Media Brandishing Berlusconi Loss as Vote Against Bush

Assuming Silvio Berlusconi loses his bid for re-election, which appears likely, the media has already framed it as a vote against President Bush.

Bush lost two wartime allies in 2004 when Jose Maria Aznar's conservative government was defeated in Spain and Portuguese leader Jose Manuel Barroso stepped down to head the European Commission.

Now it is Blair, the most faithful of Bush's backers and the most visible defender of the 2003 Iraq invasion, who is on the political ropes for the war, compounded by a series of domestic controversies.

... His storied friendship with Bush appears to be an increasing liability and the Iraq war a millstone around his neck, as demonstrated by the protests that dogged US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice when she visited Britain 10 days ago.

When the current leaders of Australia, the UK and Poland won their re-election bids last year and anti-Bush candidates Martin, Chirac and Schroeder suffered major defeats, I don't recall the media owing the results to their pro- or anti-Bush stance.