Subscribe by RSS
She’s now calling on President Bush to boycott the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing, China. Not the entire Olympic games, just the opening ceremony.
Here’s the scoop from The Politico:
The first high-profile move of the post-Penn campaign:
Clinton is calling on Bush to boycott the Olympics opening ceremony.
An aide confirms the news, reported first — EXCLUSIVE — by Drudge.
Apparently she has now released a statement as well:
The violent clashes in Tibet and the failure of the Chinese government to use its full leverage with Sudan to stop the genocide in Darfur are opportunities for Presidential leadership. These events underscore why I believe the Bush administration has been wrong to downplay human rights in its policy towards China. At this time, and in light of recent events, I believe President Bush should not plan on attending the opening ceremonies in Beijing, absent major changes by the Chinese government.
I encourage the Chinese to take advantage of this moment as an opportunity to live up to universal human aspirations of respect for human rights and unity, ideals that the Olympic games have come to represent.
Americans will stand strong in support of freedom of religious and political expression and human rights. Americans will also stand strong and root for the success of American athletes who have worked hard and earned the right to compete in the Olympic Games of 2008.
Will Obama or McCain follow? Stay tuned, it’s still developing.
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...Visit the You Decide 2008 Store »
Loading ...
How about talking about something relevant and useful for once? Not a chance, or course, as this is Hillary Clinton we’re talking about. Her campaign must be running out of smut with which to smear the other candidate with (finally). Clinton cares about as much about the American People and their say as Cheney does…
Josh, the Olympics is one of the most important politic ventures for China in the last three years. If you’ve been to south or southeast asia, this would be apparent.
China is currently enabling the dictatorship to continue in Myanmar, which pumps out one of the largest percentages of drugs to the world. China is also having its part in Darfur, and is currently violating human rights in its province of Tibet.
One of the most productive and useful platforms for negotiating with China on these terms is to challenge its authority and respect in this area. Spielberg did this and is already getting positive results with a new Chinese investigation and oversight into Darfur. Imagine if a U.S president actually demanded something…
Yeah, I have to agree wholeheartedly with Hillary on this issue. Hosting them in China amidst all these Tibetan protests - and the Chinese government’s hateful propaganda-filled handling of them would be laughable if it weren’t so serious. I’d rather America boycott the Olympics themselves, frankly. This whole debacle has been sickening.
Quick SAT question: which term does not belong in this set - “brutal human rights violation”, “propaganda machine”, “cultural suppression”, “honorable athletic competition”. Why is Hillary the only one speaking out?
I guess Obama voted ‘present’ on this one….
he never has a clear answer does he? he always likes to stay in the middle.
Give him a few more days, he goes where the votes go.
AC,
You’re exactly right. After Clinton challenged Obama and McCain, Obama finally came out and called for Bush to boycott the ceremony, like Clinton asked.