Add John McCain’s name to the growing list of politicians calling for a boycott of the Opening Ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics:
Senator John McCain said today that he would not attend the opening ceremonies at the Olympics, barring significant changes in China’s behavior, if he were president.
During an appearance on ABC’s “The View,” Whoopi Goldberg asked the presumptive Republican nominee whether he would attend the ceremonies.
“Unless they change something pretty quickly, I would not go to the opening ceremonies,” Mr. McCain said.
Several top Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, have called on President Bush to boycott the opening ceremonies at the Beijing Summer Games given the current unrest in Tibet and China’s human rights issues.
“I would say right now, this depends on Chinese behavior. Unless there is some progress with the Dalai Lama, including conversations with him, including stopping this brutal crackdown that we’re seeing in Tibet, then I would make the decision not to go. But I would say to the Chinese, ‘Look, clean up your act here. This is not acceptable,’” he said.
Exactly. And it’s not exactly like Bush would really be snubbing the Chinese if he didn’t attend the Opening Ceremonies because, as Marc Ambinder points out, no American President has ever attended an Olympic Opening Ceremony held outside the United States.
And there’s no reason to start now.
