In lieu of a boycott, perhaps we could "Bomb Bomb Bomb, Bomb Bomb Bejing!"

How can Bush boycott CHINA's opening ceremony when China is footing the bill for Bush's Iraq war? {For the numb-nuts in the crowd, Bush is borrowing money from China to finance the war}.

Does this mean he would also refuse to borrow money from China?

Unless Hillary Clinton wins the Dems primary, McCain will win the Pres. election in Nov. 08.

If I were the President, I'd be afraid to go anyway... China's all corrupt.  Seems like it'd be too easy for someone to sneak in.

This is a bad issue for all 3 candidates.  They all are guilty of political expediency on this one.  The "Free Tibet" movement has existed for a long time now so why do the candidates have something to say about it only now.  China has been committing atrocities for years.  China was also given Most-Favored Nation status a few administrations ago.  I don't believe that our athletes who have sacrificed and trained so much for this moment should have it taken away from them.  The Olympics were never meant to be used as a political tool but that seems to be the case here.  I always thought that if any type of boycott should be done, I thought that it was the CLOSING ceremony instead of the opening.  I need to do my homework and see the candidates stances on this issue before this month.  Regardless, McCain will never get my vote.

Great. Is he going to start singing bomb, bomb, bomb China now.

Well that is b/c you were not invited,, did you forget already!  You are not President McCain yet.

Let's see, we have an army of occupation in Iraq, but we are concerned about the Chinese in Tibet? What if the world treated us with contempt for our actions in Iraq and boycotted us?

We have Shiites fighting Shiites in Iraq, in addition to Shiites fighting Sunnis with both Shiites and Sunnis fighting us. How can we tell between a "good" Shiite and a "bad" Shiite or a "good" Sunni and a "bad" Sunni? But we are there supporting the Iraqi citizen, right?

Can someone please tell me why we just can't pickup and come home? Why can't we leave with the provision, "If anyone attacks us in the future, we will retaliate and destroy them"? Based on our present plan (if you call it that), we will never be able to leave.

This has been going on for 50 years.  Don't think anything is going to change anytime soon.  I wuld go to the opening show, maybe wear a pin on my coat showing the support of Tibet.  The Chinese are a prety grusome bunch of folks, but having a boycott makes no sense.  Didn't do much when we boycotted Moscow back in 1980, what good would a boycott do today?

I ould attend the olympics, maybe wearing a pin of the national flag of tibet.  China is a communist state, doubtful that anything we say will change their minds.  The 1980 boycott did not work, why would a boycott work now?

I think this whole thing is a joke, because I highly doubt McCain planned on going in the first place. Thus, it's silly that he can now say "I might boycott it, and not go, to protest it," and it just so happens to work out perfectly for him if he never planned on going in the first place.

http://twocanpete.blogspot.com/
This is perfect, now when John McVain forgets to show up at the Olympics he can just claim he was boycotting them.

I don't think there should be a boycott because the Olypics must be kept non-political, on the other hands I think that politicians should not be at the ceremonies because that injects politics.

This guy.  He said he and Petraeus agree with Osama Bin Laden.  Bin Laden explains that there are more Americans in Iraq than anywhere else in the arab world, that they are accessible and Al Qaeda operatives should take advantage of this gift by the Americans.  Remember Bin Laden started his war on America having been so upset that the Saudi government had allow American forces into Arabia.  And what is up with this guy supporting the surge that has improved Iraq so much that we can't leave.  It is so bad that we can't leave and the progress so good that we can't leave.  Does anyone else understand this?

CK you are again so right. I mean people are talking ish about Obama b/c he is not ready to commit to the whole boycott idea. I believe that he thinks that if he says somehting now it will look like political pandering and not a position that he has always held.
The Olympics is about fun and games and the athletes. it is also about countries coming together in peaceful competition. I think our grieviances with China should be aired after the Olympics. But than again can we really air any grievances when we are so in debt to them and they make all the things we love to buy????

Boycott CHINA !!

They invaded Iraq !
They invaded Afghanistan !

They're water-boarding
They've suspended the Geneva Convention for illegal combatants
They're doing illegal 'Renditionhs'
They're wiretapping their own citizens

Look at their old 'Jim Crow' laws
and the Chinese 'Trail of tears'....

Exceutive Order 9066 ....

Come on, America !!
Stand for 'Freedom' and 'Human Rights'

hey Diane,

China will probably end up footing the bill for our socialized health care, too. Fantastic!

I think it is a bit arrogant of McCain to think they can tell China to clean up its act as if it were a school child. It is all a bit silly.

Boycotting the opening cermonies is the right thing to do. They are nothing more than a celebration of the country. Tibet is a huge issue, but not the only one, there are others (Sudan) that are equally as important for why he should not attend.

while its true that we owe China a lot of money, it would hurt their economy as much as ours to call in those loans.

Furthermore, for those that say that the Olympics should/are not be about politics...where have you been for the last 50 years? It's all about politics.

Boycotting the opening cermonies is the right thing to do. They are nothing more than a celebration of the country. Tibet is a huge issue, but not the only one, there are others (Sudan) that are equally as important for why he should not attend.

while its true that we owe China a lot of money, it would hurt their economy as much as ours to call in those loans.

Furthermore, for those that say that the Olympics should/are not be about politics...where have you been for the last 50 years? It's all about politics.

Lets stop the human rights horrors in our own country.  These polygamist sects have existed for a hundred years.  It is shameful and outrageous. American children and women are existing in isolation and sexual slavery.  This is 2008, and this horror has got to end.  I know this is a little off the topic....sorry

It's nice to see McCain, Bush and Obama taking Hillary's lead on this boycott. Hillary is a leader and will be a great President. Her qualifications, detailed grasp of domestic & international issues and intelligence are unmatched.

Obama is unqualified and unelectable. No amount of 24/7 media promotion is ever going to change that fact. Why do you think the corporate owned media is relentlessly, shamelessly promoting Obama 24/7 and atacking Hillary 24/7? They know he can't win.

For example, if you can't win in electoral rich states like Ohio, you cannot win the Presidency. Superdelegates take note. Obama outspent Hillary in Ohio by 4 to 1 yet he won only 5 out of 88 counties in Ohio, areas with large black voter turnout for him, the only voting group he won. Today, in Ohio polls, Hillary beats McCain by 10 points, while Obama ties or loses to McCain in Ohio. Same story holds true in other must win states like Florida, Michigan, Penn, New York for the Dems.

Hillary has already proven she can win big in the big electoral states (like Ohio) that are the must wins for the Dems in November. Hillary is clearly the strongest candidate for the general election. The Dems would be foolish to nominate an unelectable Obama, he would destroy the ticket in November.

Obama does not belong on the ticket at all. His negatives are rising with the revelations about Antoin Rezko, Odinga of Kenya, Africa, "pastors" Wright, Moss & Meeks, Crown, Exelon, Ayers & Dorhn and scariest of all AUCHI. Investigative journalists need to be reporting on the Obama, Rezko, Auchi connections and the Obama campaign manager David Axelrod's relationship with these people as well as Obama supporter David Wilhelm's relationship to them, Welhelm is named in the Rezko trial. Rezko is currently criminal indictment in Chicago and Auchi is also under criminal indictment.

The voters deserve to know the relationship between Obama, Rezko, Auchi, Odinga, Axelrod and Wilhelm.

*VOTE SMART! VOTE PATRIOTIC! VOTE HILLARY CLINTON!*

Will the air be fit to breath for the Olympic marathoners? What's the typical temperature for that day of the year? Having trained for and completed 5 marathons I have huge respect for these world class athletes. The focus should be on them and their great accomplishments. It should not be politicized. Not to say that politicians shouldn't address serious issues in OTHER ways.

Diane from Illinois (Sent Thursday, April 10, 2008 11:59 AM)

Exactly Diane...this is crazy.  This is the telling the Banker, they are wrong.  Exactly what Obama said.  I feel really bad that WE are in that much debt to China.

Many years ago when it was decided that the Olympics would be in  China, where was the outrage then?  I am sure their behavior and mistreatment of others in China didn't just began.  Couldn't this have been avoided?  

Did McBush go on to say that he thought that "Mao Say Tung" guy was a real tough commie SOB and should give up power?

http://www.michaelparenti.org/Tibet.html

In case anyone wants in-depth factual analysis of the changes in Tibet here it is.  It traces the horrors, brutality and atrocities of the surprisingly recent feudal era through the changes and problems brought on by the Chinese.  It is not all black and white as some would have us believe. There are some nuances.

Has he been elected yet? I did not know that. The Olympics are in august and the election is in November. China could easily tell him he was not invited so who cares what he says about attending. He is not yet a head of State.

McCain failed to show leadership on this one...the Dems alread beat him to it. Hillary first, by saying she wants Bush to boycott opening ceremonies, and then, followed by Obama, calling for a similar measure.  

And while boycotting the opening ceremonies seems like it won't change the situation in Tibet, or China's human rights crimes, it does put China's gov't in its place and embarrasses them.  China has been hoping this Olympics will make people see it is a great country again. It places a lot of importance on ceremony and symbolism.  Having our president tell China's president, p*ss-off with your invite to the opening ceremonies, will be a huge huge huge blow to the Chinese over inflated egos.  

However, I feel for the athletes...China should never have been awarded the Olympics.  It is a criminal regime that should be dealt with.

Isn't McCain gonna be busy campaigning against (and losing to) Barack Obama when the Olympisc are going on ?

Maybe he could boycott the Republican Party for supporting 'water boarding' and supporting torture.....

Just what will a boycott of the Olympics accomplish except to deny our athlete's lifelong dreams?
IMHO boycotting the opening ceremonies will be even more useless and meaningless.
The Olympic Games are not the place to settle disputes between nations.
It took a lot more than boycotting the Olympics to get the Russians out of Afghanistan, and to end Apartheid
in South Africa

To: MSierra, SF

Boycott CHINA !!

They invaded Iraq !
They invaded Afghanistan !

They're water-boarding
They've suspended the Geneva Convention for illegal combatants
They're doing illegal 'Renditionhs'
They're wiretapping their own citizens

Look at their old 'Jim Crow' laws
and the Chinese 'Trail of tears'....

Exceutive Order 9066 ....

Come on, America !!
Stand for 'Freedom' and 'Human Rights'
----------------------------------------
Great post.

To: MSierra, SF

Boycott CHINA !!

They invaded Iraq !
They invaded Afghanistan !

They're water-boarding
They've suspended the Geneva Convention for illegal combatants
They're doing illegal 'Renditionhs'
They're wiretapping their own citizens

Look at their old 'Jim Crow' laws
and the Chinese 'Trail of tears'....

Exceutive Order 9066 ....

Come on, America !!
Stand for 'Freedom' and 'Human Rights'
----------------------------------------
Great post.

To the Moderator. How come you don't see fit to put my posts up here on this blog?
They are relevant to the threads, not incendiary, use no foul language and do not attack the comments of others.
I'm starting to think that someone there has it in for me.

McCain is of the opinion "do as we say, not as we do".

Oh Dear ... He sounds just like Bush. We should find a way to firmly but respectfully register our objections for the sake of both China and ourselves and actually aim for some positive outcome -- versus simply lash out. Let us not forget our economic interdependencies unless we look forward to looking back on the current US economy as a "Boon".

Let's show up the the country that keeps America from going under. We can be strong but in the right way.

anyone else notice how mccain has been leaning to the liberal side of things lately, that sly old dog wants that independent vote, then when he's elected he can swing back closer to the repub center

Yeah !!
Let's boycott China
They've got a HORRIBLE RECORD ON HUMAN RIGHTS !


From Salon.com

'..."History will not judge this kindly"

Thursday, April 10, 2008 10:15 EDT

Describing the Bush administration's affinity for torture, Michael Stickings noted this morning, "it's not all about John Yoo. The U.S. didn't just start torturing its detainees because a government lawyer said it was okay, or because some executive-branch extremist like David Addington determined that anything and everything was permissible in a time of war, or because some dim-witted troops at Abu Ghraib just didn't know any better. At some point, early on, a decision to allow torture, to enable it, must have been made -- and it must have been made at the highest levels of government."

And so it was.


In dozens of top-secret talks and meetings in the White House, the most senior Bush administration officials discussed and approved specific details of how high-value al Qaeda suspects would be interrogated by the Central Intelligence Agency, sources tell ABC News.

The so-called Principals who participated in the meetings also approved the use of "combined" interrogation techniques -- using different techniques during interrogations, instead of using one method at a time -- on terrorist suspects who proved difficult to break, sources said.

Highly placed sources said a handful of top advisers signed off on how the CIA would interrogate top al Qaeda suspects -- whether they would be slapped, pushed, deprived of sleep or subjected to simulated drowning, called waterboarding.


The "Principals," ABC reported, included Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell, CIA Director George Tenet, Attorney General John Ashcroft and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, who chaired the meetings.

According to one top official, Ashcroft reportedly asked aloud after one meeting, "Why are we talking about this in the White House? History will not judge this kindly."

On this, Ashcroft could not have been more correct.

Marc Ambinder, among others, raises the prospect of war-crimes charges against these top White House "Principals," though Jack Balkin notes that the Military Commissions Act can serve as a get-out-of-the-Hague-free card.

Either way, the disgrace the "Principals" have brought upon the country is beyond question.

― Steve Benen...'

Boycotting the Olympics only punishes the athletes. The Olympics is the only opportunity the world currently has to bring together peoples of all ethnicities and languages for a couple of weeks every four years. Let's not screw it up. Perhaps in the future, the International Olympic Committee will do a better job of researching a countries involvement in world affairs and also the healthiness of the bidding city's climate before awarding that city the Games.

C.K. Steele said: This is a bad issue for all 3 candidates.  They all are guilty of political expediency on this one.  
__
I could not agree more.

Money talks, morality walks. For over 50 years the U.S. has kept embargos in place and prevented trade or tourism with Cuba because Cuba is a communist country which opposes the notion of independent thinking and human rights. So can someone tell me, other than the fact Cnina has a billion near slave workers that bolsters corporate America profits and loans us money to rebuild a country we destroyed for no good reason what the is difference between the two comunist countries?

Thanks to the current administration's lousy economic policy and the one that you, McCain, want to continue, we owe China big big money and p*ssing them off when they have us by the cajones financially might not be too wise.  If they collect everything now, we're sunk!  Of course, I see you don't like to look down the road a bit to see what your policies might do to this nation.  Case in point: Bomb bomb bomb bomb bomb Iran... quite the jokester!

Although America should make it known to the government of China that we strongly oppose their inhumane agressions against Tibet, it would be irresponsible to penalize our American athletes who work so hard for their day to compete against the world, which will not come again for 4 more years. Let's put our American athletes first in this decision.

Let's start off with that McCain is the last of the major candidates to say something on this as best I am aware.  With that said, there is much to be said about going to or not going to the Olympics.  Given that so much of the world is tied one thing into another, there are implications no matter what you do.  It is too bad that McCain only mentions Tibet since that is going on now.  

Since I am not a major candidate, this is what I would do with the situation if I were president: I would allow all the athletes to compete, but I would make sure that there was a medical team to go with them above the group that goes with them the teams given the level of pollution there.  If I were president, I would go for some of the sporting events but not the opening or closing ceremonies.  If asked why, I would say that I am there to support the athletes, but I must do something to quietly make my disapproval of how the Chinese deal with the people of Tibet who are just trying to keep their culture as well as China's responsibilty in Sudan about Darfur among just a few problems.  

You can't buy anything in this country anymore that don't say "Made in China". We borrow money from them to fight a stupid war, but yea lets boycott these stupid games. that'l teach 'em.

I Disagree with Mr. McCain on the Olympics. He is making the Olympics political. It is a time that people have trained for for years and is a sport. We are not supporting China or how they treat their people we are supporting a sport. It is a time for all countries to get together and know each other our way of living. Pulling countries together. To not go would be making it political and not supporting our men and women and the men and women of the world that have trained so hard to get there.Get real we don't have to agree with what China is doing, but get them where the pocket hurts quit buying all that cheap junk from them, now that would show what we think. They say they have to use cheap products in what they make because have to keep the price down, so we get lead paint on toys and a lot of other unhealthy things from them. Their cloths don't last as long as our own materials. so pay a little more buy American. But don't not support our own men and women in sports and the other countries make it the sport, it is supose to be not political.

Let the country without human rights sins cast the first stone.  

So what is his response going to be when China takes his statement "To be a responsible stakeholder in the modern world, a government must also be responsible at home, in protecting, not trampling, the rights of its people" and turns it around and applies it to our bombing of Iraq citizens for the past five years?
Will they compare it to the bombing of China in the 30's by Japan?

We should boycott China. They torture people,invade and occupy foreign countries, spy on their own people...Oh wait that's the Republicans. Boycott the GOP.

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