Tough crowd

The White House has made the decision to have members of George Bush's staff use the web to log their impressions of his trip to the Middle East. A "web-log", or "blog", if you will. Here is chief speechwriter, longtime Rupert Murdoch operative Bill McGurn (in between commenting on how big his hotel room is) adding what he views as a necessary detail about Bush's speech in Abu Dhabi --

Like most foreign crowds, people here did not interrupt with applause during the speech but clapped at the end.

Or to put it less politely, the crowd was not the usual rubes at a Bush event who applaud the same red meat that they've been given 10 times over. Those Arabs expect some actual content!

UPDATE: From a press briefing by National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley --

Q And what was their -- what was the response in UAE to the President's presentation of the importance of the freedom agenda? Did they say anything? Did they ignore it? What did they say in response?

MR. HADLEY: Heads nod. Heads nod.