George Bush Visits Slovakia

It's hard to get rid of your reputation, especially when it's true.

George Bush's visit to Bratislava on Thursday was the talk of the town for weeks. The Slovak newspaper, SME, and English newspaper, The Slovak Spectator, both carried stories about the security procedures and money spent on the summit between Bush and Russia's President Putin. The event went without a hitch, and Slovakia seemed happy to be put on the map for a brief moment.

Depending what map you are talking about. The USA Today published a map showing Slovakia where Slovenia is. Bratislava was located in the present capital of Ljubljana. So maybe the America press doesn't have it all together.

But the Slovak press had a field day with Bush. Fridays front page story in SME was how Bush welcomed the Slovak people with "Dobre Den", which a local could tell you is a butchering of their pronnunciation. Another story focused on how Bush shook hands with the president while wearing his gloves. Evidently this is not acceptable and the paper showed a close-up picture of the now famous handshake.

So it's nice to know that there are some universal themes and ideas around the world and one of them is making fun of George W.