Editing Talking to Americans (section)

==George W. Bush==
The most famous segment, aired in 2000, featured Mercer asking then-presidential candidate [[George W. Bush]] &ndash; who had previously stated that "you can't stump me on world leaders" &ndash; for his reaction to an endorsement by [[Prime Minister of Canada|Canadian Prime Minister]] "Jean [[Poutine]]", which was a play on the name of then-Prime Minister [[Jean Chrétien]] ([[poutine]] is an order of French fries topped with cheese curds and gravy).<ref>Tony Lofaro, "George W. Bush swallows `Jean Poutine' prank: Presidential hopeful confuses Prime Minister Chretien with cheesy fries". ''[[Ottawa Citizen]]'', March 3, 2000.</ref>

Bush said he looked forward to working together with his future counterpart to the north, praising [[free trade]] and Canada. That said, Bush never actually used the name of Poutine and only failed to correct Mercer on the name.

A few years later, when Bush made his first official visit to Canada, he joked during a speech, "There's a prominent citizen who endorsed me in the 2000 election, and I wanted a chance to finally thank him for that endorsement. I was hoping to meet Jean Poutine."<ref>"Forging a 'fruitful partnership'". ''[[Vancouver Sun]]'', December 2, 2004.</ref>