Pajamas Media

47 Comments

Tito:

Why be surprised? The Bushes have always had a blind spot when it comes to China. But then they are not alone. The IOC, as corrupt a collection of elitists ever to gather, shares in the shame as does every CEO who sells out the future of his company and nation for the sake of cheap labor and an imaginary billion-person market.

Jul 9, 2008 - 3:08 am Kim Zigfeld:

Not only China! Remember when Bush “looked Putin in the eye” and “saw his soul” and found him “trustworthy”?

Then Putin started buzzing us with nuclear bomber overflights and giving weapons to Iran and Venezuela and destabilizing the Middle East with aid to Hezbollah and Hamas (in order to jack up oil prices). To say nothing of totally wiping out civil society and democracy in Russia, all while Bush stood mute.

Bush cannot leave office soon enough!

Jul 9, 2008 - 3:51 am CaptDMO:

WOW!
I believe President Bush (the seated) announced his intention to attend the opening ceremonies of the olympics quite some time ago.

Unlike other “leaders” of the west who crushed the
opportunity of EVERY American athlete who dedicated their lives to compete on a planetary
level, Mr. Bush is keeping with the original intent of the Olympics, where political ideologies were set aside in a semblance of truce, competitors were afforded “safe passage”,
and rabid professional separatists, desperately seeking to usurp the (temporary)international platform were expected to shut up and sit down for the duration.

There are glaring exceptions of course. The worst offenders have all been assigned their rightful place on the consignment shelf as
marginalized footnotes, of interest only to
those desperately clinging to the charity of fringe malcontents reconstructing history when they believe the grown-ups have all retired for the day.

Apparently, Bush Derangement Syndrome holds no
bounds as a scapegoat. Can’t this be blamed on global warming, or El Nino, or the eruption of Vesuvius, or Via Appia, or something?

Jul 9, 2008 - 4:20 am TomJW:

I don’t think Bush cares about anyones opinion anymore. The man has had so many lies told about him that he has to be deaf to it all.

No sense in him starting a tiff with China for the next president to be stuck dealing with. The failure started when the olympic committee picked China as a host.

Jul 9, 2008 - 4:28 am cedarford:

The once-inspiring leader who said he would make no compromises in defending freedom will be traveling halfway around the globe to honor unrepentant dictators. President Bush, in short, will undermine all that he stands for as he attends a three-and-a-half-hour spectacle glorifying Chinese communism.

Well, Nixon went to triangulate the largest mass murdering regime against the Soviets to our benefit, but we were in a position of strength in 1971. As the worlds largest creditor nation, the world’s leading industrial power, and the world leader in 22 of 25 areas of technology. Head of an economy 17 times larger than China’s, that had a trade surplus with most countries. Bush I was the emissary of the Greatest nation to a land cooking chunks of potatos and pumpkin over coal chunks collected from along railroad tracks.

Bush II goes to China as the pet whore of the Corporatists and wealthy. Knowing that China has funded his reckless pork to the wealthy, his tax cuts for the rich in time of war…and put ordinary Americans, now turned into free-spending wastrels like their bought officials became wastrels. China has the hapless Bushies on beck and call not just the trillion in T-bills that allowed politicians to promise a new Golden Age of bread and circuses to the masses, military adventurism, and richly rewarding large donors - but on the private paper backing bank lenders. Who helped put illegal aliens and 25K a year store clerk flunkies in no money down, 3000ft2 McMansions.

And all while funding US consumerist debt, China has managed to grow at 11% a year while stealing skilled jobs from the US middleclass with eager connivance of the Wealthy Elites that have bought both Parties to support Globalism. A neat trick by the Chinese and their Gentile and Jewish fatcat “Free Trade! Globalism!” enablers here. The triumph of 2 buck an hour skilled labor in dictatorships over the “soft, pampered workers” of democracies. Not only gut the jobs here, but suppress wages in the surviving jobs while getting record profits and paying less taxes than ever on the “cut” they get from them, the Bush whore, & China gutting US jobs.

What else do you expect the whore in the White House to do but kow-tow?

Yes, he is still “Leader of the Calvary” and has more raw military power…but he is more and more like a county sheriff facing off with a owner that not only has the bank, the sheriff’s mortgage, and the fate of most of the jobs in his hands. The sheriff still has coercive power, but in everyday life the Owner calls the shots.
So Zhing Dao!, Bush idiot. Laugh, bow, scrape, and backslap when you are expected to as you are trotted around to display to Chinese.

***************
The great lesson of Tianammen Square was NOT about democracy and human rights but awareness in China by then that economic modernization had shown that capitalism can flourish under communist authoritarians or authoritarians of any stripe. China had not just its own early signs that it could out-compete any country obsessed with getting democratic consensus and all special interests aligned and putting up with decades of blocking lawsuits in courts. It also saw how much better authoritarian capitalist places like Singapore and S Korea did than either inefficient command economies or inefficient democracies.

Right now, from the perspective of most younger Chinese now getting a shot at a huge improved standard of living, seeing China Rise to replacing America as the greatest economy and soon the greatest technological power and the main creditor of the wastrel Americans - the bullets of Tianammen Square so that China did not decline into squalor and corruption caused by democratic chaos/human rights/rule by lawyers and crony capitalists that Russia did - those bullets were the best investments the country ever made.
Just as Russia itself soon realized how damaging democracy was to it’s citizenry, seeing its standard of living dramatically decline, lifespans shortened, and national assets stolen by a cadre of billionaire Jewish Oligarchs that bribed the Yeltsin pro-democracy forces to sell the Russian people out. Thanks to Putin and HIS version of authoritarian capitalism, Russia has turned around and is becoming a great nation again. People from the Polish border out to Vladivostok are now living longer, standards of living rising. The Jews were forced to give back control of the industries they looted, the billions in wealth they got for pennies, to a large extent. Russia threw the America imperialists out of Central Asia, made the Euros respect Russia again.

The lesson seems to be too much democracy, too much human rights, too many lawyers demanding rule of law - makes for declining nations. That capitalism does not cause Democracy, and is in fact hindered by it. That Euroweenies, wastrel free marketers, democracies actually controlled by Wealthy Elites and lawyers lawsuits on behalf of the Elites or special interest groups - rather than by the masses - can be outcompeted and the People’s interests advanced better by authoritarian capitalism.

Jul 9, 2008 - 5:53 am Corey Wayne:

I do not think it is fair to athletes who have been training their whole lives since they were little kids to make it to the Olympics to have their dreams ripped away from them because of politicians who can’t get along. Athletes should not be used as political footballs the same way our troops are by congress. Don’t make our athletes and troops suffer because politicians can’t do their job.

Jul 9, 2008 - 6:20 am JOHN:

President Bush should be there, as our leader, which he still is and the rest of us should shut up about it. China is where the Olympics are as agreed to by the governing body and that’s where the President should be. Some of the nit picking from the left is just plain bulls#&t. Get over it.

Jul 9, 2008 - 6:41 am Gordon G. Chang:

CaptDMO, President Bush long ago said he would attend the Olympics. He did not commit himself to attend the opening ceremony until last week, however.

Jul 9, 2008 - 7:19 am Larry Anderson:

Bush is a non-entity. As described above, he can’t get replaced fast enough for me. My only recollection of him doing anything productive is right after 9/11. He must have fallen down the steps and hit his head or fell off the turnip truck the day after. His support for amnesty and unwillingness to secure our borders finished me with him. He is a guy I would like to buy for what he is worth and sell him for what he thinks he’s worth. I’d make a lot of profit. Unfortunately, Congress is full of people in this same category.

Jul 9, 2008 - 8:47 am keithacita:

consensual government for china! commies in business suits are gangsters who will do anything and sell out anyone for money. don’t be fooled, china is as big or bigger danger than the islamos they support every chance they gat against us.

Jul 9, 2008 - 8:49 am Mary in LA:

President Bush is right to go. For one thing, he said he would, and he keeps his commitments. For another, not going would be merely a Jimmy-Carteresque bit of meaningless posturing. What good did boycotting the 1980 Olympics do? Did it “tear down this wall”? No, not a bit.

As Tom said above, the damage was done when the IOC selected China as the host.

Jul 9, 2008 - 9:24 am Anita Hope:

I think Gordon has it right, Pres. Bush should fly to Japan and be with our athletes for their flight to China when
they start to participate then return to the US. He should sleep in the quarters given our young athletes for one
night and then get on his plane and come home, not socializing at any time with the politicals.
This is not a left side or right side, it should be an American side of what is best for our country and what we are all about, ” GUMPTION “, ” FREEDOM “, ” OPPORTUNITIES TO SUCCEED “, and this should be the biggest and final message to all foreign countries that don”t like us, ” WE OUR RETURNING TO OUR PRINCIPLES “. No longer will we
stick our heads in the sand. If nothing else we have learned from this President is that we must reactivate education in our country, use better judgement when electing anyone to any office. We must all stop being greedy for awhile and go back to our own labels, MADE IN AMERICA, or at least labels from countries where people our free.
This country was made up of people escaping from persecution and we need to stop and start respecting choice of religous rights as long as they do not violate our basic laws. We have learned so much from each other that is good, music, food , design, and when we share we seem to get along, ” PEACEFUL TOGETHERNESS “. For those who come INTO OUR COUNTRY TO DESTROY, we must ban together and make sure our laws give them NO RIGHT
to remain on our shores. The money spent for keeping them here should be spent on “OUR OLYMPIC ATHLETES”
we need to become a selfesh nation , getting back our strength so we can resume being the great & powerful, giving oountry we have been.
PRES. BUSH WITH SO LITTLE TIME LEFT IN THIS BUSINESS VENTURE FOR YOU, TRY LEAVING IT WITH A RIGHT SIDE .
Your past from education through business ventures have not been good, so take advantge of the peoples request here on your turf, “DO NOT ATTEND THE PARTY IN CHINA ON OPENING DAY”, We as free people will respect you for taking this action.

Jul 9, 2008 - 9:29 am tanstaafl:

It doesn’t strike me as particularly intelligent to criticize a US President for attending these Olympic Games.

No matter where those games are held. The Olympic committee chose Beijing, the games are about international competition, not politics.

At least ideally

It’s sad that the pollution in China is so extreme. Something like 7 of the 10 most polluted cities in the world are in China.

China has gone so far as to temporarily close factories and so forth to reduce pollution during the Olympics, but it’s still very bad. And there is that massive “algae bloom” due to dumping waste into rivers, what a travesty. Hundreds (thousands ?) of Chinese people have been enlisted in an attempt to clean it up so the water competition (sports) can take place.

I’m glad the games are in China, to draw attention to the ongoing dire consequences of rapid industrialization, unencumbered by apparent concerns of stewardship for people, waterways and the planet in general.

Jul 9, 2008 - 9:33 am deguello:

What do you expect for the elected shill for globalization,open borders, and outsourcing? This is what Shrub does best, licking the boots, of dictators and corrupt oligarchs. Have you ever seen the revoltingly worshipful looks that Bush would give the vicious Vicente Fox on his regular visits to issue Bush orders? How about his recent, disgraceful oil begging In Saudi Arabia?Instead of an aggressive bully -pulpit campaign to foster oil drilling, and nuclear energy,the Shrub prefers to beg. You would have thought he was in love with the Mexican thug.The Bush presidency has been about open borders’free’ trade,outsourcing to China and India,and destroyig national sovreignty. It was very obliging of Al Qaeda to bomb the WTC,as it gave Bush and the plutocracy an excuseto destroy the only ideology capable of challenging globalism; Islam.

Jul 9, 2008 - 10:09 am Larry J:

Some people are big on empty gestures but Bush skipping the opening ceremonies would accomplish nothing. Symbolism doesn’t trump substance. Like one of the old studio execs said long ago, if you want to send a message, call Western Union.

Jul 9, 2008 - 10:47 am Rachel:

And what do you think Darling O is going to do? The same thing. Only he’s the one you want as pres and will silence yourself.

Man, W does not get a break, and I never voted for the guy. I blame the internet. It has created so many armchair generals, armchair moralists, and armchair presidents that in the real world they would s*&t their shorts if they had to deal with what Presidents deal with.

Jul 9, 2008 - 10:56 am Vinny Vidivici:

Maybe I’m getting old, but I don’t recall past opening ceremonies being a must-attend for heads of state. Regardless, I don’t believe attendance was ever regarded as a measure of either good diplomacy or excessive deference.

In fact, if the world’s leaders were really interested in making the Olympics about the athletes instead of about themselves or politics, they’d ALL stay away, and that includes CCP bosses, too.

Jul 9, 2008 - 11:15 am tanstaafl:

Any of you bashing President Bush for attending the Olympics/opening ceremonies should look down (right at this moment) at the shoes on your feet. And then you should contemplate their (very likely) point of manufacture. (If not the shoes on your feet at this moment, expand your consideration to all the shoes on your closet floor…)

You might move on to contemplate the origin of many of your clothes or the products you bought on your last trip to Wal-Mart or any other store.

Then you could bash yourself as well for hypocrisy and support of a repressive regime.

Jul 9, 2008 - 11:21 am Vinny Vidivici:

Rachel:

You’re right. Obama going to Beijing would likely be hailed as statesmanship by a fawning media. It’s the Goldilocks critique: When someone says we’re ‘propping up’ unsavory regime ‘A’ or ‘failing to engage’ unsavory regime ‘B’, it says more about the politics of the person making the critique than about the regimes in question. Those calling for sanctions against regime ‘A’ will claim that sanctions against identical regime ‘B’ will ‘only hurt the average person’. We’re urged to do business with regime ‘A’ to influence it and encourage change, but urged to dis-invest in regime ‘B’ in order to force it to change.

Anomalies abound.

We’re one of the largest providers of food aid to a starving North Korea, a country with which we’ve been in a virtual state of war for half a century. Propping up or failing to engage? Our patronage of Saudi oil has created a strange relationship with an even stranger country, one we likely woudn’t have with any other nation. Propping up, or engaging? Similarly, as China’s largest customer and major provider of direct investment, could we have contributed to the recent success of (’propped up’) one of history’s most murderous regimes?

Arm chair moralists and diplomats will have no trouble decising which is which. And that’s my point.

Jul 9, 2008 - 12:26 pm tanstaafl:

And you’re correct veni vidi vici that heads of state should (for a change) keep the spotlight off themselves and stay home.

Jul 9, 2008 - 12:50 pm Fidel, MD:

Oh, who the hell cares about the olympics? Just ego gratification sponsored by an organization that is more corrupt than the Corleoni family….and usually held in cities who’s government aspire to that level of corruption.

Jul 9, 2008 - 3:03 pm Tito:

I did not intend to slam the President with my first comment. I simply pointed out that the Bush family has always given China the benefit of any doubt you could scrape up — possibly because of his father’s service there. But in this respect, he is like so many other people who find reasons to give China a pass where they would not do so for another country. CEO’s see cheap labour and a huge market (an illusion); romantics see the wisdom and traditions of Confucius and Lao Tzu; revolutionaries see a billion poor souls just waiting for a spark to mobilize them; missionaries see vast numbers of potential Christians. Potential is the key. China acts as a mirror in which everyone seems to see their virtues multiplied by a billion. The President is no different. Should he go? I don’t think so. Not because his non attendance accomplishes anything in particular but because his attendance does indeed make a symbolic point. The leaders of the Chinese prison state understand this. That is why they wanted the Olympics in the first place. That is why the IOC should be ashamed of itself (were that possible for that venal group of faux aristocrats). As for our President, though I do not agree with him on very much, I must begrudgingly admire how he has dealt with being the one chosen by history to make the tough decisions of the age when everyone else just wants to be a critic or a cheerleader. I’m convinced the Democrat Party, a group Louis XIV would find overly monarchist, would be favoring tax cuts and free markets if Mr. Bush had only announced he supported socialist methods of dealing with our problems.

Jul 9, 2008 - 5:22 pm Joshua:

Oh, who the hell cares about the olympics?

Sports fans and the participating athletes, for starters. This is the real dilemma for Olympic-bashers (and Beijing Olympic-bashers in particular): For better or worse, the Olympic Games are still the most prestigious event in the world for most of the sports involved. The fact that the Games are increasingly likely to be hosted by scoundrel nations (China ‘08, Russia ‘14) and nations slowly knuckling under to Islamic supremacism and multiculturalism (Canada ‘10, Britain ‘12) doesn’t change the stature of the Olympics themselves.

Asking athletes and fans to turn their backs on the Olympics, regardless of the reasons for doing so, is like asking football players and fans to forget about the NFL. Unless and until a viable alternative competition emerges, that’s just not going to happen.

Jul 9, 2008 - 5:44 pm control:

cedarford-
Men marrying men, women marrying women,
dogs, cats and rabbits sleeping together.
Any wonder why America is going to hell in a hand basket?

Jul 9, 2008 - 5:50 pm Dave:

Most people have no idea what’s going on in background as they gritch and opine and act like experts. The Yellowcake Express should remind us all of that. Most Bush opposition is in such stupidly oversimplified terms that the conversation is a waste of CO2.

Jul 9, 2008 - 6:02 pm BMoon:

It is quite peurile, as stated by others here, to expect Pres. Bush to renege on his word, to use the Olympics to engage in silly inflamatory drama politics, and then expect that it would do anything other than create unnecessary animosity with the world’s largest and fastest growing nation. Get a grip folks and row up. He will do far, far more for the oppressed people in China by going and saying one or two quiet words in private to Chinese leaders than a million empty gestures and accompanying cacaphony of indignation.

Jul 9, 2008 - 6:14 pm Steven Marks:

I believe this will be the first time a US president has attended the opening ceremonies of any Olympiad not held in the US. A stunningly bad precedent is about to be set by the Bush Administration.

Jul 9, 2008 - 6:42 pm tanstaafl:

The Olympics might have been a lot more fun at their origin, 800 or so years BC (excuse me, BCE)

The winners got great cachet with Zeus and Hera, the ruins of whose temples still dominate the site of the original games in Olympia, Greece. I think it is the small area in front of the temple of Hera where the torch for the modern version of the games is fired up every year the games are held.

Also, given the exaltation of the human form by the ancient Greeks, the original races were run in the nude. Probably the few other events, as well. I recommend bringing that factor back into the modern games, for an interest factor.

Jul 9, 2008 - 6:45 pm John Samford:

The Olympics are bogus. In conception, execution and their exploitation of everyone involved. Winners should get noble prizes in chemistry instead of gold medals. Judges can retire after one Olympics session. It requires a willful ignorance of history to follow the Olympics.
The chemists creating performance enhancing drugs are ALWAYS ahead of the chemists testing for them. If you could apply todays tests to the samples taken 8 years ago, how many gold medals would be returned? 90%? 95%?
It’s all bogus.

Jul 9, 2008 - 10:02 pm ic:

Quid pro quod: North Korea dismantled her nuclear weapon, Bush come to the party. NK was used by the Chinese to needle the US for quite awhile. That’s why Bush dragged China in his 6-party talk. That’s why, all of a sudden, NK got rid of her WMD. That’s why the first US president to meet the Dalai Lama in the White House did not threaten to boycott the Olympic ceremony.

Putin: Bush invited Putin to Crawford, announced him being his chum. Then he “unilaterally” withdrew from the ICBM treaty, Putin didn’t make a squeak, and Bush began the anti-missile shield.

Jul 9, 2008 - 11:55 pm KD Ranch:

The more the world engages China in commerce of any kind the better off the world will be. Better to connect them to the world through globalization than to fight them in an “no winner war”. The old regime is fading and the new folks coming to power have realized it is good to be connected to the world in everyway. Country A (us) sends Country (B)China jobs to build up their economy. As we found in our own history jobs coming from Country (A) England built our economy, but the over-reaching rules that came with it got us into war. The Globalization we are pushing has very few rules hence the choice of trading instead of fighting. The bottom up theory of globalization has brought about the largest middle class in world history. We as the source code for that should be very proud. After all isn’t it all about ridding the world of poverty.

Jul 10, 2008 - 6:47 am Jim Stutts:

Steven Marks:

“I believe this will be the first time a US president has attended the opening ceremonies of any Olympiad not held in the US. A stunningly bad precedent is about to be set by the Bush Administration.”

This just adds the list.

Jul 10, 2008 - 8:20 am Jim Stutts:

KD Ranch:

“The more the world engages China in commerce of any kind the better off the world will be.”

This is called “foreign and economic policy based on kindergarten rules” often promulgated by leftists. It doesn’t and hasn’t worked in practice. What we are clearly doing is building up the economy and technological level of our next adversary - all funded with debt.

The kind of thing that is considered “smart” by a Georgetown grad.

Jul 10, 2008 - 8:22 am deguello:

You go KD.! When this country is finally de-industrialized,overrun by impoverished third world immigrants,unable to defend itself because it’s unable to manufacture weapons, and in debt to china and other hostile countries,Id like to see what halfwit justifications for globalism you can invent. We ship jobs to China because the plutocrats have figured out a way to pay slave wages in China, while charging US prices here.England built the economy in the US? it was precisely British mercantilism, that prohibited American manufacturing and fostered dependence on England, that led to the american revolution.I can see how you can confuse colonialism with globalization,since they are both ultimately thesame. It was innovative industrialists,like Ford, Edison, and Carnegie,protected by anti global trade tarifs, who created the most prosperous nation on earth. It’s globalist plutocrats , like Soros,and idiots like Bush,pushing”free trade, globalization,and multiculturalism that will destroy it.

Jul 10, 2008 - 9:49 am deguello:

The Olympics(like all spectator sports)serve to occupy and distract people so that they don’t think about politics, organize,or develop their personalities. Ignore spectator sports! Don’t watch sports,play them. Hit the gym, hike, kayak,hunt, learn how to defend yourself, with/without firearms,above all read, blog, stay informed. If enough Americans do this, the government will be afraid of ithe citizens, instead of the other way around,and we can stop the globalist plutocracy’s attempt to impoverish the world,and destroy our freedoms.

Jul 10, 2008 - 9:57 am legaleagle:

Get over it!

Our country’s athletes are traveling to China.

So are their families, trainers, friends and sponsors.

So, tell me again, why should the President sit home while he allows USA’s citizens to go to China? There is no reason for him to sit home.

China may have its problems, but the success of both countries is closely tied together. We want China to prosper (so that it cleans up its pollution, stops stealing military and trade secrets from USA, starts to prosper economically, and finally begins to treat its citizens better). Grow up folks!

Bush is doing the proper thing in going to China.

Jul 10, 2008 - 5:54 pm dan:

Please - what’s the point of insulting the Chinese and causing an international row? The idea that he should not attend is, if I may say so, so *European.* What effect did boycotting the Moscow olympics in 1980 have? None. But at least then we had a proximite pretext to voice our displeasure about a country that everyone knew was Evil. Get a grip.

Jul 10, 2008 - 7:08 pm Jim Stutts:

legaleagle:

“China may have its problems, but the success of both countries is closely tied together. We want China to prosper (so that it cleans up its pollution, stops stealing military and trade secrets from USA, starts to prosper economically, and finally begins to treat its citizens better). Grow up folks!”

If you think our China-biased trade deals will do any of this, it is you who need to grow up.

“Bush is doing the proper thing in going to China.”

Bush is still just as weak as when he apologized to them for their violations of international treaties in the EP-3 incident.

Jul 10, 2008 - 11:06 pm deguello:

Ditto Mr, Stutts.legal Eagle’s quote could have been uttered just before Pearl Harbor :just chang Chinese to japanese,and you’ll know what the unpatriotic greedheads were saying then.

Jul 11, 2008 - 1:06 pm retro:

Dana is incapable of uttering a single word of truth. She’s a vapid showpiece sock-puppet, nothing more.

Jul 11, 2008 - 1:34 pm

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