Cleaning Up The Text

So here's a little article about Stephen Hadley's appearance on This Week, and their discussion of the Administration's position on boycotting the opening ceremonies of the Olympics.

It would be a "cop-out" for countries to skip the opening ceremonies at the Beijing Olympics as a way of protesting China's crackdown in Tibet, President Bush's national security adviser said Sunday.

The kind of "quiet diplomacy" that the U.S. is practicing is a better way to send a message to China's leaders rather than "frontal confrontation," Stephen Hadley said [...]

"We haven't worked out the details of his schedule at this point in time, but from his vantage point, if you listen to what he said, he has no reason not to go," Hadley said in broadcast interviews Sunday. "Because what he has said is we need to be using diplomacy."

Calling a boycott "a bit of a red herring," Hadley added: "I think unfortunately a lot of countries say, 'Well, if we say that we are not going to the opening ceremonies, we've check the box on Tibet.' That's a cop-out.

"If other countries are concerned about Tibet, they ought to do what we are doing through quiet diplomacy, send the message clearly to the Chinese that this is an opportunity with the whole world watching, to show that they take into account and are determined to treat their citizens with dignity and respect. They would put pressure on the Chinese authorities quietly to meet with representatives of the Dalai Lama and use this as an opportunity to help resolve that situation," he said.

Critics of China say that were Bush to avoid the opening ceremony, it would send a powerful signal of international anger over China's violent response to demonstrating Buddhist monks in Tibet.

"The whole issue of opening ceremonies is a nonissue," Hadley said. "I think it is a way of dodging what really needs to happen if you're concerned about" Tibet.

Nowhere in this story is the fact that Hadley confused Tibet with Nepal at least five times over the course of the discussion. You know, when the national security advisor to the President repeatedly gets the name wrong of a global trouble spot, you tend to get the impression that he doesn't give a shit about it. But fortunately for him, the AP cleaned up the comments. In fact, look at that last sentence:

"The whole issue of opening ceremonies is a nonissue," Hadley said. "I think it is a way of dodging what really needs to happen if you're concerned about" Tibet.

Tibet can't be inside the quote marks because Hadley actually said "Nepal." A peaceful kingdom. Not Tibet. Because he's willfully uninformed.

This isn't just a buried lede, it's a lede six feet under.

...also, you gotta love George Stephanopoulos not correcting him, even after the fifth time he screws it up. Believe me, a Democrat who made that mistake once would get rebuked.