Frying into the fire

If Bush thought he could run away to Argentina to escape his unpopularity and questions about Karl Rove he was wrong.
Bush Sidesteps CIA Leak Questions at Summit

President Bush, attending a summit meeting in Argentina with leaders of the Western Hemisphere, promoted free trade and democratic values today as part of an effort to improve America's tarnished image in Latin America.

In a brief news conference on the opening day of the Summit of the Americas in the seaside resort of Mar del Plata, Bush skirted questions on the fate of top strategist Karl Rove, possible White House staff changes and his plummeting job approval ratings.

Anti-Bush protests grow in Argentina

MAR DEL PLATA, Argentina (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of marchers protested on Friday against U.S. President George W. Bush and his free-trade push, as leaders from the Americas gathered in an Argentine resort for a contentious debate on improving Latin America's economy.

Steve Soto has more:
Bush: Making Us Look Bad In South America, And Not Having Fun Either

Update
The All Spin Zone has some good background as to why.

If there's only one good thing about the Bush administration's folly in Iraq, it's that the war has distracted the attention of the policy makers, and allowed the social democratic movements to prosper. Most importantly, what's happening in South America is directly related to the “laws of unintended consequences”. A failed energy policy in the U.S. that has allowed energy companies to gouge American consumers has financed the revolution in Latin American politics.

The populist genie is out of the bottle, and it's unlikely that any push by the Bush administration to ramrod FTAA is going to meet with much success. Perhaps it's time for the administration's experts to come to terms with the new realities of true Latin American national empowerment, rather than trying to dictate terms of a broken policy of hegemony.