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Here's how NYTimes Jim Rutenberg quotes Bush in his overheard conversation with Blair:
“I feel like telling Kofi to get on the phone with Assad and make something happen,” he said to Mr. Blair, referring to Syria’s president, Bashir Assad.
A transcript featured on Adam Boulton's blog
http://adamboulton.typepad.com/my_weblog/2006/07/bush_blair_unpl.html
gives a slightly different version:
Bush: I felt like telling Kofi to call, to get on the phone to Bashad [Bashir Assad](9a and make something happen
Blair: Yeah
"Bashad"?!? If he really said that, am I pedantic for being bothered by the NYT's word cosmetics aimed at sparing Bush additional embarrassment? Shouldn't the public know that Bush obviously doesn't know the name of one of the key players in the region? Or is it just his "funny" nick name for the guy? Bhagdad, bashad, whatever.
It takes some real journalistic effort to make that exchange between Bush and Blair sound like more than an exchange on Jerry Springer, as someone on Boulton's blog called it. "Yo Blair, how are you doing."
These people rule the world. Wow.
