April 19, 2006
From one unelected socialist to another

Today's Seattle Times' reports on yesterday's meeting between Mrs. Gregoire1 and Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Hu Jintao

Asked if she brought up the question of human rights with Hu, Gregoire replied, "Rather than pressing a specific agenda, I simply believe we serve with the warm welcome he received today as a role model of what democracy can mean for that country."
China's Stalinist gerontocracy probably would appreciate Mrs. Gregoire's notions of model democracy.
"Here's a warm individual on a personal level, one whom I believe is steadfast in sending the message to Americans that he believes in a friendship, a peaceful relationship and that some of the fears we've heard about are not well-founded," she said. "He is making sure his country is taking care of its people when it comes to health care and education
Hao Wu could not be reached for comment.

Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at April 19, 2006 09:56 AM | Email This
Comments
1. Wow. I think I've got a bridge she might want to buy.

Posted by: katomar on April 19, 2006 10:06 AM
2. [bold] He is making sure his country is taking care of its people when it comes to health care and education...[/bold]
Heh! Somehow, I am suspicious of this broad, blanket statement.
Either it was made to try to paint Mr. Wu as a concerned, warm and friendly fuzzy guy who is just like us (only better, since he cares about people who can't afford health insurance), or it is based on deliberate, selective or even non-interest in current Chinese events.

But on the other hand, I also can't see how a haranguing attack (like some conservatives seem to want) on this guy and the China he runs would have helped either the Chinese or ourselves. It seems to me that Gregoire is trying to walk the fine line, but stepping off onto one side of it rather than risk stepping onto the other.

Posted by: pseudotsuga on April 19, 2006 10:14 AM
3. Did Gregoire mean a role model by "a model to the rest of the nation and the world at large... This is the biggest display of democracy I have ever seen..." when she talked about King County's election handling?

At least, she is consistent in thinking that broken democracy here is a role model to China and the world at large.


Posted by: C. Oh on April 19, 2006 10:18 AM
4. Barf!! Barf!! And this idiot said it with a straight face. No wonder HiHo chose Washington State for the visit.

Posted by: swatter on April 19, 2006 10:22 AM
5. Hey, pseudotsuga, great point. I also think that she made that statement to poke at the US and WA state for not having universal health care and not spending enough money on education.

By the way, you can actually make the text you type in by surrounding the bold text with <b> and </b> as in "<b>bold text goes here</b>" without the quotes.

Posted by: C. Oh on April 19, 2006 10:33 AM
6. How typical.
"Gee,they're getting free health care and education. What's the big deal with their lack of freedom??? It doesn't matter as long as they're getting health care and education."

Where have we heard that before? Oh yah, when libs discuss Cuba.

Posted by: Misty on April 19, 2006 10:35 AM
7. She loves the kind of education (camps) they have there. She is trying to get the same kind of indoctrination, sorry education, here.

Posted by: Fred on April 19, 2006 10:39 AM
8. There is a long history of American politicans, journalists and intellectuals of the left expressing admiration for Communist regimes for the way they "take care of their people when it comes to education and health care." We've seen it with Cuba for a long time (though it's becoming more difficult lately), and we saw it with the Soviet Union. Gregoire's inane statement is of a piece with that.

Posted by: stu on April 19, 2006 10:42 AM
9. C. Oh,

How do you make text italicized?

Posted by: RBW on April 19, 2006 10:51 AM
10. HEALTH CARE???? Has the Governor ever went to a mainland Chinese hospital? I have relatives who have lived there, and they would not even think about going to a hospital there. They would take a train 15 hours to Hong Kong rather than receive care in mainland.

Posted by: EJ on April 19, 2006 10:56 AM
11. HEALTH CARE???? Has the Governor ever went to a mainland Chinese hospital? I have relatives who have lived there, and they would not even think about going to a hospital there. They would take a train 15 hours to Hong Kong rather than receive care in mainland.

Posted by: EJ on April 19, 2006 10:56 AM
12. Values of the Libs.

Health care is of more value than liberty.

April 5, 1769
Our All is at Stake, & the little Conveniencys & Comforts of Life, when set in Competition with our Liberty, ought to be rejected not with Reluctance but with Pleasure.

George Mason

Posted by: JCM on April 19, 2006 11:15 AM
13. RBW - you do the same as bold except use an "i" instead of a "b".

Posted by: Fred on April 19, 2006 11:16 AM
14. RBW - an i between the carats turns it on.... a /i between the carats turns it off....

Posted by: alphabet soup on April 19, 2006 11:17 AM
15. RBW, you can surround the text to be italicized between <i> and </i> as in <i>italic text goes here</i>.

Posted by: C. Oh on April 19, 2006 11:19 AM
16. Health care for all, so they live a long, tortorous life in a repressive regime.

Posted by: dan_55 on April 19, 2006 11:41 AM
17. Saw Ron Sims at the Boeing event today. he rode the bus, no schedule!

Posted by: dan_55 on April 19, 2006 11:42 AM
18. C. Oh,

Thanks, I sort of suspected that would be the answer.

Posted by: RBW on April 19, 2006 12:03 PM
19. Gregoire was just offering the courtesy one despot offers another. Her "model Democracy" probably WAS viewed as a "Model". Model vote fraud, model confiscation of taxes etc.

Posted by: pbj on April 19, 2006 12:04 PM
20. Baghdad Jim was also present at the Boeing Everett event. Has Jim been to China yet? I imagine Jim's next trip will be to Iran.

Posted by: Gary on April 19, 2006 12:08 PM
21. I think Crissy should go to China and adopt another dog. Dogs have more rights and get a visa much easier than a HUMAN!!

Posted by: dan_55 on April 19, 2006 12:12 PM
22. RBW,

. . . and if you use all lower case letters in your sentences like Dinesh does, you don't
have to make any sense whatsoever and you can pretend that you are brilliant anyway.

Just a little hint on how to "think" like a liberal Berkeley grad.

Posted by: Amused by liberals on April 19, 2006 12:35 PM
23. Oh, and you don't want any part of chinese dentistry, either. It's ugly stuff.

Posted by: Misty on April 19, 2006 01:11 PM
24. Free Hao Wu!

Posted by: Misty on April 19, 2006 01:14 PM
25. This moral ambivalence displayed by Gregoire is a great example of what's wrong with the left today. They love socialism, and in their zeal to move the country towards a more statist, socialist agenda, they are not even willing to admit obvious tyranny and human rights abuse that is quite common in China, even though they don't want to see the same abuse here in America. Of course it never occurs to Gregoire and her ilk that human rights abuse is a symptom of the bad philosophy that views socialism as the ideal, and not the other way around.

We see the same thing with the left's view of the Iraq war. They are against the war, but are entirely unwilling to acknowledge or put in perspective the tyranny that was Saddan's regime. To those on the left, it's more important to use the Iraq war as a stepping stone to either discredit Bush, advance a political objective, or advance the overall cause of more socialism, than it is to appear credible.

Betsy Newmark had a good post on this, which was picked up by Powerline as well. The left has disintegrated into a miasma of angry tantrums posted in the comments of blogs like Daily Kos and Horses Ass, and they are losing the attention of the average American much more quickly than they realize.

Posted by: Jeff B. on April 19, 2006 01:43 PM
26. Just curious, do you suppose Cristine G had the Chinese President drive through the Freemont District to veiw the statue of the Communist Stalin? She must be proud of it and want to share it with him.

Posted by: Shirley Kreifels on April 19, 2006 02:25 PM
27. . . . and if you use all lower case letters in your sentences like Dinesh does, you don't
have to make any sense whatsoever and you can pretend that you are brilliant anyway.

LOL...good stuff.

Posted by: Palouse on April 19, 2006 03:45 PM
28. No shocker that Gregoire is buddying up with Hu. As has already been noted, the wholesale theft of the last WA Gov's election via the Peoples Republik of King Kounty was a textbook demonstration of Joe Stalin's old quip: it's not who votes that counts, but who counts the votes!

I am sure Gregoire got all weak in the knees and, dare I say, moist between the hams, being so near to a genuine socialist-communist strongman. Liberal chicks just dig those kinds of guys. Look at how they love Fidel, Che, and now, Chavez.

When Hu departed, did she throw her panties at his limo?

Posted by: Brad R. Torgersen on April 19, 2006 03:49 PM
29. "as a role model of what democracy can mean"

Isn't that the exact same thing Gregoire said about our fraudulent, disasterous Washingron state elections??

ACK!

Between Gregoires "role models" and Ron Sims "good home training"..I think they have the Big Brother/ Nanny /Socialist /Communist government thing covered....

Posted by: Deborah on April 19, 2006 04:19 PM
30. She probably contacted the Clintons before Hu came here, to see how they were able to solicit campaign contributions from the Red Chinese in 1996. She'll need a windfall of $ to overcome her Bush-like approval ratings in the next campaign. Maybe she added a hammer and sickle along side the WA State flag and told the Chinese entourage that they would try and adopt that flag in honor of them - so she can be lock-step with the Commies..

Maybe she'll find a one-way ticket to Red China before she totally f's up this state.

Posted by: KS on April 19, 2006 07:10 PM
31. So it's OK to be repressed politically, as long as you're being taken care of in terms of physical health. Glad we have that settled.

Posted by: mark on April 19, 2006 09:27 PM
32. Ya know...that liberty thing is SOOO overrated. AT LEAST THEY HAVE FREE HEALTH CARE WHILE THEY'RE BEING MISERABLE!!!!

Posted by: Me on April 19, 2006 10:55 PM
33. GAG me with a spoon....Haywire...you airhead!

Posted by: john on April 23, 2006 09:10 PM
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