UGH. OLMERT: BUSH IS "VERY WISE MAN . . . LOYAL TO . . . PRINCIPLES"

The Washington Post blog On the Plane asks if Ehud Olmert is becoming Bush's new poodle.

"In an interview last week with the Jerusalem Post, Olmert said that in all his years in public life, he did not recall "that America was led by someone as friendly since the days of President Ford."

""He's also a great guy," Olmert added of Bush. "I know that people say all kinds of things about him. Gentlemen, he's a graduate of Yale and Harvard. People don't graduate from Harvard and Yale without wisdom and understanding of processes and domestic and international relationships. He's a very wise man.""

This is too much to take. Olmert says Bush is "a very wise man"? Olmert must want something very bad from Bush. This effusive sycophantic praise is beyond belief. Has Tony Blair every sunk so low in his Bush encomia? Has Olmert no sense of decency?

"Olmert may have topped himself in his joint press conference Wednesday afternoon, which opened with the prime minister thanking Bush for "the power that you used for good causes for this region and for the world."

"The two then went on to answer questions about Iran and the Middle East, but when the questions were over, Olmert could not resist thanking Bush for "the courage that you inspire in all of us to carry on with our obligations."

""Sometimes it's not easy, but when I look at you, and I know what you have to take upon your shoulders and how you do it, the manner in which you do it, the courage that you have, the determination that you have, and your loyalty to the principles that you believe in -- it makes all of us feel that we can also . . . move forward."

"Even Bush seemed a bit embarrassed."