Bush Apologizes for Heckler's Outburst

President Bush apologized to Chinese President Hu after a woman heckled Hu during a White House press conference. Below is the text of the President's statement.

Dear President Hu,

Words cannot describe the deep regret I feel at the shameful events at the White House today. Please be assured that this unfortunate outburst in no way represents the way our government normally operates. While the U.S. Constitution guarantees freedom of speech, we in no way condone - nor tolerate - such public displays of dissent. Most Americans understand that such contrary opinions should be kept to the privacy of one's home or to outlets where public officials are unlikely to encounter them such as blogs.

Members of my staff understand how critical it is that average Americans not be allowed to express themselves in my presence, and that I am not confronted with criticism except by members of the opposition party whom I can safely ignore and my supporters publicly humiliate. I can only marvel at your own successes in protecting your people from the harmful effects of unbridled access to the internet, paticularly in your enlisting the assistance of American corporations in punishing offenders. Our own efforts in this area have been less successful, perhaps next time we can exchange notes - our NSA guys have some terrific stuff they call 'data mining' you might enjoy hearing about.

Until then, please accept my abject apologies.

Yours truly, G.W.B.