Free Republic

The little flute made the trite racket of meaningless "friendship" and the snakes all looked extremely European. Thus does the grand fence-mending excursion of George W. Bush now happily draw to a close. For a four-night tour, it had everything — fancy dinners, giant-sized photo ops, flatulent rhetoric, and close media analyses of handshakes and asides. In fact, Bush's charm offensive had everything — except charm. That leaves only offensiveness, which of course was provided by the Europeans and their lighthearted media. Columnists and news items blasted Bush and the U.S. — one Guardian ranter: "Why are we welcoming this...