A world leader who loves George W. Bush

George W. Bush and Italy's Silvio Berlusconi are tight, the kind of friends who cover each other's backs.

When Bush went to war in Iraq in 2003, Berlusconi was one of the few members of the "Old Europe" establishment to support him, sending 3,000 Italian troops to join the fight. The Italian prime minister also backed the president's call for a freedom agenda overseas, encouraging pro-U.S. rallies when the rest of Europe was inflamed with antiwar protests in the streets.

In return, Bush, not one given to close intimate gatherings, invited Berlusconi to spend time with him both at Camp David and at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. During their time in office together, both knew electoral pain. Berlusconi was booted out by the voters two years ago, and Bush lost Congress to Democrats.

But Berlusconi, a 71-year-old media tycoon, won reelection in April and a jubilant Bush welcomed him to the White House today, on Columbus Day.

In his remarks, President Bush thanked Berlusconi for his leadership, for sending troops to help in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon and the Balkans.

But Berlusconi could barely contain himself in praising the United States.

Thanking Americans for sending U.S. troops to Europe not only to "save Europe from Communism, Nazism many years ago," he also praised the United States for helping Europe "achieve welfare, wealth and well-being."

They were next to us all through the Cold War years. Every time a wound opened in the world, the United States sent its troops, paying a very high price, in terms of human lives, to guarantee freedom of not only the United States, but the rest of the world, as well.

...We must bow in front of the sacrifices, and the sacrifices of so many lives, and we have to state and say that never, ever -- the U.S. troops continued to stay in countries where they had intervened to help people save their lives. So they never stayed there to occupy out of interest. And this has to be remembered by all Europeans.

As for Bush, Berlusconi was, if anything, more effusive.

I would like to close my statement by telling President Bush and expressing my appreciation, my friendship, my congratulations and my love and esteem. I've been working with him very well. There has never been a moment when I saw in him interests which are not general interest. I never saw biased interest. There has never been a moment when I saw in him something different from a very sincere and pure feelings and sentiment.

He is a person -- he is a man of vision. He is an idealist. And also he has the courage of implementing what he believes is right, what he thinks needs to be done to pursue the ideals which he considers to be right for himself, his people, and the world. The United States has taken over the responsibility of taking care of the world.

Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you for being here. And believe me, believe me that my feelings are shared by the great majority of Italians and European citizens, as well.

Welcome words for a beleaguered president. Bush, whose popularity ratings are in the 23% range, down near Richard Nixon's lows, was beaming.

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: Chris Greenberg / White House

Comments

[Ali]

Boy this guy's just as dumb as George, it seems.

[Alex]

Bravo, Bravo, Bravo Berlusconi! Hearty thanks from this Italian-American for expressing his heartfelt feelings and appreciation for the decades of American sacrifices (monetary and human) to save the world from the scourge of fasicsm and communism (thanks especially to Ronald Reagan), to bolster national security for those nations committed to freedom, and to assist nations in developing their economies so their citizens could prosper and avoid the temptations of socialism and communism, which have been proved time again to be the most oppressive, cruel, and inhuman forms of government ever devised. The socialist segment of the American political spectrum should heed Berlusconi's words.

[Mike]

Ali,

Such a mean spritied comment. Show some respect and class. Pres. Bush has made his fair share of mistakes but to call him dumb is ridiculous. Nobody would get to the highest office in the World if they were dumb.

[jp az]

Viva Bush!! Viva Berlusconi!!

Hay Ali, Does it hurt to be as negative and stupid as youo appear to be?

[JACK]

It is realy great to hear something positive for a change,,rather than all the bush bashing from the MORONS ON THE LEFT. get over the 2000 election already..

[Brian]

Berlusconi is a much worse leader then bush.

From the economist.com website:

"Our verdict against Mr Berlusconi in 2001 rested on two broad considerations. The first was the glaring conflict of interest created by his ownership, via his biggest company, Mediaset, of the three main private television stations in Italy. The second was the morass of legal cases and investigations against him and his associates for a wide variety of alleged offences, ranging from money-laundering and dealing with the Mafia to false accounting and the bribing of judges. We concluded that no businessman with such a background was fit to lead one of the world's richest democracies. …"

[Jason]

hate to break it to everyone, but look at the facts and where the country is not in a better place than it was 8 years ago. The country is on the verge of a major recession or possibly depression. We took a country that had no Al-Qida ties and made there be a new one. Before anyone says I don't know what I am talking about I served in an intel unit for the US Navy from 99-02. We have created a drain on the military preventing them from resolving the only threat that has been able to directly attack us in over 60 years. People's entire life's savings have been wiped out. Record foreclosures are happening all across the US. Unemployment is climbing, underemployment (the unspoken of view where people who once held professional jobs in companies now working for wal-mart type jobs) is the only think keeping unemployment from double digit numbers.

Your average Bus/McCain supporter appears to think Obama would trigger the apocolypse. Unfortunately, when you are worried about that, the country most likely right now to do that would be Iran, and McCain's Bomb Iran song wmatched with his Next Stop Theran comment leaves little question about his agenda if he were to go in to office. At least talking with them gives them other options to ultimately futile force (they know they cannot hit our nukes if we launched them).

Add in to that the unfortunate form of skin cancer McCain has that is very likely to kill him within the next 4 years and his inexperienced VP. Palin, who has about 4 years local (city), 2 years at the state level of politics, 0 years national experience, brings in gender to politics (bet Obama wishes he picked Hillary now), and falsely accuses him of palling around with terrorists (last terrorist act was when Obama was 8 by a man who worked with him on education reforms in Chicago). If they want to take on Obama's 4 years of national experience as well as 4 years at state, and almost a decade at local (city) politics. Who really is the inexperienced and reckless one?

The sad fact is McCain, once very highly respected by everyone, has squandered that respect. His sole gem of his presidency was telling his supporters they need to settle down. Unfortunately, it's a long fall for one man I used to respect. Ambition can make you make some very wrong decisions. Just ask Ken Lay.

[BuzzKill]

Hey now. Bush is not an idiot. He's a high-functioning moron. And making fun of people with disabilities is just tasteless.

[LSM]

W is probably more popular with the Italian than with his erstwhile puppet Maliki who seems more like like an Obama fan. Berlusconi is not only out of touch with the rest of the world but with his own people. Wonder how long it will take the GOP to get over the election of 2008?

[JACK]

HEY JASON get a grip already and stop being led around like a sheep, by all the far left loons..saying what your saying you sound just like them,do you think the last 8 years would have been better with gore or kerry, if you do you had better do some real thinking or grow up......

[chris dorf]

2 peas in a pod...fascist control and non transparence...

[AJ]

He's made his "fair share of mistakes", that's right his share and everyone else's. As Chris Rock so eloquently put it, George Bush is not simply the worst American president ever. He's the worst president of anything, ever! PTA, condo association, glee club, etc.

[gianfalco]

I linked this post to my today's cartoon.

[Enrico]

Berlusconi ahd Bush, the world's worst leaders in the same picture!

[morpheus]

Warning: message from a MORON OF THE LEFT- as Jack gently puts it- born and living in Italy. Let me tell you some things about Berlusconi, the worst shame of this country after Mussolini: a criminal (lots and lots of trials on him), he's making laws ad personam to protect himself and his buddies from justice, he's got total control on TV, some journalists whom he didn't like disappared from TV, he's incredibly stupid, fascist in his heart, he insulted half of this country calling us "jerks", he's fake hair fake everything, totally incompetent on politics, on the Constitution itself, he believes that a nation is like one of his hundreds of companies, he's a buffoon who goes to European or world meetings and he makes a fool of himself, thinking politics is a game- and of us, if stereotypes about Italians were not enough. ;-)

I am with all the Americans who have been feeling ashamed for eight years because of Bush. So, I'm talking to our American cousins MORONS OF THE LEFT, of course: please think of us after Bush is out, finally, because we'll have our personal version of the big idiot for four years and a half still. The only difference is that he doesn't bomb countries and the newspapers don't talk about us everyday. ;-)

Ciao

[morpheus]

To Alex

Are you sure that American socialists (do they still exist??) should heed THAT man, and that you, as Italian American, should thank THAT man? Since American newspapers don't talk much about berlusconi, please search at the Economist. Then, you might change your mind, after you know something about the man, this little fascist. Thanks.

[octo]

A leader like Berlusconi shouldn't be received by any other leader of the world, and it woudn't happen if instead of being Italy's PM he were the leader of an Eastern or African country. There's a soft dictatorship in Italy.

[Candidus]

What a pathetic and embarrassing picture. If Berlusconi had committed crimes in US he committed in Italy, now he would make the mildew in a jail for sure (in US).
Italy is derided and badmouthed all over the world 'cause we have such a criminal on top of out government surrounded by his submitted servants assuring him impunity, "ad personam" laws and many other busyworks only to accomodate his dirty business.
Berlusconi and Bush ...an hard challenge to decide who's the worst!!!

[Sorry for english]

Berlusconi is a big mafioso

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silvio_Berlusconi

and is really dumb, is a buffoon

http://www.repubblica.it/2003/e/gallerie/politica/villacert/1.html

[Fabio]

Berlusconi:"[...] believe me, believe me that my feelings are shared by the great majority of Italians and European citizens, as well. "

Well, let me make VERY clear that I am definitely NOT one of them!!!