The two faces of Condi

Secretary of State Condi Rice is on a PR tour of the Middle East. She stopped in to have tea with de facto Saudi ruler Crown Prince Abdullah and the foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal and to do some "tough talking" at the ensuing press conference.

"Throughout the Middle East the fear of free choices can no longer justify the denial of liberty," she said. "It is time to abandon the excuses that are made to avoid the hard work of democracy."

Considering the state of democracy in the US, better she should say that stuff to her boss man Bush, but apparently the only criteria for diplomats in the Bush administration is to be able to deliver zingers like this with a straight face.

She was referring to three activists in Saudi Arabia - Ali al-Demaini, Abdullah al-Hamed and Matruk al-Faleh - sentenced to between six and nine years in prison in May on charges of demanding a constitutional monarchy.

"That should not be a crime in any country," she said, speaking in praise of "brave citizens" who demanded "accountable government" in Saudi Arabia.

Yeah, tell that to all the people who have been arrested at Bush rallies for wearing Tshirts with mildly disapproving slogans or the Americans thrown out of a taxpayer funded "town meeting" for having a bumper sticker on their car saying, "No war for oil."

The Saudis, unsurprisingly laughed off her comments saying calls for reform are more appropriate coming from the citizens of sovereign countries - not hypocritical US officials.