Bush Gaffes His Way Toward More International Ridicule

President Bush concluded his final G8 Summit today. Here's his parting shot:

"Goodbye from the world's biggest polluter!"

I am not making this up! And the Telegraph reports: "He then punched the air while grinning widely, as the rest of those present including Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy looked on in shock."

Oy. Remember how earlier today Rudy Giuliani said that the Europeans hearted Barack Obama because he fuels their anti-American sentiment with all his insistence that American's learn other languages? And I said, "Know what's really reinforced feelings of anti-Americanism? President Bush and his policies!" Well, thanks for making my point for me, Mr. President. Though I needn't have waited until this morning, because the G8 Summit has historically been a venue where Bush has had great success making the other plutocrats in the G8 laugh at us.

Via ThinkProgress, here's another highlight from this week's Summit. I think everything Rudy Giuliani had to say today about how awful Obama is to encourage learning other languages just comes to life:

As the New York Times's Sheryl Gay Stolberg reports, Bush had a bit of a language mishap when speaking to "one of his best buddies in Europe," Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi:

"Amigo! Amigo!" Mr. Bush called out cheerily in Spanish when he spotted the Italian prime minister. "How you doing, Silvio? Good to see you!" Later, the president wondered about his former Russian counterpart, Vladimir V. Putin. "Did Putin come to see you since I saw you?" he asked Mr. Berlusconi. (He had not.)

Matt Yglesias provides a handy little map of the world for Bush's advance team for the next time Bush travels to Europe to represent America, which, naturally, we hope is never.

It's not the first embarrassing moment for the White House, who earlier this week circulated a press kit that included a bio of Berlusconi that described him as ""most controversial leaders in the history of a country known for government corruption and vice." Kinsley gaffe!

And these are just this year's highlights. Remember this "hot mike" incident of 2006? Bush was recorded complaining, "I'm not going to talk too damn long like the rest of them. Some of these guys talk too long." Then he badgered a server for a Diet Coke, noted profoundly that "Russia's big and so is China," and thanked Tony Blair for a sweater he gave him. Blair finally turned the microphone off before Bush could mention just how badly he wanted to cut Kofi Annan's nuts off.

And who could forget that time Bush tried his best move on German Chancellor Angela Merkel?

Really. The only person I can think of who's come off worse in front of the Germans is Basil Fawlty.

Comments

[JiminNC]

Thanks George ... we needed that.

[gladys46]

This is truly the village idiot ... and I am thoroughly embarrassed! Americans are being taxed without proper presidential representation!

[BadChristian]

Embarrassed?
The village idiot in America is the best in the whole world. There has been a real boon in idioting in America since the eighties, where we have now achieved the apex of the profession­...
Why... Compare and contrast Boosh Jr with the old world village idiots who are still falling off of walls and scarcely capable of clearing 10,000 pounds a year, tops.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNBNqUdqm1E

[japobere]

Berlusconi is quite crooked. So he and Bush should get along just fine.