Bush tells the truth, for once

Oops!

A briefing book distributed to reporters at the G-8 summit describes Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi as one of the "most controversial leaders in the history of a country known for government corruption and vice."

Noting that Berlusconi took office in 1994 promising to "purge the notoriously lackadaisical Italian government of corruption," the biography goes on, "however, he and his fellow Forza Italia Party leaders soon found themselves accused of the very corruption he had vowed to eradicate."

The White House has apologized for this excursion into candor at the expense of a man who welcomed Mr. Bush to Italy last month by calling him, "a personal friend of mine and also a great friend of Italy." With friends like these, Silvio...