who’s Hu?

Chinese president Hu’s U.S. trip may have been marred by protocol slip-ups and “gaffes” such as letting a “heckler” **sneak onto the White House lawn and dare speak up in protest of official Chinese repression of the Falun Gong.

Indeed, according to the Times,

The Chinese Embassy in Washington sent a delegation to the White House on Friday to demand a detailed explanation of how an adherent of the Falun Gong spiritual sect, which is banned in China, managed to infiltrate the welcome ceremony for Mr. Hu on the South Lawn of the White House on Thursday and heckle Mr. Hu for several minutes before being escorted away.

On the other hand, Mr. Hu received an extra-warm welcome from his new best friends, the Saudis.

Meanwhile, the NYT’s crusading Nicholas Kristof is accusing China of “underwriting its second genocide in three decades” (the first was in Cambodia; this one is in Darfur).

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**On Thursday night after the event, I heard every anchor and broadcaster on CNN repeatedly refer to the protester as a “heckler”–they seemed to want to underscore this point, completely (and cluelessly, as usual) missing the point that this woman was doing in America what Chinese are not free to do in China: protest against their government. For which she should have been applauded for her bravery—and damn the diplomatic consequences. China, despite its capitalist fervor, is still run by totalitarians.

By Friday night, CNN had redeemed itself a little bit. Wolf Blitzer had a sit-down with the “heckler,” who was now miraculously transformed into a “brave” and “courageous” protester.

The MSM works in very mysterious ways…