Transcript of the Merkel-Bush news conference on Friday

Once we get through the preambulatory diplomatic bullcrap, we're exactly where we want to be: the question and answer session, which is more of the same but at least topical.

"Q: Thank you, Mr. President. Chancellor Merkel has said that the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo should not be kept open indefinitely. Are you willing to close it down anytime soon?

"And, Chancellor, what are your concerns about Guantanamo?

"BUSH: Yes, she brought up the subject, and I can understand why she brought it up because there's some misperceptions about Guantanamo.

"First of all, I urge any journalist to go down there and look at how the folks that are being detained there are treated. These are people picked up off a battlefield who want to do harm. A lot of folks have been released from Guantanamo."

I like that last bit, there, the three non sequiturs. And it keeps rolling out through the session. Bush has this marvelous way of being inarticulate and then pointing out how inarticulate he is. Like that makes it okay. But anyways, we could do this with Bush all day...

"[MERKEL:] I made it very clear that I completely share your assessment as regards the major and dimension of this threat and that the Federal Republic of Germany, just as other European countries, needs to come up with convincing proposals as to how we ought to deal with detainees, for example, who do not feel bound by any law. And how do we deal with people who come from countries where such structures don't exist?

"I think what we need to address is how we further want to proceed. We need to, for example, find a reform of the international law in this respect, and I think the United Nations is indeed a good forum to do that.

"But I think that's part of a permanent dialogue between our two countries, where we really need to debate how we wish to proceed further. And the basis and the common ground needs to be we have shared values, and I see that this is the very best precondition, even though from time to time we may have differences of opinion here."

Whoa, wait, what's this? Merkel completely backs down in her response to this much-anticipated question, saying, basically: we need to talk about it, but for the time being -- okay, America, keep doing it, keep Gitmo'ing the prisoners. She even implies that Germany is having similar problems with detaining terrorist suspects. Which equals: under the rug. Man, Bush must have done a good job of convincing her in private! Now let's have lunch, Angie.