Joe Biden Tells Chinese Citizens To 'Challenge The Government,' Neglects To Mention His Administration Doesn't Like Being Challenged

from the no,-but-you-guys-should-totally-do-it dept

Vice President Joe Biden is in China and as usual, he took the opportunity to try to insert his foot in his mouth. China may be veering towards its own brand of capitalism simply because it's a manufacturing powerhouse, but it's still a long way from being an open country in any other respect.

Biden's pep talk to some Chinese citizens gathered at the US embassy included this "empowering" exhortation.

“Innovation can only occur when you can breathe free, challenge the government, challenge your teachers, challenge religious leaders.”
All well and good, I suppose. Of course, it's much easier said than done, and Biden's contribution only included the "saying" part. These sort of challenges have actual repercussions in China, which still wishes unruly citizens into high-walled political cornfields prisons.

But what's even more irritating about his blithe statement is the fact that his own administration isn't really keen on being challenged by its citizens.

Case in point: the NSA leaks. For a long time, the administration stood firm in its support of the agency. It only stepped back when it realized the situation was going to get a whole lot worse before it got any better and that the NSA itself wasn't just lying to the public, but to the president and the rest of the government as well. It also smelled blood in the water after amendments and bills targeting the NSA and its programs began gathering bipartisan support and wanted to be as far away from the massacre on the horizon.

This administration has also prosecuted more whistleblowers than all other administrations combined. This is what happens to people who challenge the administration. They end up broken by the system, the same system that tells them it wants to be "open" and "transparent."

The administration has also shown a fondness for shutting out inquiring minds with the overuse of state secret exceptions. Sure, information may want to be free, but its overseers won't let it roam without being covered in black ink. Its track record on civil liberties has eclipsed the awfulness of the Bush administration, which at least had the courtesy to be openly evil in its intentions.

Even the press has grown disillusioned with Obama's administration, recently complaining that it controls the narrative by handing out approved promo shots rather than allowing press photographers to do their jobs.

Now, I realize that as vice president, Biden doesn't truly represent the administration. He may be second-in-command, but the reality of the job demands someone who can stay out of the way while whipping up support for the administration's policies and pet legislation behind the scenes. It requires him to make appearances on behalf of the administration but kindly asks him not to embarrass it while doing so. Biden has failed to hold up his end of the bargain with his statements.

Here he hands Chinese citizens advice they can't possibly use while simultaneously highlighting the hypocrisy inherent in the administration's treatment of criticism. "Challenge your government," he tells people who can be ripped from their families for doing so before retreating to the safety of an administration that actively seeks out and punishes those who challenge its methods and actions. With this mindless bit of "go team!" posturing, Joe Biden is hurling stones from the balcony of the administration's glass house.

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Filed Under: challenge, china, government, joe biden


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  • icon
    Nathan F (profile), 6 Dec 2013 @ 9:54am

    It is a wonder his political escort didn't give him the evil eye and hustle him off somewhere else.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it
    identicon
    out_of_the_blue, 6 Dec 2013 @ 9:55am

    Like mentioning spying yet omitting Google and Facebook!

    And at best this is political posturing, not worth the bandwidth.

    Industrial output of China's communist slave state now rivals the former US of A. It's actually a more "efficient" form of capitalism.

    05:55:06[g-026-6] [ This suppresses the kids from fraud of using my screen name. ]

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    SolkeshNaranek (profile), 6 Dec 2013 @ 9:59am

    hypocrisy

    Our government has an inexhaustible supply of hypocrisy.

    This is backed up by a limitless amount of lies, double dealing, and "do as I say and not as I do" actions.

    Seems like the political larder is well stocked indeed.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Nastybutler77 (profile), 6 Dec 2013 @ 10:00am

    These sort of challenges have actual repercussions in China, which still wishes unruly citizens into high-walled political cornfields prisons.

    Should that be "wishes" or "whisked?"

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 6 Dec 2013 @ 10:14am

    Biden: Challenge your oppressive regime!

    Serfs: Does that mean we can challenge you, our government?

    Biden: No.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous, 6 Dec 2013 @ 10:14am

    How much help and support did the US government give the Chinese people when they challenged their government back in 1989? Diddly squat. The US government whined about how bad Saddam Hussein supposedly was to the people of Iraq (and Kuwait) and used that as part of the excuse to start a war, but have you seen the US go after China? Of course not. Why, China is our most favored trading partner. (And the US has a history of attacking only smaller and weaker countries. That's not heroism, that's cowardice).

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    E. Zachary Knight (profile), 6 Dec 2013 @ 11:14am

    Biden isn't the only one in the administration

    Biden isn't the only one in the administration making hypocritical statements like this to other nations. John Kerry had this to say to Iran over its election practices.

    “The Council narrowed a list of almost seven hundred potential candidates down to the sort of…officials of their choice, based solely on who represents the regime’s interests,” U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters during a visit to Israel.

    “That is hardly an election by standards which most people in most countries judge free, fair, open, accessible, accountable elections.”


    Not really a smart thing to say when the US's presidential elections are stacked against everyone but the two duopoly candidates.

    http://okvoterchoice.org/2013/05/john-kerry-needs-to-direct-his-anger-at-the-united-state s/

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 6 Dec 2013 @ 11:15am

    he said this so as to try to stir the shit. like all so-called 'democratic countries and governments' the USA condemns, frequently, the lack of human rights in places like China. it is getting to be more and more like China, however, but still wants to use the 'we have freedom and privacy, you dont' which is now nothing other than a lie. i wouldn't mind betting there are more killings and serious injuries inflicted on ordinary people, including kids and students, in the USA by police and other security agency officers than in China! that is nothing to be proud of!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    gorehound (profile), 6 Dec 2013 @ 12:35pm

    Biden is a corrupt man and a bonafide liar ! He is such an utter fool.Blah Blah Blah Biden..................GO HOME NOW !

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 6 Dec 2013 @ 12:41pm

    Meanwhile....

    ....while China moves more towards capitalism, America moves more towards surpassing Chinese totalitarianism

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Jerrymiah, 6 Dec 2013 @ 1:15pm

    This administration has also prosecuted more whistleblowers than all other administrations combined. This is what happens to people who challenge the administration. They end up broken by the system, the same system that tells them it wants to be "open" a

    The thing is that the world transparency does not exists in Eric and Barrack's dictionary. This is the worst admnistration that has ever existed in this regard, worse even than G.W.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 6 Dec 2013 @ 5:15pm

    I wish he would show a little bit of that attitude around here...

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    The Real Michael, 7 Dec 2013 @ 7:30am

    Maybe we should take Biden's advice and 'challenge the government' which is attacking our liberties left, right and center.

    Our Constitutional rights are not state-granted privileges to be infringed upon, suspended or removed at the state's volition.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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