Eric, if you find the State Department statement less than meaningful, I must respectfully point out that you introduced it as evidence on which to rest your initial claim—I merely analyzed it afterward.

As for your assertion that the Bush administration should have told the Palestinian Legislative council that the U.S. would cut ties with the Palestinian government if Hamas was elected: it is a debatable point of policy. But simultaneously applauding free elections while effectively qualifying their freedom could not possibly have earned the U.S. any credit for being respectful. The move would have invited the instant charge of hypocrisy.