The audacity of [CENSORED]

Chinese TV viewers got a truncated version of Barack Obama’s inaugural address yesterday thanks to some skittish censors at the country state-run TV network:

The news channel of state broadcaster China Central Television broadcast the speech live early Wednesday local time, but appeared caught off-guard by Obama’s reference to how earlier generations of Americans had "faced down fascism and communism."

The audio quickly faded out from Obama’s speech and cameras cut back to the studio anchor, who seemed flustered for a second before turning to ask a U.S.-based CCTV reporter what challenges the president faces in turning around the economy.

Here’s video of the cutaway from the invaluable Danwei.org:

Xinhua’s Chinese translation of the speech also ommitted the reference to Communism as well as the section where Obama said that "those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history."

So much for "unclenching your fist."