[DoughtyOne]

Prepared statements...

That's what I first thought of with China. They would have urged delay even if atomic weapons on missiles were found. I hope people think about the ramifications of that.

[William McKinley]

Prepared, but with some flexibility. Diplomats have to be able to react and respond on the fly, but they absolutely have to make sure that they are conveying policy, not setting policy.

No one from China who can set policy was present. There should be no surprise that Chinese policy as conveyed was unchanged.

The coming day or two will tell if China moved or not.

[RichGuy]

I am hoping they will all (Chinese, Daschel, Feinstein, etc) learn not to try to answer any Bush strategery with canned responses. The Democrats and the Green party both tried it after the SOTU. Now the French and the Russians are trying it after Powell's speech. In both cases they look like idiots and waste our time.

Worse yet, it backs them into a corner that it is dificult to get them out of.