Demagogue

Or does the fact that this article received a ho-hum page A13 placement in Saturday's Post speak volumes about just how much the media has simply come to accept the Bush administration's routine attempts to silence anyone who points out that they are wrong?

A Bush administration campaign to replace the head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog agency has faltered after all 15 countries approached by U.S. diplomats -- including Britain, Canada and Australia -- refused to support the plan, U.S. officials said in interviews.

The White House had hoped that at least one of the three English-speaking allies would agree to block Mohamed ElBaradei from a third term as director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

But with the United States proposing no other candidate, no country was willing to turn against ElBaradei, who is admired within the agency for his willingness to challenge the administration's assertions on Iraq and Iran.

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Publicly, the administration has said its efforts to replace ElBaradei are motivated solely by a desire to see U.N. executives adopt a two-term limit. But most allies have viewed the campaign as retaliation against someone who questioned U.S. intelligence on Iraq and is now moving cautiously on Iran.

The U.S. effort, led by John R. Bolton, the undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, included sifting through intercepts of ElBaradei's phone calls in hopes of finding material to use against him.

ElBaradei was right about Iraq and the Bush administration was wrong. And because of that, the Bush administration is spying on him and trying to get him fired.

And nobody appears to be outraged.