Italy PM hopes his ministers avoid anti-Bush rally

[maddezmom]

Source: Reuters

ROME, June 2 (Reuters) - When U.S. President George W. Bush visits Rome next week he will be met with pomp and ceremony by Italy's leaders, but also by an angry anti-war demonstration which some government ministers have said they might attend.

Prime Minister Romano Prodi said on Saturday he hoped none of his ministers -- some of them hard-line communists -- would attend the rally, although he would not ban them from doing so.

"I have not made an appeal to my ministers not to participate, I have said that it seems to me obvious that this should not happen, that's all," Prodi said in a radio interview.

But the prospect of ministers marching in an anti-Bush protest on one side of town while the U.S. president is being greeted by Prodi on the other next Saturday is a possibility and would be an embarrassment to the prime minister

Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L02473292.htm

[rodeodance]

1. hey Ministers, embarrass AWAY!

[shenmue]

2. This should be fun

:party:

[Missy M]

3. I hope the the demonstration is huge.....

Also, do you think he will embarrass us again while attending the G8 Summit in Germany? Maybe his mommy gave him a lecture about the correct way to chew his food.

[acmavm]

4. It's really gotta be tough for world leader's when bush** comes to

visit. The most hated man on the planet and all of a sudden you're responsible for his crude, rude stupid self. And his Secret Service detail, in which case you say good bye to all the shrubbery and grass and historical architecture.

[jtrockville]

5. It should be an embarrassment if NONE of the leaders protest.

Silence is betrayal.

[Doctor_J]

6. Well, he's entitled to hope

if he wants to pal around with Smirk he's going to have to expect lots and lots of angry people hanging around.

[ixion]

7. bush is an embarrasment everywhere he goes...I wish he would go to the Hague

though, and spend many, many years there.

[AndyTiedye]

8. Some Illustrations to Go With That Thought

[David__77]

9. "Hardline communists?" What BS...

Rifondizione is hardly "hardline." They are leftists filling the political space that should be filled by socialist/social democratic parties. The rest of the left is complicit with right-wing economic policy in that country.

[paulk]

10. that's because the voters of Italy

rejected the sort of "hardline" communism that you would prefer. There's a reason that "political space" isn't filled by your brand of "social/social democratic" parties...

Boo - hoo.

[David__77]

12. Huh?

I don't understand your statement. I'm not saying anything of the sort. All I said was that a lot of the left isn't really all that left-wing in terms of their politics these days. One can like that or not like that.

Also, I support anyone - of any political party - who would attend a demonstration criticizing George Bush. I would hope everyone could agree on that.

[Sewsojm]

11. Shrub has to be the Most Hated Person on the Planet......EVER!!!

[ellisonz]

13. Perhaps...

But I think Judas Iscariot and maybe Hitler could give him a run for the claim.

[cal04]

14. Italy PM suffers anti-U.S. protest before Bush visit

Italy's Prime Minister Romano Prodi was berated by angry voters on Sunday who want him to stop the United States expanding an air base near their homes.

Less than a week ahead of a visit by U.S. President George W. Bush, which is expected to be met with large anti-war demonstrations, the Italian leader was heckled into silence as he tried to address an economic conference.

A visibly uncomfortable Prodi then had to listen to one demonstrator who was allowed by the conference chairman to address the meeting as a way of appeasing the audience, many members of which were holding banners and shouting "shame."

"We are being treated despicably, and this really bothers me, President, because I voted for you," said the protester, a smartly dressed middle-aged woman who said the expansion of the base in Vicenza, northern Italy, would ruin the town.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070603/wl_nm/bush_italy_prodi_dc

[StudentProgressive]

15. It would only boost Prodi's ratings if he marched WITH THEM

Embarrassment, pff. Bush is very unpopular in Italy (everywhere, really).