The NYT reported yesterday that SecState Rice was snubbing a meeting in Cairo over a democracy activist that had been detained by the Egyptian authorities.

And today, the NYT reports that Mubarak "calls for democratic election reforms."

Choice quote from the article:

The audience before him at Menoufia University broke into applause and calls of support, some shouting, ``Long live Mubarak, mentor of freedom and democracy!'' Others spontaneously recited verses of poetry praising the government.

If you want to be taken seriously as a democratic reformer, you need to be in an environment that doesn't have Orwellian echoes.