Bush secretly meets with Chinese dissidents

Golly, he is a daring fellow, isn't he? The Beijing government must be shaking in their boots with this news. It sounds so similar to the Thabo Mbeki "quiet diplomacy" that has been so effective in Zimbabwe. "Quiet" as in so quiet it's irrelevant and "diplomacy" as in "we've yet to see Bush ever effectively use diplomacy." If only this group of dissidents could bleed oil and then we'd see some tough talk. Either that or Bush would help negotiate a deal with Exxon for drilling rights.

President Bush held private talks with five prominent Chinese dissidents on Tuesday, and urged China’s foreign minister to relax restrictions on human rights, as part of an intensifying White House effort to put pressure on Beijing before Mr. Bush travels there in a little over a week for the summer Olympic Games.

And just because Amnesty responds with a "this is a step in the right direction" response, this hardly means any human rights groups are suddenly impressed with Bush, despite with this Times article is trying to suggest. Bush sold out to the communist leadership of China years ago so Americans can buy cheap junk on their credit cards so let's not try and pretend as though everyone is now worshiping Bush as some kind of a human rights activist. He's a pro-business activist. Period.