Support for dictators?

Clayton Cramer draws our attention to this item. An anonymous NEA employee reports:

Another moment came in nostalgic mode, when Children’s Defense Fund founder and liberal icon Marian Wright Edelman was honored with a Friend of Education award. She responded with a gratifying sermon on the old time religion. Channeling the spirit of Sojourner Truth to blast the Bush (-Powell-Rice?) administration, she repeatedly brought the crowd to fever pitch. It was charming.

But one particularly interesting moment came with her bold declaration that Bush was failing the world by “supporting brutal, corrupt dictators.” In context, this got a nice slice of the rolling applause wave that continued throughout her remarks.

But I couldn’t help but wonder which dictators she had in mind.

The Taliban? No, Bush took them out already.

Saddam Hussein? No, the U.S. got him, too.

The mullahs of Iran? Kim Jong-Il? No, Bush regards them as “evil,” and they regard him as their main problem.

Qaddafi? No, he was one of the first to get the message.

Castro? I don’t think so.

So who?

Sadly, there was no time for Q&A, so Mrs. Edelman was not given a chance to elucidate.

How about Karimov in Uzbekistan? We’re supporting him. But wait! this this just in:

TASHKENT, UZBEKISTAN – Upset with the lack of political and economic reforms in Uzbekistan, the US State Department announced Tuesday its decision not to certify the country, effectively denying the renewal of $18 million in aid.

US involvement in the Central Asian republic deepened shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, as Washington laid plans to overthrow the Taliban. Uzbekistan allowed US forces to be based near its border with Afghanistan; a contingent remains today. The regime in Tashkent has also been a staunch supporter of the US in Iraq.

The Bush administration’s decision to slash aid sends a signal abroad that despite the president’s “with us or against us” formula, there is a point at which human rights abuses can overshadow military and diplomatic support for the war on terror.

Hmmm. Maybe the Bush Administration isn’t kidding after all.