rather whether he was planning to retire to Texas . . . and said that he would be joining Rather in retirement in Texas in four years. But, on the other hand, the President was going off to lead the Free World for the next four.

RatherBiased preserved the Wallace-Hume video here. Alas, the exchange between Bush and the biased Rather wasn't recorded. But I agree with Wizbang's Jay Tea: "I'd sell my immortal soul to see a video of that encounter. . ."