BernieHund: The Political Watchdog

With only six months to go with this administration, it seems that the Bush White House has yet to learn the Principle of the 7P’s.  It would take too much of my time to name all the gaffes that have come from the present White House so I will leave that to your own stroll down misery lane.  However, after seven and a half years in office, it would seem that the Bush-Cheney administration would have learned something.

Perhaps, the present administration wants to leave a total mess, no stone unturned.  Until this week, I don’t believe we had offended Italy.  Ah, but the last stone had to be turned.

As Bush headed to the G8 Summit, press kits were handed out to all the media going along for the ride.  Somewhere deep in the pages the White House had included a biography of Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi.  It was less than flattering. 

The biography described Berlusconi as one of the “most controversial leaders in the history of a country known for government corruption and vice.”

That description follows a trip that Bush made last month to Italy where he was warmly greeted, Berlusconi calling him

“a personal friend of mine and also a great friend of Italy.” And Bush responded then: “You’re right. We’re good friends.”

Is this where I say “with friends like Bush, you don’t need enemies?”

The written and distributed biography continued, saying

Berlusconi burst onto the political scene with no experience and used his “vast network of media holdings” to finance his campaign on a promise to “purge the notoriously lackadaisical Italian government of corruption.”

The biography went on to say that Berlusconi was appointed to the prime minister’s office in 1994.

“[H]owever, he and his fellow Forza Italia Party leaders soon found themselves accused of the very corruption he had vowed to eradicate.”

The White House issued a written apology.  But, the headlines had already circulated Europe. 

In the political world where every word is nuanced and scrutinized, it is safe to say that our present administration has once again demonstrated their lack of planning and put our nation in the position of having to issue another apology for an unnecessary mistake.

We can shrug the biography off and say that it isn’t worth mentioning.  Unfortunately, it shows once again that we don’t care whose toes we step on.  It’s no wonder that when we ask for assistance or try to form working coalitions, other countries often shy away from us.

So, for the last time (I hope) I’m going to suggest that the Bush White House learn the Principle of the 7P’s.  Proper Positive Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance.