Top Bush aide confuses Tibet with Nepal

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As McClatchy's Tim Johnson notes, U.S. National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley confused Tibet with Nepal five times yesterday on ABC's This Week. Whoops. (To be fair, host George Stephanopoulos didn't correct him, either.)

Perhaps, as Johnson suggests, Hadley had just been briefed on the Maoists' great victory in Nepal and got mixed up. But perhaps he was so focused on not giving any hint as to whether President Bush will attend the opening ceremonies in Beijing that he lost focus. Stephanopolous tried repeatedly to get Hadley to commit Bush one way or the other, but he wouldn't budge from his talking points.

So, why hasn't Bush announced his plans? If you think about it logically, it's actually a wise move on his part. His administration has no wish to antagonize the Chinese government and people by boycotting (just look at what has already happened to the French). But if Bush commits to attending and there is some kind of major, Tiananmen-style atrocity, he'll come under tremendous domestic pressure not to go. Even without such an event, such pressure could steadily build and he'll have to skip the opening ceremonies, at a minimum. Better to preserve ambiguity for now and potentially save the Chinese a huge embarrassment down the road.