Merkel's boner

Get this! Some German woman, like the Chancellor or something, actually told Condi She made a mistake! Does she not know that Condi, being Chosen of Bush, is thereby Chosen of God? Because, as we all know, God doesn't make misteaks.

Follow along, as we take another heartwarming, hilarious look at Republican diplomacy--now there's a contradiction in terms--in action! FT:

Attempts to repair strained relations between the US and Germany backfired on Tuesday after Angela Merkel, Germany’s new chancellor, said Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, had admitted that in the case of a German citizen who says he was abducted and detained for several months two years ago the US had made “a mistake”, a claim swiftly denied by US officials.

“We talked about the case, which the US government has accepted as a mistake,” Ms Merkel said after meeting Ms Rice in Berlin. “I am very glad that the secretary of state has repeated again here that when mistakes happen they must of course be corrected immediately.”

Ms Rice gave a more circumspect account of the meeting. “As I told the chancellor, I cannot comment on specific aspects of our intelligence activities. . . I have also stressed that on the political area, mistakes sometimes happen,” she said.

Lebanese-born Khaled el-Masri was allegedly abducted in Macedonia and detained in Afghanistan for five months.

A senior US official travelling with the secretary of state said the US government had informed Germany of Mr Masri’s detention two years ago but did not say that it was a mistake. “We are not quite sure what was in her head,” he said, referring to Ms Merkel.

Nice. Very diplomatic. Especially when Merkle was all set to suck up to the Republicans to differentiate herself from Schroeder. So, she tries to suck up to Bush, and he kicks her in the teeth. No surprise to anyone who's followed American domestic politics, but perhaps a swift education for Ms. Merkle

Good luck covering up those Bush gulags, Condi. You're going to need it.

NOTE Merkle's Boner explained.