Rep. Nancy Pelosi clearly does not feel that Red China is bad, or at least not wicked enough to warrant the diplomatic wrangling that would ensue if US sportsmen protested the despotic rule during the forthcoming Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Pelosi’s speech started out so strong that it took most of us by surprise.
“When the Winter Olympic Games begin tomorrow in Beijing, the Chinese once again will attempt to distract the world from a decades-long campaign of abuse and repression. But the United States and the international community know the truth.
While we fully support and will root for our athletes, we cannot and will not be silent on human rights in China. Over the next two weeks, it is our urgent moral duty to shine a bright light on the many human rights violations being perpetrated by the host nation.”
Nancy Pelosi tells U.S. Olympic athletes not to "speak out" against the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing lest they risk "incurring the anger" of the Chinese government. pic.twitter.com/kzwSYdMJyM
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) February 3, 2022
It would have been a terrific speech if she had finished it there, or even better, if she had continued along that path and hammered home her message about the communist system by urging athletes to take a stand on something that corporate sponsors won’t.
She couldn’t, of course, finish it there. In some way, she had to follow the Chinese line.
In the same speech, she then said that the athletes are there to compete so do not speak out any evil things against China so there will be no risk of them being angry because their government is known to be ruthless.
Possibly Pelosi is correct, and the US will be unable to protect its athletes from the Chinese if they chose to speak out against China. But for her to accept it, for her to state without remorse that the United States is so weak that it can no longer protect its representatives, is terrible and demonstrates how far the United States has sunk.
