Then it was back to Mr. Berlusconi. On Tuesday, the day after the lunch, an embarrassed Bush White House issued a formal apology to the Italian prime minister for having distributed a biography to reporters that noted Mr. Berlusconi’s “convictions on a number of corruption charges” (all overturned) and used the word “suave”[1] to describe him. The legal issues came up at the lunch, too.
“I read the courts are after you again,” Mr. Bush told Mr. Berlusconi. “It’s unbelievable. I’ve never seen anything like it. Constantly after you.”
Funny, but at the next day’s lunch, the microphones were cut off.
[1] Suave: che ha modi insinuanti, gentile, ma in modo untuoso.