Clicking in Egyptian

An American in Cairo visits the Egyptian al-Ghad opposition party, which officially distances itself from American aid (and wisely so), but his anti-administration platitudes draw an unexpected response.

So we are sitting there waiting with everyone else and the gentleman next to us started asked us where we were from etc. Yeah, we are Americans and came to see what is up. He made some comment about Mubarak being a dictator and how he loved Americans. Trained that Egyptians are brilliant at separating Americans from the US administration, I gave him the old, “Yeah well Bush is dumb and does not understand the region”. All of the sudden, my friend and I were the center of hostile attention by all those in earshot. You would of thought I insulted the Pope on Sunday. I then was subjected to multiple people explaining that I was wrong. All the previous American presidents were supporting dictatorships but Bush - well he understands and is smart. Another chap tried to outdo his party colleagues by saying “and the FM Condaleeeeza is very clever” as he pointed to his temple. I quickly readjusted and said, “Well maybe you’all are right.” I then turned to my friend and quietly said in English, “There you go ... al-Ghad is the liberals.”

[hat tip Big Pharaoh]