Russia's Dmitry Medvedev Hailed President Barack Obama as "My New Comrade"

I fully expect the right wing to pick up on a comment made at the recent G-20 Summit in London. Russia's Dmitry Medvedev hailed Barack Obama as "my new comrade" yesterday after their first face-to-face talks, saying the US president "can listen" -- even if little progress was made on substance. Here we go, the labels will start flying again. Never mind the rest of his statements, they will just zero in on the "comrade" portion. Remember, on the campaign trail President Obama was labeled as a socialist, a communist, an elitist, palling around with terrorists, among other things.

Medvedev contrasted Obama as "totally different" to his predecessor George W. Bush, whom he blamed for the "mistake" of US missile shield plans fiercely opposed by Moscow. Obama has agreed to visit Moscow in July.

In their London talks, Obama and Medvedev launched a milestone quest to slash their nuclear arsenals, hoping to reverse the worst slump in the former foes' ties since the end of the Cold War. The pair also discussed thorny issues including NATO's eastwards expansion, long opposed by Moscow which sees it as a power-grab by the West's former Cold War-era military bloc into former Soviet territory.

"Yesterday I spoke about this with my new comrade President Barack Obama," Medvedev told reporters travelling with him to the London summit. "Today from the United States there is at least a desire to listen to our arguments," he said, adding that: "Such defence measures should be carried out jointly" between Washington and Moscow. Source: Yahoo News

Matt Drudge has it the comment displayed prominently on his website, The Drudge Report, and I suspect conservative nutjobs will make hay of this -- Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham and so on. Yep, they will try to make a mountain out of a mole hill.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi Describes Barack Obama as "Young, Handsome and Even Tanned"

Well, sooner or later one head of state would make a somewhat controversial statement about Barack Obama. Italy's impolitic Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi described U.S. President-elect Barack Obama as "young, handsome and even tanned." Of course, I think he was joking, but I can also see how that could be considered insulting. The problem is, there seems to be a big problem in Italy with black illegal immigrants, which makes the comments problematic. So, he just couldn't bring himself to saying he was proud an African American was elected the next president of the USA, he just had to make a racist dig at Obama.

Berlusconi has a history of controversial remarks. He was asked by a reporter about the prospect for U.S.-Russian relations, which have plummeted to Cold War-levels in recent months. Berlusconi reportedly responded by saying that the relative youth of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, 43, and Obama, 47, should make it easier for Moscow and Washington to work together.

Then he said, smiling: "I told the president that (Obama) has everything needed in order to reach deals with him: he's young, handsome and even tanned."

Italian news agencies said Berlusconi later defended the remark to reporters as he returned to his hotel in Moscow, calling the statement "a great compliment" "Why are they taking it as something negative? ... If they have the vice of not having a sense of humor, worse for them," the ANSA news agency quoted him as saying.

Berlusconi later told Sky TV-24 Ore that the remark was meant to be "cute" and he lashed out at those who don't see it as such, calling them "imbeciles, of which there are too many."

Berlusconi is infamous for eyebrow-raising comments. According to media reports, he once compared a German lawmaker to a Nazi camp guard, asserted after the Sept. 11 terror attacks that Western civilization was superior to Islam and more recently, that the new Spanish government had too many women.

Well, you be the judge on this one. I don't think he meant to be rude, but considering his past comments, then he probably meant to be rude. Even the Iranian and Venezuelan nutjobs had something good to say.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi Describes Barack Obama as "Young, Handsome and Even Tanned"

Well, sooner or later one head of state would make a somewhat controversial statement about Barack Obama. Italy's impolitic Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi described U.S. President-elect Barack Obama as "young, handsome and even tanned." Of course, I think he was joking, but I can also see how that could be considered insulting. The problem is, there seems to be a big problem in Italy with black illegal immigrants, which makes the comments problematic. So, he just couldn't bring himself to saying he was proud an African American was elected the next president of the USA, he just had to make a racist dig at Obama.

Berlusconi has a history of controversial remarks. He was asked by a reporter about the prospect for U.S.-Russian relations, which have plummeted to Cold War-levels in recent months. Berlusconi reportedly responded by saying that the relative youth of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, 43, and Obama, 47, should make it easier for Moscow and Washington to work together.

Then he said, smiling: "I told the president that (Obama) has everything needed in order to reach deals with him: he's young, handsome and even tanned."

Italian news agencies said Berlusconi later defended the remark to reporters as he returned to his hotel in Moscow, calling the statement "a great compliment" "Why are they taking it as something negative? ... If they have the vice of not having a sense of humor, worse for them," the ANSA news agency quoted him as saying.

Berlusconi later told Sky TV-24 Ore that the remark was meant to be "cute" and he lashed out at those who don't see it as such, calling them "imbeciles, of which there are too many."

Berlusconi is infamous for eyebrow-raising comments. According to media reports, he once compared a German lawmaker to a Nazi camp guard, asserted after the Sept. 11 terror attacks that Western civilization was superior to Islam and more recently, that the new Spanish government had too many women.

Well, you be the judge on this one. I don't think he meant to be rude, but considering his past comments, then he probably meant to be rude. Even the Iranian and Venezuelan nutjobs had something good to say.