Australia, Austria. What's the diff?

President Bush seems to be trying out a new comedy sketch about a bumbling politician who can't quite say what he means. And it's very convincing.

In a visit this week to Australia for the APEC summit, Bush fumbled so much more than usual in one speech that even the usual staid Associated Press wrote a story about it.

SYDNEY, Australia - President Bush had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day at the Sydney Opera House.

He'd only reached the third sentence of Friday's speech to business leaders, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, when he committed his first gaffe.

"Thank you for being such a fine host for the OPEC summit," Bush said to Australian Prime Minister John Howard.

Oops. That would be APEC, the annual meeting of leaders from 21 Pacific Rim nations, not OPEC, the cartel of 12 major oil producers.

To cover it up, he made a joke that didn't make sense:

Bush quickly corrected himself. "APEC summit," he said forcefully, joking that Howard had invited him to the OPEC summit next year (for the record, an impossibility, since neither Australia nor the U.S. are OPEC members).

Then he went on to thank Australian leaders for sending "Austrian troops" to Iraq.

Then, after his speech was done, he walked off the stage the wrong way, nearly plunging off the high end to injury below. Or maybe he meant to do that after such a performance.