Merkel's assessment of Bush: "The kind of leader with whom she could call a spade a spade"

[Amerigo Vespucci]

The 'legacy' question trails Bush on his European tour
By Steven Lee Myers
Published: June 13, 2008

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/06/13/europe/prexy.php



PARIS: The finale of George W. Bush's presidency has never seemed more imminent as it has during his tour of European capitals, a farewell visit in which reminiscence, valediction and even eulogies trailed him.

At the Vatican on Friday, Pope Benedict XVI gave the president a tour of the gardens where he prays each evening - the first time a pontiff has done so - and then offered a gift of four volumes about St. Peter's Basilica with an allusion to a life after office.

"Perhaps you'll have some time to read it," Benedict told him.

The night before, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of Italy invited Bush to serve as a visiting professor at a future University of Liberal Thinking, something he compared to Bush's own plans to build an institute devoted to freedom and liberty, which he considers a defining legacy.

Chancellor Angela Merkel, in Berlin, faced the question of how she assessed the Bush presidency and even whether she would miss him. She praised him as the kind of leader with whom she could call "a spade a spade," but, tellingly or not, she omitted an answer about how she would feel when he was gone.

Legacy is a word over which Bush's aides profess not to dwell, and the president himself seems averse to reflection. "The president does not have second thoughts," his press secretary, Dana Perino, once said.

[Bicoastal]

1. I will miss Bush...

...like I miss my last canker sore.

[wryter2000]

3. There's never a canker sore around when you need one n/t

n/t

[wryter2000]

2. As in

"It's a Spade, Dumkopf, and I'm going to schmite you mit it if you gropen me again!"

[lame54]

4. Check out those Merkel groping pics in this context