Chinese Xinhua News Agency Goes after Romney China-Bashing Blasting as 'Ironic'

Just maybe these comments by Santorum are the missing puzzle piece to explain this election and how some Republicans who I thought had better sense jumped on the Romney bandwagon.  Others of us could see right through the Romney facade in 2008, but have to admit he has taken it to a new low in 2012.  This could explain some of the outrageous remarks I see on various websites defending Romney not only on Libya but now his attacks on China which is really dumb since they own a lot of our debt.  Romney attacking China is beyond stupid, it is dangerous to our economy.  These comments by Santorum make me so happy at the last minute I could not cast my vote for him in the primary and threw it away voting for Governor Perry:

Santorum: ‘We Will Never Have… Smart People On Our SideBy Judd Legum on Sep 15, 2012 at 5:20 pm 

Speaking Saturday at the Values Voters Summit, Rick Santorum said that “smart people” would never side with conservatives. Watch it, via RWW. 

Santorum also claimed “the media” and “colleges and universities” would not be “on our side” because “they want to tell you what to do.”  

Rather, according to Santorum, the conservative movement will be supported by “the church and the family.” This summer, however, a group of Catholic nuns have launched a bus tour “to shed light on the effects the House Republican budget would have on the people.

Did Santorum just say that if you are smart, you will never be conservative?  Guess he includes himself in that and after some of his dumb statements in the primary, I would tend to agree.  This makes me even happier that I no longer consider myself a part of today's conservative movement because they are so far right if you don't think and talk like them, then you are considered a 'socialist,' a 'communist,' or even 'un-American.'   They have become and the judge and jury of freedom of speech which only applies to what they and other conservatives have to say.  

Over the many years I have been around politics I have seen dumb and dumber from both sides but this just might take the cake this week with Romney -- first on Libya and Egypt and now taking on China.  First of all it is a long standing tradition that Presidential candidates don't involve themselves in foreign affairs when the Country is in the middle of a crises.  Not only did Romney involve himself in the Libyan crises but he got it wrong while trying to score political facts.  Now the man who while at Bain made millions of dollars from outsourcing jobs to China is attacking China.  If that is not dumb then I don't know the meaning of the word dumb.

You shake your head at the abject stupidity of a man running for President and will also throw in some of the Republicans members of Congress who cannot quit bashing China.  Did the Romney Republican members honestly think they could bash China and sooner or later they wouldn't strike back?

Xinhua said such China-bashing had been "a cancer in U.S. electoral politics, seriously plaguing the relations between the two countries. 

"It has also become a handy tool for U.S. politicians who try to court the votes and support of ill-informed voters by ratcheting up antagonistic sentiment towards China, while truly serious social and economic woes within the United States have been left unfixed." 

Liked the fact that the China News Agency threw it back at Romney that he had made millions from sending jobs to China after Bain closed American plants outsourcing the work to China.  We are dealing with a candidate who not only doesn't believe rules apply to him, but we are supposed to believe everything he says as facts don't matter.  Romney supporters obviously do not deal with reality or they would not be bashing the rest of us for telling the truth.  Hard to believe that any thinking person could support Romney after this last week.

Mitt Romney China-Bashing Blasted As 'Ironic' By Country's Xinhua News Agency

Reuters | Posted: 09/14/2012 3:41 am 

BEIJING, Sept 14 (Reuters) - U.S. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's attacks on China and promise to name the country a currency manipulator if elected are foolish and hypocritical, China's official Xinhua news agency said on Friday. 

In a strongly worded English-language commentary, Xinhua said Romney's anti-China rhetoric, if converted into policy upon him assuming office, would trigger a catastrophic trade war and damage the already weak global economic recovery.
"It is rather ironic that a considerable portion of this China-battering politician's wealth was actually obtained by doing business with Chinese companies before he entered politics," Xinhua wrote. 

"Such blaming-China-on-everything remarks are as false as they are foolish, for it has never been a myth that pushing up the value of China's currency would be of little use to boost the chronically slack job market of the world's sole superpower, not to mention to magically turn the poor U.S. economic performance around." 

Romney has repeatedly pledged to get tougher with China on its trade and currency practices, including pledging to quickly declare China a currency manipulator if elected. 

His opponent, President Barack Obama, has accused Romney, who founded and led private equity firm Bain Capital, of outsourcing jobs to both India and China. 

China says the yuan's exchange rate is essentially set by market forces, and that the currency has appreciated about 30 percent against the dollar since a landmark revaluation in 2005. 

The Chinese government has generally been silent in the run-up to the November presidential poll due to a policy of non-interference in the affairs of other countries. 

But state media has waded into the debate to lambaste what it sees as attempts to play the "China card", in a reflection of official thinking and concern the country's name is being unfairly dragged through the mud overseas. 

(snip)

The United States should "put its own fiscal house back in order, substantially slash its tremendous military expenditure, and optimise its economic structure", it added. 

"It is advisable that politicians, including Romney, should abandon ... short-sighted China-bashing tricks and adopt at least a little bit of statesmanship on China-U.S. ties." (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Ron Popeski)  

Source:  Reuters

Is Romney trying to start a Cold War with China like he wants to do with Russia?  This recent chain of events starting with Romney's ill timed lies to score political points even before all the details.  He blamed the President and then Secretary of State for the uprisings in Libya and Eygpt which led to Al Qaeda using the demonstrations for cover to attack and kill four people including the Ambassador at the Libyan consulate.  Santorum, the Romney mouthpiece, is also blaming Obama for the deaths.  The Romney camp including the candidate would not admit for several days the demonstrations were set off by a radical trashy film against Islam which he originally refused to condemn until he saw the tide had turned against him and his comments.   How many Republicans who say they support him are actually going to vote for him on November 6th?

Romney's attacks on Obama and SoS Clinton have now been compounded with his attacks on China as he panders to the far right.  These attacks on China are making his big donors and some fellow Republicans nervous who are now saying behind the scenes that they don't believe he would follow through what he says he would do against China if elected.  Get that -- HE WOULDN'T FOLLOW THROUGH WHAT HE IS SAYS HE WOULD DO AGAINST CHINA IF ELECTED.  This is an admission by the people who know him that you cannot believe what he says.  Imagine that -- been saying that for over a year and in 2008.  What if they are wrong and he does follow through?

And if he did, many analysts say, he’d likely spark a disastrous and counter-productive trade war that would hurt both American consumers and the workers he says he’s trying to protect. But Romney advisers say voters shouldn’t expect him to back off the tough talk if he gets elected, and other experts say fears of a “trade war” are overblown since the Chinese need the American market just as much consumers like cheap Chinese imports.

If the rest of his advisers are as out of touch with the real world as Williamson was about his comments blaming Obama for Libya and Egypt not the film, the Romney camp is in trouble on foreign policy.  It started with the Romney attack calling Russia our #1 geopolitical foe and now these China attacks show a Cold War mentality from not only  his advisers but the candidate himself.  Then there are Rush's comments which the conservative sites along with Fox News picked up saying Al Qaeda gave up Bin Laden to help Obama.  Noted that Rush says something and the next day the Romney campaign takes up the same mantra.

Romney and his campaign need to be so thoroughly defeated that they can never rise from the ashes again with these former Bush/Reagan advisers now working for Romney sent to the trash heap of history with comments like Williamson and others made this week.  Then you have the Rush comments siding with the lies Romney told about Libya and Egypt.  My favorite was Fox News where Sen McCain got in a dust-up with Hannity.  Seems that Hannity, the foreign policy expert (sarcasm), couldn't believe McCain wouldn't agree with him.  Any candidate who hires these foreign policy advisers who work for Romney or follows instructions of the foreign policy experts Rush, Hannity, Beck and Fox News deserves to lose big.

Now some donors and Republicans have doubts about Romney on China.  Maybe it is because they are finally seeing Romney releasing what he would do if elected, and it is not what they expected.  Shame on them for believing anyone who says you have to elect me to see my plans.  That should be an automatic disqualification for any candidate.

Doubts grow on Mitt Romney’s China threats
By BEN WHITE | 9/15/12 4:07 PM EDT 

Mitt Romney is hoping his tough talk on China policy will win him votes — but few of his big business donors or fellow Republicans support what he’s saying or believe he’d follow through if elected. 

(snip)

Also on POLITICO: China: Romney's rich because of us)

The Republican nominee has renewed his sharp line of attack on President Barack Obama’s China policy, arguing in a new ad, on the stump and in a fundraising pitch to supporters that he would take a much brawnier approach to the abusive Chinese trade practices. He’s repeatedly said one of his first acts as president would be to formally label China a currency manipulator and slap punitive tariffs on Chinese exports to the U.S.

“I want to make sure that if a nation cheats like China has cheated, we call them on the carpet and don’t let it continue,” Romney said this week in Virginia, returning to what’s been a recurring theme of his campaign. 

That may play well in the Rust Belt, where automobile and other manufacturers are especially vulnerable to China’s trade policies and there’s wariness of Obama’s less confrontational approach. 

But there’s fear that Romney’s threat — if actually carried out — could damage the U.S. economy. The Chinese could retaliate by slashing purchases of U.S. debt, driving up our interest rates. Any new tariffs on Chinese exports would also increase prices for U.S. consumers, who have grown accustomed to cheap Chinese goods filling U.S. store shelves. 

Branding China a currency manipulator also could stop cooperation in other areas of dispute and force all disagreements to go before the WTO, which could take years to reach a ruling of uncertain consequences.

“What would happen is we would badly damage our relations with the Chinese while also raising the question of consistency regarding other nations that also manage their currency,” said Tony Fratto, a former Bush administration economic adviser and spokesman. 

(snip) 

“It is unclear what China’s initial reaction would be [to Romney’s proposed actions]. But none of the scenarios are positive,” the executive added. “Will they ban some of our exports? Maybe. Will there be crippling tariffs? Maybe. It would set into motion a very unpredictable and possibly very damaging series of events.” 

(Also on POLITICO: Romney's new ad whacks China) 

Daniel H. Rosen, a partner at the Rhodium Group and an expert on the Chinese economy, said there would be a wide-ranging effect to the policies the Republican nominee is championing.
“If a Romney presidency starts with aggressive new unilateral tariffs for China, then American firms from General Motors to General Electric and Microsoft should all plan ahead for retaliatory treatment,” Rosen explained.

Read more:  Politico

Maybe Santorum is right that Romney needs the far right that basically is not very smart behind him because those of us who think can see through the con man.  That is one reason why many of us have joined Republicans for Obama to support the President against this 'severely' conservative flawed candidate, Romney.