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George W. Bush, is receiving his first encore recognition in 2005 for his scripted warning to "Press Putin on Democracy in Russia."

Poor Pooti Poot, just a short time ago, Bush was looking into his eyes and seeing a soulmate. Now Bush is abandoning his erstwhile comrade to parrot the theme of liberty and democracy he loves to repeat so much abroad and suppress so much at home.

Although it's not that he's really for democracy abroad. In Germany for instance, a town meeting was canceled by the White House because the German government insisted that questions not be scripted and audience members not be pre-selected by the White House.

And as Bush traveled through Germany, he was careful not to rub shoulders with actual residents of Europe. A BBC report noted that as Bush sped along in his motorcade, it was "the strangest sight. There is nobody here. They've all been cleared away. It's almost totalitarian in its reach and efficiency: the motorways are closed, whole towns we pass on the way from Frankfurt airport have been cleared of people.

"Our German colleagues say everyone on the motorcade route was told to stay indoors. The result may be more secure but it is eerie nonetheless - a political meeting without any public involvement. Freedom on the march but no-one free to see it."

Yes, democracy works so well when there are no people to participate in it!

As for democracy at home, two Chicago Tribune reporters recently dared to break the mainstream media silence on how a male prostitute ended up with White House press credentials even before his so-called news service existed. Clarence Page noted:

"We have grown accustomed to those pre-screened rent-a-crowd 'Ask President Bush' town-hall-style meetings during last year's campaign and during this year's effort by Bush to promote his proposed Social Security changes.

But I thought the last straw was the unprecedented herding of reporters covering this year's inaugural balls into pens from which they could only venture to interview ball guests if they were escorted by 'minders' in the fashion of Saddam Hussein's Iraq."

Meanwhile, Page's long-time honcho Tribune colleague, Charles Madigan, recalled how he attended a Michigan rally for Bush last year and was, as a reporter, denied the right to sit or talk to any attendee without a White House-designated handler present. So Madigan believes that the White House knew about the male hooker seated in the White House press room, the ringer whom they credentialed.

Why, Madigan asks himself? "Because I have dealt with these people. They are the most diligent people on earth when it comes to finding out where genuine reporters are and what they are doing."

And while Bush, Rove and McCllelan have had their minions dutifully stand up for male prostitution -- firmly we might add -- they didn't hesitate to leak information to Matt Drudge during the Iraq War that a reporter they didn't like was gay, and, perish the thought, Canadian! Your head starts to spin when you think that Drudge is a closet gay, although not Canadian.

Which brings us to the co-conspirators in Bush's propaganda democracy campaign: the mainstream press.

A Carson City, Nevada, newspaper columnist took on our failing national media when he observed:

"Hey, if you are caught lying, then people should be warned to take what you say with a grain of salt. It may not be polite to call people liars, but then the Founding Fathers didn't create the First Amendment so reporters could write flattering puff pieces on powerful politicians.

If journalists won't point out the liars, who will?"

A good question indeed, as the overpaid, overfed, White House press club dutifully transcribes the latest Karl Rovian message points as headlines and articles.

When asked in Europe about whether or not the U.S. would invade Iran, Bush responded: "This notion that the United States is getting ready to attack Iran is simply ridiculous. Having said that, all options are on the table."

The European reporters laughed. The lapdog White House reporters just recorded his first sentence, or failed to take note of the contradiction between the two.

That's why this week's GOP Hypocrite of the Week is George W. Bush, a man whose words say democracy, but whose deeds, and sometimes his words, say something different.

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