A few days ago Jack Cafferty had some not-so-kind things to say about the Chinese on CNN’s Situation Room:
“I think based on China’s record in some of these places like Darfur and Tibet, that you can justify boycotting some of these opening ceremonies but the bigger issue is how do you separate the games from the politics? And I don’t think you can, unless you establish a permanent home for the Olympics like Geneva, Switzerland. It’s a small global village that we’re a part of now…I don’t know if China’s any different, but our relationship with China is certainly different. We’re in hock with the Chinese up to our eyeballs because of the war in Iraq for one thing. They’re holding hundreds of billions of dollars worth of our paper, we’re also holding hundreds of billions of dollars of trade deficits with them as we continue to import their junk with the lead paint on them and poisoned pet food and export jobs to places where you can pay workers less than a dollar a month to turn out the stuff we’re buying from Walmart. I think they’re basically the same bunch of goons and thugs they’ve been for the last 50 years.”
The Chinese has, apparently, demanded an apology:
BEIJING, April 17 — Ratcheting up an active campaign against what it calls Western media bias, China demanded a “sincere apology” from CNN for statements made by commentator Jack Cafferty who last week called the Chinese “goons and thugs.”
CNN offered an apology Tuesday, but the Chinese rejected it as not good enough. CNN’s Beijing bureau chief was summoned to a meeting at the Chinese Foreign Ministry Wednesday night, and a ministry spokeswoman said the global news network needed to do more to “take back the vicious remarks.”
China’s fight with CNN is part of a broader effort to challenge those who question its response to protests in Tibet last month or who criticize the Olympic torch relay, which ran through New Delhi Thursday under heavy guard.
Although Western media is a particular target, political figures are also fair game. For example, China was especially critical of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) after she met with the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader who China accuses of masterminding the Tibetan protests. An editorial in the government’s People’s Daily said if there were a poll taken in China, she would be voted “the most disgusting figure.”
Well, China, as long as you’re demanding apologies, pay attention to this:
Cafferty was completely right, your government is run by a bunch of goons and thugs. The same bunch of goons and thugs that helped Chairman Mao kill millions of people in the 1950s and 60s and, the same bunch of goons and thugs who helped kill thousands of innocents students in Tiananmen Square.
Your nation is a dictatorship and you’re killing innocent Tibetans for no good reason other than the fact that they don’t want to be turned into ethnic Chinese.
There you go.
Keep in mind that all requests for apologies will be considered, and ignored.
April 17th, 2008 at 10:19 pm
Doug Mataconis,
Look at you! your anxious and ferocious face due to your jealousness for China’s fast development, I can see that from your words, you poor little baby!
You might havn’t realized that you are living in a country where your president is fucking his intern assistent in his office while his wife is in the next door, and your mayor of a certain state is flirting with whores…… Oh, my godish, what a great nation Huh???
Oh, one more thing, a gift for you form my Chinese friends:
你这个大傻逼。你是个弱智，垃圾，杂种。 (better to view it in Chinese!)
April 18th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
Doug Mataconis,
No doubt that you are the same kind of people like Jack Cafferty. Knowing nothing about China, Chinese and the Chinese government but act like an expert to critize them. If you don’t understand, you’d better just be quiet rather than repeating what other people said. What is a goon? Repeating what other people said is one kind of goon. What is thug? Like World War I and World II, the countries went inside China Slaughter millions of innocent Chinese and robbed away the countless treasures, the countries including Japan, Russia, Britain, France, United States, Germany, Italy and Austro-Hungary. This is what my friend forwarded to me, “I love the letter written by Mr. Frank Hilliard, who’s from B.C. This is posted also in Macleans dated Apr.21st. 2008. Here it goes:
…… IT’s still within the lifetime of an individual that China was invaded by a ruthless enemy, was in the middle of a terrible civil war, and was riven by endemic warlordism. Millions died from bombing, bayoneting and starvation. A lifetime before that, China was under the thumb of an eight-nation alliance (Japan, Russia, Britain, France, United States, Germany, Italy and Austro-Hungary) that ruthlessly put down the Boxer Rebellion, and anti-foreign, anti-imperialist uprising. And a lifetime before that, there was the First Opium War, fought between China and the British East India Company. The issue? To force China to import British opium. China is a great nation beaten up and raped for 169 years that has finally started to act with discipline and self-interest. It has nothing to apologize to the West for and the West has a lot to apologize for to China!
Solute to those that understand history of China and to those who are willing to put a question mark to the local news . Solute to those who willing to quest the truth and spare a few minutes to listen to the Chinese people’s opinion. One would be impressed how happy most of the Chinese are toward its ONE government ruling. Life have been changed dramatically in the past decades. We are proud to be what we have achieved today and what we are going to be in the future.
Open your heart and see the world without prejudice!”
April 18th, 2008 at 5:08 pm
Angela my dear,
Mao Tse-Tung killed millions on a whim.
His successors put people in prison for “political crimes” and deny even basic freedoms to their citizens.
That, quite honestly, is all I care to know about China.
One day, the Chinese people will be free from their dictators and I will celebrate that day.
Today, I will again say that the Chinese Government is run by thugs and goons.
April 18th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
You American’s fool. How much did know about China? I guess you guys like to gather information from liar of China. Because that’s the easiest way for them to get their green card. And that’s the easiest way be MAKE a story that can drive you guys happy. But, I will tell you, that’s not truth. Look at this movie if you don’t want to be fooled. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4047595699146559334&q=tibet&ei=vCoJSPf0FaLaqALFgrD4Dg&hl=en
April 20th, 2008 at 4:23 am
Jack Cafferty didnt call anybody goons or thugs but the Chinese Government. I live in Thailand and Im American and I live in China Town. Chinese people are great and some of the nicest people I ever met. My home is around Chinese people now, but when I want to talk bad about the Chinese Government, I simply say “China” or “PRC” and most people do too. I dont like my own government which is why I live in Thailand but theres no government I dislike more than Chinas. He wasnt calling all chinese goons and thugs. Jack Cafferty obviously cares about Chinese People like I do. I feel sorry for them and so does he obviously. China government never hurt americans or acted like thugs towards americans so there’s no motive for him to use those words or feel resentment towards China for things they personally did to him. It obviously bothers him what they did to their own people. China gained that reputation with Tiananmen Square Massacre. The entire world saw them as bullies then they ran over 2000 college students who were having a peaceful protest.. Its the chinese people and taiwan and tibet people who are bullied by Chinas government and who Chinas Government attacked during tiananmen square massacre. Cafferty obviously feels sorry for chinas people and hes not disrespecting them at all, hes actually defending them with his comments. Their Government never hurt him, they hurt chinese, so he is sticking up for them, he has no motive to call the entire country goons and thugs. Hes just telling it like it is. Wolf Blitzer was already talking about the government and talking about what happened at Tiananmen, then Jack Cafferty gave his comments on it. He didnt have to say “Chinese Government” because they were already on the topic so they knew what he meant when he said “China” in the discussion. Thats why he said “They are still the same goons and thugs they were for the last 50 years” in response to Wolf Blitzer saying “The communist REGIME is maybe different then they were in the past”. A regime is a form of government, not the citizens ok. The current communist regime has been in power for about 50 years. The people have been there forever. He was obviously talking about the government. The government obviously killed those people in Tiananmen and they are still in power today so they are still the same government, same people, and same way of doing things. If you think americans don’t know what China is really like, you are wrong. The only people who do not know what China is really like, is Chinese people themselves because you are not allowed to even learn about your own history. You will go to jail if you talk about Tiananmen Massacare and many other bad things China does. China blocks access so you can not learn about China’s history, but we in other countries can learn about the things you can not learn about. You are ignorant, but not my choice. Your government is forcing you to ignore the truth by censoring what you search for on the internet and what you read in school. People are pointing the finger at the wrong man. He deserves an award for speaking up about it and risking his job like that. Good Man.
April 20th, 2008 at 6:20 am
Jack Cafferty is ABOLUTELY right. The Chinese people are a great people and we want their friendship. But the communist party are a bunch of goons and thugs with a history of mass murder. The worst democracy in the world is better than the best dictatorship. It is time for China to open up its political process to other parties.
April 20th, 2008 at 10:57 am
No one can deny the terrible things CCP in China to its people. However existence of that government till today has its reasons. To CCP credit, they were able to open up the country and advance the economy to status today. All Chinese people benefited from this process so they are not as hostile toward this government as 20 years ago. You can’t form a balanced view about China by following mainstream western media because they are biased in their heart in the first place. The best way to learn about China is to learn Chinese, to visit China and to talk to Chinese people.
April 20th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Doug, You have been talking about Mao Tse-Tung. I agree that he killed many people and had done some wrong deeds toward the Chinese during his late ages. However, he was one of the great leaders led China out of more suffers from other countries and stopped the wars in China. After World War I, World War II and the civil wars, China became a poor country and really need a central government to lead China move forward. Do you know how big China is? Do you know how many different races in China? Do you know how many different languages or Dialects in China? Do you know how many years of history of China? Most importantly, do you know how much mess the wars left for China? Guess left these mess to China? Is Mao and Chinese themself? No, China was such great nation with so much that the Chinese are proud of. Till the eight-nation alliance (Japan, Russia, Britain, France, United States, Germany, Italy and Austro-Hungary)leff the mess. We have not even to say these eight countries thugs, how dare you are or whoever to critize our government. It is true that the government has done some wrong deeds to the Chinese. However, we all see our government has been improving and has led Chinese move forward with good future. After struggles of the 50 years, thanks what the government has done, China is moving on, and become a great country that gain attention from other countries again. However, China is not just a big country but also a big country with her own power to protect the Chinese from attacked. Do you think the other countries can now easily get into China and kill as many people as they want and rob as much as they want. Thanks any attentions from other people, but please, stop critizing China and stop making stories to make China look bad. Give us a Chance to move on, give us a Chance to survive better. We will be O.K. We all trust that our government has been changing and become better and better.
April 20th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
Angela,
And Mussolini made the trains run on time.
Face, Mao was a murderer and a dictator and the Chinese people have suffered from his legacy since the day the Nationalists were forced from the mainland.
Can Chinese people vote ? No
Can they freely criticize their government ? No.
Can they practice non “state-approved” religions ? No.
To call the Chinese government “improved” is a conceit and a lie.
Sorry, nice try though
April 20th, 2008 at 7:02 pm
Come on, “improve” means getting better and better, it doesn’t mean “perfect”. For such huge country, it is not possible that change things overnight. We all know, Chinese government has been changing and thus improve the lifes of chinese. We are still expecting to see more changes because we all understand everything takes time and gotta be step by step. Your questions could be a simple “Yes” or “No” question for the United States. However, for the status of China now, there are still so many people cann’t have a full stomach, and not all the kids have the chance to go to school for simple education. The most important thing for the government to do is to change the economic condition for the basic living requirement. If you still remember what you learn in school. You should know your questions is considered the higher level need. the basic needs are something your rich western countries never can understand. Thanks for your concerns, we are not at that level to vote yet. Critizing the government? I would agree that the government is sensitive about it. But again, we would accept to take time to improve. You know, any sudden change really could make huge changes for such big country either bad or good. If you we should have a different government, how can you be sure that would be better. IS that all you can see about the chinese government are negative side? Are you sure that all you see or heard are ture? We as the Chinese, we know there are a whole bunch of people either Chinese or Westerners don’t like China for various reasons. There are so many people misunderstand China and only can see the bad side of china. It is o.k. we really want to see China getting better and better.
April 20th, 2008 at 7:49 pm
Jack is absolutely right. How do those Chinese tell us what to do. I am speaking of the ones protesting in New York. How dare they ask for CNN to fire him!! He and Lou Dobbs are the only people speaking out for the American people. Jack only meant the Chinese govenment. I mean all the Chinese. They think they rule the world. Whatever happened to free speech in this country!! Keep up the good work, Jack. Americans still have the say in this country, I hope.
Helen Moffat, 87 yrs old and a 5th generation American.
April 21st, 2008 at 11:15 am
speaking of killing people, do you know how many innocent iraqi people got killed and are still being killed? do you know how mnay americans got killed in the civil war? do you know how many native indians got killed when their land was invaded? that’s right, they were all killed by chinese government. now you tell me who should be called goons and thugs.
April 21st, 2008 at 12:49 pm
to Moffat
i feel sorry for you. with 87 years of wisdom, you could have chosen to be anything but a racist.
April 21st, 2008 at 9:41 pm
I hope Jack Cafferty will resign to save Tibetans form more goons and thugs created by his staying with cnn.
April 21st, 2008 at 10:57 pm
Read your news, china did not do any wrong with the lead, it was the American design. CNN has always been biased against the Chinese and Asians, that is why I never want to watchit.
April 22nd, 2008 at 10:52 am
Doug Mataconis,
if all the information you collected about china was from mainsteam western media, maybe you should also listen to chinese individuals, especially the oversea chinese people. most of them have lived in the western countries for many years and should have been well educated by “western democracy” by now. but how come tens of thousands of them protested peacefully in a number of cities around the world against biased western media on april 19th 2008. did western media report that as much as they reported tibet riot as protest? don’t try the “they were hired by the chinese government” again to me. that just sounds naive. i agree with jerry, if you are open-minded, you should also look at the progress china has made in the past 50 years. at least, 1.4 billion people are not starving anymore. to me that’s a great accomplishment, and i don’t think many other governments can do better than that. so “The best way to learn about China is to learn Chinese, to visit China and to talk to Chinese people”. thanks jerry!
also, i think there is no perfect government. if you really want to defend jack cafferty for only referring chinese government as a bunch of goons and thugs. then really think about all governments, including usa. when bush said to the whole world, you are either our friends or our enemies, when us troops invaded iraq and killed tens of thousands innocent people for no reason (that’s right, what was the excuse????), i would like to hear cafferty to say usa is run by a bunch of goons and thugs.
i appreciate your thread for such an open discussion.
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:54 pm
I really want to give Caffert a pat, he had say something which i always wanted to say to the China government! Well, he speak the truth and telling the fact, when not all people dare to say, but he did!!! Good Job! He is right that they are bunch of goons and thugs, but i guess they are more than that…they invaded any country they want, make their own rule and forcing people to follow it, if not, prison them, even to harmless monks and nuns…what is human right to them?
Why they want to invade Tibet in 1950’s? Mao is probably thinking that with their huge population and nowhere to accommodate, it solve the problem if he invaded Tibet and let his people take over this big land with more space for them. Furthermore, Tibetans who are always so kind and compassion, whom will be easy to handle and conquer them. Mao had killed 1 million of Tibetans, which is 1/5 of the tibetan population! He is the Devil…thank god he dead, or else it will be worse now…
Till now, China way of ruling its country had not change much, they are all the same…Saw the news interview a Chinese protesting outside China’s carrfour, saying that they are not so “cheap skate” to buy “made in France” products just because of the discounts or cheaper goods. Oh ya? then why does most female chinese go over to asia country such as S’pore, Malaysia, Taiwan doing nothing but HOOKERS? destroying some happy family, cheating money from thousand of old folks with no family? Ya, may be you can say that not all China people are so greedy and cheapskate, but i can say most of them, at least 90% of the people are like that!!!
Sigh, sometime i really wish this country could just disappear from the earth, making so much polution…
April 25th, 2008 at 7:50 am
Mao ’s picture is hanging at more than 70% Tibetans’ houses nowadays. The remaining 4/5 Tibetans sure do not miss those 1/5 killed or exiled.
Why? Unless they still want to be skinned alive and be honored to put their skin on the monks leather seats, or their bone used as decorations in temples, nor do they want to be used as currency.
Should Chinese and Tibetans have more freedom? Sure, but those won’t happen tomorrow. I am not really fond of the Chinese government, but I still can see lots improvements in the last 20 years.
Even if CNN was right, 200 Tibetan died, so what? Chinese government is putting down a riot there. The same thing US did in Iraq, which killed 1M Iraq citizens and no one gave a damn.
200 vs 1M, human right vs human life.
April 26th, 2008 at 1:37 am
*Doug Mataconis* Your self-righteous, hypocritical bigotry would be laughable if it wasn’t so potentially dangerous. -Our “vote” was ignored in 2000 and we got “w.” -Any idea on how party members get their office? I thought not. I’ll let you think on that one, not wanting to spend too much time on an issue you won’t pay attention to anyway. -They can freely criticize, they pay a price, we don’t.-If an ethnic minority broke the laws in your state, burned down your business and killed your family members, I’m sure you’d show them the same courtesy you’re demanding from the Chinese government.-That, quite honestly is all the time I have for your xenophobic hypocrisy.*CJ* Points about the censorship, I agree with; However, most han Chinese (majority ethnic group) actually feel about their government like the red state republicans feel about “w” in the U.S. You don’t separate the government from the people. They have a government that is working for them. They are not providing any more weaponry to Sudan then we are sending to any number of countries around the world.*Noel* How much experience do you have living under both systems? Democracy in theory is wonderful, but so is communism. Neither of our countries are the perfect model. In fact, the reason most people seem really happy there. It must be because they don’t know any better. There’s a difference as well between a republic (like both we and China have, and what you’ve mistaken for a “dictatorship.”*Jerry* RE: “The best way to learn about China is to learn Chinese, to visit China and to talk to Chinese people.” You are right on the nose on this. I’d like to add to ” You can’t form a balanced view about China by following mainstream western media because they are biased in their heart in the first place.” that you can’t create a balanced view of China (and the rest of the world) on a diet of CCTV either. Unfortunately, we have these unbalanced sources of information with which me must synergize. Hopefully we have more world citizens with positive goals than negative in both of our countries. We’ll need it if we don’t want our kids dead or in some post-nuclear, O2 depleted corpse of a planet.*Angela*True. Keep your positive outlook. Doug appears to be afraid that China is playing the economic game better than the U.S., or maybe he got a bad egg-roll, or maybe the Nascar re-runs weren’t playing and he was feeling sorry for himself. I’m not sure where all of his animosity towards China is coming from. It is unfortunate that for so many years, we in the U.S. were fed a combination of “no information and “mis-information” about the Chinese that some of us just find it easier not to do the research that it takes to make an educated evaluation. It is my sincere hope that enough of the more open and educated in the U.S. get into positions where we can educate the less fortunate and un-educated among us. I hope it’s not the same in your country. Do the un-informed form their own opinions based on fear and the inability to take responsibility for their own predicaments? Many in the U.S. are more willing to blame anyone but themselves for the economic condition that they are now in. The Chinese people have had it so badly economically for so long that the economic prosperity they are benefiting from now appears hard to take for Americans who are forced to make sacrifices (for a change.) Those who feel that one country can’t win unless another loses are responsible for this fear of Chinese prosperity.*Helen* While I agree that the Chinese have no right to tell us what to do (this is America,) you might think of something nice to say. Suppose that was your husband that was being called a goon (or thug?)*Shu Cheuk* lol lol lol*SUPPORT TIBET* The question is not whether to support Tibet or not, but whether the Chinese government has a right to protect its people. Tibet is part of China, de facto. The South is part of the U.S., defacto. P.S. I know a great many Chinese females (my wife included) who take exception to your hooker comment. Maybe it’s just your bad luck of the draw with Chinese women…—-The bottom line. China has NO right to tell CNN/Time what to publish (until we sell them willingly controlling interest.) The U.S. has NO right to hypocritically tell the Chinese that they have human rights issues, or that they cannot control civil unrest in the swiftest, most decisive method possible. Both countries have a deeper responsibility to make certain that the earth is safe for our children. Communication, consensus and action will keep us going in the right direction. Those with no desire to learn and make a positive contribution should re-examine what is really important. I am ashamed say that there are way more Chinese I know that are open-minded towards Americans than the reverse and it makes me ashamed. Go there, keep an open mind, and treat the people like family. They will do the same. If not, we’re all screwed. Big picture, big picture, big picture…
May 23rd, 2008 at 11:00 pm
If you have enough time to criticze China, why not making US look better?
May 25th, 2008 at 11:48 pm
So where is Jack now? was he fired by CNN?
August 30th, 2008 at 2:56 am
US government should learn from Chinese government as far how to deal with those Chinese protesters in US. Lock them up and send them to slave labor camp for ten years. That way these morons will love US government just as much as Chinese government
September 2nd, 2008 at 11:23 am
Cafferty, It’s obvious that you’ve become the far left’s attack dog, as well as the biggest ass hole in America. I guess CNN keeps you aboard (while making sure to disclaim your biased opinions as yours and not theirs) because you’re controversial. And controversy sells newspapers. I just hope your gross misuse of your position results in your pitiful and complete demise.