Seeing A Pattern Here?

We're coming to you from the Freudian Slip Department here in the marbled halls of IM Central today. FS is a wholly owed subsidy of the Nothing To See Here Corporation, in partnership with Never Mind The Man Behind The Curtain LLC.

An embarrassed White House apologized for an "unfortunate mistake" — the distribution of less-than-flattering biography of Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi.

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

"Well, in our defense, that's more a slam against Italy than Berlusconi," White House spokesman Tony Fratto said. Tony Fratto is also Italian, so that helps too.

The biography said 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."

"Again, that's more a dig on Italy," Fratto said. "I want to make perfectly clear that, like our president, even though Berlesconi's been charged with just about every act of corruption and malfeasance you can think of, he's never been convicted. That's why he's one of the Mr. Bush's heroes."

It was just last month that Berlusconi welcomed Bush to Rome, calling him "a personal friend of mine and also a great friend of rich people." And Bush responded then: "You're right. We're good friends. Just Like Batman and Robin."

More like Adolf and Benito but why quibble?

The biography went on to say that Berlusconi was appointed to the prime minister's office in 1994, "however, he and his fellow Forza Italia Party leaders soon found themselves accused of the very corruption he had vowed to eradicate."

"The important thing is he said he'd end corruption," Fratto told reporters. "Just like we said we'd win in Iraq, fix New Orleans, improve the economy and protect the environment. It's all in the delivery, see? That's politics."

Later, Bush was overhead to say he thought Genghis Khan had been misunderstood.