Simply The Truth

Courtesy of The Los Angeles Times, we learned on April 20, 2008:

Throngs of Chinese Americans protested outside CNN's offices in Hollywood on Saturday morning, calling for the dismissal of commentator Jack Cafferty, whose recent remarks about Chinese goods and China inflamed a community already angry about international condemnations directed at the host country of the upcoming Olympic Games.

The protesters lined Sunset Boulevard from Cahuenga Boulevard to Wilcox Avenue chanting "Fire Cafferty" and "CNN liar" and singing the Chinese national anthem and other patriotic songs. They waved Chinese, American and Taiwanese flags and directed their anger at the news channel's dark glass tower.

In a group discussion on the April 9, 2008 edition of The Situation Room, Cafferty had remarked

We continue to import their junk with the lead paint on them and the poisoned pet food and export . . . jobs to places where you can pay workers a dollar a month to turn out the stuff that we're buying from Wal-Mart. So I think our relationship with China has certainly changed. I think they're basically the same bunch of goons and thugs they've been for the last 50 years.

The tyrannical regime in Beijing had demanded an apology. The protests resulted when the network, understandably, noted that Cafferty's remarks were directed not against the Chinese people but against the Chinese government and that the network's commentator has periodically criticized various governments, including his own.

Still, we want to consider: Was Cafferty accurate? He contended: 1)we import junk with lead paint on them (check); 2) we export jobs to places where workers are paid minimally to turn out stuff we're buying from Wal-Mart (check); 3)Our relationship with China has changed (check); 4)They're basically the same bunch of goons and thugs they've been for the last 50 years (check). Looks like 4 for 4 to me.