Will Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney apologize to President Obama? Will he apologize to the State Department? Will he apologize to the American people? It was only a couple weeks ago when Mitt Romney said, “this is a dark day for freedom, and a day of shame for this administration.” He was talking about the Chinese dissident, Chen Guangcheng, who landed in New York City late last night. Mitt Romney, without all the facts, decided to bash the Obama administration when it turns out Obama, Clinton and others in the Obama administration and the State department were doing exactly the right thing. They were patient. They did what was necessary without compromising American values and were able to obtain the freedom that this Chinese activist wanted. Shame on Mitt for trying to score political points without having all of the facts.
From NYT:
Chen Guangcheng, the blind legal advocate who recently sought refuge in the American Embassy in Beijing, arrived in the heart of Greenwich Village on Saturday, holding the kind of open-air news conference that he could have never imagined while under virtual house arrest in China.
After a daylong and hastily arranged flight from Beijing, Mr. Chen stood on crutches — with a lawyer at his side and facing spectators cordoned off by the police — and addressed a throng of reporters. He said he was grateful to the American Embassy and the Chinese government, which allowed him to leave China, and thanked Chinese officials for “dealing with the situation with restraint and calm.”
“I hope to see that they continue to open discourse and earn the respect and trust of the people,” said Mr. Chen, one of China’s most prominent dissidents, who spoke through a translator near the New York University apartment tower that will become his home.
It was not clear weeks ago that China would permit Mr. Chen to leave, and the United States’ role in his evading the authorities threatened to cause a diplomatic breach just as American officials were seeking China’s cooperation on a range of economic and security issues it considers crucial.
