BUSH BOMBS (at) SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE

King Leopold, er, President Bush today praised Austrian troops in Iraq during a keynote speech to OPEC nations in Sydney, Australia.

And when the day comes that Austria deploys soldiers to the Gulf and the US and Australia join OPEC this could go down as a pretty good speech.

Until then chalk up another verbal cluster fuck by the Maestro of Malaprop. Bush was followed by Aussie PM John Howard after emcee Paul Hogan declared "...that's not a statesman. Now THIS is a statesman."

To add near injury to insult, W almost fell into the orchestra pit leaving the lectern. The world was saved the horrific imagery of the Commander in Grief's legs flailing from within a giant Tex Avery tuba. Now that would have been embarrassing.

YAHOO NEWS: Bush has bad day at Sydney Opera House