Last night on Fox News' "O'Reilly Factor," Daniel Pipes, director of the Middle East Forum, made a very interesting observation about America's unique place in the world.

O'Reilly: Everyone's against Israel except for the United States. Why?

Pipes: Basically because Israel's a very small state with 6 million people that has enemies in the numbers of 200 to 250 million and whether you're looking at trade or looking at votes at the United Nations, or other benefits, you're probably better going off with the 250 million.

O'Reilly: Oh come on, it's got to be more than that. It's got to be more than just numbers. Israel doesn't have any friends? Is it anti-Semitism?

Pipes: There's probably a streak of that too. But the United States is unique in the world, not just in this case, but in all foreign policy, because we have a moral and humanitarian quality to our foreign policy.

O'Reilly: And no other country does? No other country has that?

Pipes: No other country.

O'Reilly: Really, in the whole world no other country....

Pipes: Not Canada. Not Britain. We are unique in this, and you'll find it throughout our history. It's American exceptionalism.

Later, Pipes also pointed to America's commitment to defend Taiwan as another case of where the United States defends a small, vulnerable Democracy against a powerful foe.

While Pipes makes an interesting point, I would say that there is also at least one major exception to the rule: China. The disconnect between how we treat one brutal dictatorship, China, and how we treat another, Cuba, is the exception to American exceptionalism.