Freedom and Democracy

But only when it's convenient:

President Bush launched an initiative this month to combat international kleptocracy, the sort of high-level corruption by foreign officials that he called "a grave and corrosive abuse of power" that "threatens our national interest and violates our values." The plan, he said, would be "a critical component of our freedom agenda."

Three weeks later, the White House is making arrangements to host the leader of Kazakhstan, an autocrat who runs a nation that is anything but free and who has been accused by U.S. prosecutors of pocketing the bulk of $78 million in bribes from an American businessman. Not only will President Nursultan Nazarbayev visit the White House, people involved say, but he also will travel to the Bush family compound in Maine.

I'm not naive. I understand that we, as a nation, sometimes have to deal with nasty characters. As FDR said about Nicarauguan dictator Anastasio Somoza (Sr.), "Somoza may be a son of a bitch, but he's our son of a bitch. " But let's not pretend otherwise.

And Nazarbayev's visit shows the hollowness of the "freedom and democracy" talk. It's not enough that he is being welcomed to this country he's also going to visit the Bush family estate. That's a pretty big honor.

That says more than any lecture Administration officials could give.


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