Hey, I know that in Internet years this video is about ready to get taken out behind the shed and shot, but it's new to me, so let's assume other people haven't seen it either.

Italian president Silvio Berlusconi (yep, the same guy who said Barack Obama had a nice tan and tried to sue YouTube) veers away from a very important cabinet meeting so he can hump a meter maid. Jawesome. He and Sarkozy and Obama should make up the new world leader's Rat Pack.

Le Presidente Francaise (shut up, elementary French was 9 years ago) Nicolas Sarkozy is a very lucky man. He's sort of like the French James Bond: he's suave, a little cocky, and is boning a (NWS) model.

Unfortunately, Sarkozy doesn't seem to have the, how do you say, "International politics" of 007. As evidenced by the fact that he still thinks Barack Obama beat out Hillary Clinton for the Presidential race. I mean he did, but that was months ago:

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"The French magazine l'Express is likely to sell out quicker than hot croissants in Paris today. That's because it rushed its latest issue to newsstands one day early headlined by an exclusive interview with Carla Bruni — the first given to the press by the new first lady since her marriage to French President Nicolas Sarkozy. The magazine's editor in chief, Christophe Barbier, conducted the interview, but has kept a tight lid on its contents." This, from a land where 89 percent of the people consider the relationship a private matter, and are said not to care about such trivial gossip. [WWD, A-R]

The romance and, as of last Saturday, marriage of French President Nicolas Sarkozy and model-singer Carla Bruni has bored the French to death. "DO NOT WANT!" we are told they scream, put off by the tabloid coverage, or Sarkozy's willingness to open his life up as if the tabloids care.

But somebody must care. How else to explain the rushed delivery of two Bruni biographies, which hit bookstores yesterday, with a third one coming out Feb. 14? And: How else to explain the free publicity that airline Ryanair hoped to get out of the couple, by using a photo of them in an advertisement without their permission, only to have to pay nearly $90,000 in damages?

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French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his GF Carla Bruni were the subject of a fawning profile in the Sunday Styles this weekend. But it turns out, the two might also be worthy of a vows video feature. French papers are reporting that the two may have married at Elysee palace last week.

Some may say the fact that the French paparazzi care about the possible marriage of their president while our paparazzi care about the very real mental deterioration of a former teen idol makes them better than us. But we think we're just more honest.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy seems to be enjoying the single life. Word on the rue is that Sarkozy is dating TV journalist Laurence Ferrari. The recently divorced newscaster has been spotted at the Elysee Palace, Sarkozy’s official residence, and having dinner around town with him.

Ferrari interviewed Sarkozy in March for the network Canal Plus. According to a source at the station, they “got on like a house on fire,” and have been seeing each other ever since.

See, in America if you have an affair with a separated politician you’re reporting on, you get suspended and demoted. France is just more liberated than us. Then again, in America, we don't use expressions like "house on fire."

We always had Hillary Clinton pegged as a real nutcracker. Apparently, we were right.

Meanwhile, we're actually far more excited about the upcoming products from the other democratic candidates!

Among our personal favorites are the John Edwards toupee ("It's like having a $400 haircut every day!") the John McCain piggy-bank ("The first piggy-bank that only accepts certified checks") and the Barack Obama abs-roller ("It's what separates the Vladamir Putins from the Nicolas Sarkozys.")

Shopping, anyone?

There's nothing we love more on a lazy, Friday afternoon than curling up with a good book review. Unfortunately, a vrai dire, there's nothing particularly warm and fuzzy about French playwright Yasmina Reza's fictionalized portrait of president Nicolas Sarkozy.

As Times book critic Elaine Sciolino observes:

Ms. Reza zeroes in on the cigar-smoking Mr. Sarkozy as she would an exotic animal — and portrays with telling anecdotes a man who can be vain and insecure, clever and boring, driven by instinct and the lure of power.

He is so used to “being the one who speaks and the one who is being listened to” that it does not occur to him that his “every day is as ordinary as that of the common man,” she writes.

Yep, the president of France (who once purportedly announced to his aides, "Tony and I have just made a decision. We’re going to conquer Europe”) is just your basic Joe Everyman.

Right down to his love handles.

"The French magazine Paris Match touched up a photograph taken of President Nicolas Sarkozy during his US vacation to get rid of some unattractive rolls of flesh around his waist," relays AFP. "Sources said Sarkozy's 'seated position on the boat accentuated the bulge.'"

We always thought Sarkozy had a certain je ne sais quoi. We just didn't realize that was actually the French phrase for "love handles."

While vacationing in New Hampshire, French president Nicolas Sarkozy reacted like a Britney Spears bodyguard when two AP photogs began snapping away at him. Okay, to be fair, he just started pointing his finger and screaming in French. [AP]