One dictator hosts a fellow dictator. 
Posted on 01/19/2011 6:34:02 AM PST by The Pack Knight
LAS VEGAS -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid branded Chinese President Hu Jintao a "dictator" on a local TV talk show on Tuesday night, a remark likely to make the start of Hu's first state visit to Washington, D.C., awkward for President Obama at a moment when the U.S. is trying to ease tensions with the Asian power.
Reid, Obama's top legislative ally and Congress' most powerful Democrat, was responding to a question from "Face To Face" host Jon Ralston about the December compromise that extended the Bush-era tax cuts. The recently reelected Nevada senator veered off on a tangent intended to compare the American and Chinese systems of government to give a roundabout defense of the importance of legislative compromise.
"Jon, I am going to go back to Washington tomorrow and meet with the president of China. He is a dictator," Reid said with a grin. "He can do a lot of things through the form of government they have."
The senator quickly seemed to realize what he had said and continued, "Maybe I shouldn't have said dictator. But they have a different type of government than we have, and that is an understatement."
The Chinese government has historically been extremely sensitive to such remarks. In the state-run media, Beijing routinely denounces American leaders and commentators who claim the United States is freer and treats its citizens more honorably. Once a year it publishes a document in the English-language China Daily outlining every human rights abuse allegedly committed by the U.S. dating as far back as the Civil War.
Hu arrived Tuesday and is expected to be feted at a lavish state dinner at the White House on Wednesday night, the first for a Chinese leader in 13 years. Reid is expected to attend.
The Obama administration has said it hopes to focus this week's talks on tensions over the Chinese currency exchange rate and North Korea, among other issues.
The Treasury Department reported in November that China holds $895 billion in U.S. government securities, or 6.4 percent of the national debt.
Reid is not the only U.S. lawmakers to publicly criticize the Chinese as the visit begins. Democratic Rep. Mike Michaud of Maine is trying to collect signatures for a letter to Obama urging him to address human rights issues with Hu. Yet Reid, as Senate leader and the shepherd of Obama's legislative agenda, is different.
Ironically, Reid also represents some of America's top apologists for the Chinese regime, the heads of the nation's biggest gambling conglomerates. MGM Resorts, Wynn Resorts and Las Vegas Sands have all built major resorts in the Chinese special administrative region of Macau, where gambling is legal. Sands CEO Sheldon Adelson and Wynn CEO Steve Wynn both have publicly referred to Beijing as a benevolent government whose people are happy, free and prosperous.
Both Wynn Resorts and LVS have survived the brutal economic downturn in Las Vegas thanks to huge profits in their Chinese enterprises.
Several human rights groups have documented abuses in China against minorities including Tibetans, Muslims and Uighurs as well as prohibitions against certain religions and any organizations openly critical of the regime. Most recently, Beijing refused to free imprisoned civil rights activist Liu Xiaobo, who won last year's Nobel Peace Prize.
You can always depend on Reid to put his foot in his mouth.
It takes one to know one!
Wow...my sides hurt from laughing.
This is joke right. The guy is a capitalist flush with American jobs and American money. When you’re as rich as he is you go from being called dictator to being called CEO.
Dingy Harry is SO jealous!
Interesting- Harry didn’t mean the term “dictator” in a bad way, but as an admirer
The Lenin/Stalin/Castro/Chavez progressive wing of the democrat party truly admires the fact that single party rule by despots is so ... efficient...at achieving collectivist goals
Break out Anita Dunn’s Mao Tse Tung Christmas ornaments and use them in the centerpieces tonight!
Harry is just jealous.
Give credit where credit is due. For may be the first time in Reid’s life of trickery and greed he actually spoke the truth!
Wow, I’m SOOOO glad that the smart people are in charge. Otherwise, I’d be worried.
/s
“Jon, I am going to go back to Washington tomorrow and meet with the president of China. He is a dictator,” Reid said with a grin. “He can do a lot of things through the form of government they have.”
The sad part is, it sounds like Harry meant it as a compliment when he called him a “dictator”. At the very least he seems envious of his power to force whatever unpopular laws that he wants on the masses.
One dictator hosts a fellow dictator.
It takes one to know one!
You beat me to it.
You can always depend on Reid to put his foot in his mouth.
__________________________________________________________
I think in this case, he showed his TRUE colors. These people DO want a dictator with complete control over the US. They envy China.
that Harry....what a diplomat!
The left LOVE dictators right up to the moment when the bullet enters their head while they are standing up against the wall with other useful idiots being purged.
Sounds like Harry has been attending Joe Biden’s “Gaffe a Minute” Night School.
Even a stopped clock is right twice a day. Is Reid very far off the mark? No. It was just uncouth to speak the truth.
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