Poor Joschka Fischer. Ever since the German foreign minister regained his hefty weight--and then some--his rivals have not been able to resist cracking jokes on a par with "Reggie" from The Nutty Professor. For example, they say there's a sequel to Fischer's diet book, The Long Run Towards Myself. The new one is called The Long Run Towards Myself ... and Back. Speaking to a member of the Bundestag this morning, I asked this person about Fischer and the problem of obesity. "He doesn't have an obesity problem," said the man. "He has a fatness problem."

Not that it is all one-sided. Some critics of the CDU's presumed nominee for chancellor, Angela Merkel, refer to her in the masculine, as in Der Merkel. Nice.