CNN apologises to China over 'thugs and goons' comment by Jack Cafferty

[meegbear]

Source: TimesOnline

CNN was forced to apologise today after a news commentator called the Chinese as a "bunch of goons and thugs".

Jack Cafferty made the comments on April 9 on CNN’s political programme, The Situation Room, in which he also described Chinese products as "junk".

In a statement, CNN said: "It was not Mr. Cafferty’s nor CNN’s intent to cause offence to the Chinese people, and we would apologise to anyone who has interpreted the comments in this way.

Cafferty was offering his "strongly held" opinion of the Chinese Government, not China’s people, the company said.

Read more: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article3756437.ece

[merwin]

1. That seems like a fair description of China's police force and manufacturing quality to me.

[JDPriestly]

2. Must apologize for speaking the truth, mustn't we?

Cafferty needs to take a page out of Tim Robbins book and use irony next time.

[fascisthunter]

3. Cowards, and Corporate Suck-Ups

[nancyr]

4. Oh pleeze.

How very politically correct. Too bad the statement is true.

[penndragon69]

5. Jack Cafferty is smarter than most of the bush admin.

The Chinese people are held hostage by a brutal communist regime. The only people making money off the low quality junk they make for Wall-mart are the
communist party fat cats who live in mansions while the chinese peasants starve.

[Javaman]

41. corporatism by any other name. nt

[raystorm7]

6. Apologize to 'Thugs and goons' for calling them 'Thugs and goons'... makes sense don't it? =/

[Phred42]

7. You KNEW they would SUCKUP to the Commies

Cowardly bastards

:rofl:

[truebrit71]

8. Spineless, gutless, ball-less bunch of punk-ass b*tches...

...not at ALL surprised...

[noamnety]

10. Thanks so much for adding your male supremacist bullshit here. (nt)

[truebrit71]

12. You are most welcome...now bow down to your Chinese overlords...

....and get with the programme..this has BUGGER ALL to do with sexism, and EVERYTHING to do with this country being sold one piece at a time to the Chinese...These people are NOT our friends...they are our owners...So whilst your cute and acerbic feminist response may assuage your immediate desire to strike back at someone, perhaps cluing into the more imperative issue here of a major US corporation getting on it's knees and licking the boots of a foreign country will grab a larger chunk of your attention...

[noamnety]

28. Ah, I see you are far too busy with matters of consequence

to avoid being racist/sexist. :sarcasm:

[saigon68]

30. LOL

No one can swear like an Englishman


À force d'explications ça finira par entrer.

[KansDem]

31. Hey, wait! We have a precedent here!

Mattel apologizes to China

The toy giant expresses regret over recalls of products made in the country. Experts say the move is meant to preserve relations.

By Abigail Goldman, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

September 22, 2007

The Chinese call it guanxi, and it refers to the relationships that are so crucial to doing business in their country.

To many observers, it helps explain why a high-ranking Mattel Inc. executive appeared with Chinese government officials Friday to publicly apologize for having to recall more than 19 million toys because of lead paint and dangerous magnets.

The toys had been made in China. So why was Mattel eating crow?

"It's the whole concept of guanxi -- cooperation -- and face saving," said Mark Allenbaugh, a lawyer who consults with companies doing business in China. "Mattel has developed relationships over the years, with the factories and with government officials. That can all disappear very quickly if Mattel went the other route and blamed the Chinese manufacturers as being the bad guys here."

LA Times

See? It's become a national past-time. Of course, I don't recall Mattel apologizing to the American people for poisoning us, but we're still learning!

So, I think an apology for lwfern is in order. Do you by chance live in China? It would make apologizing so much easier...

[Chovexani]

38. You left out some slurs.

Thank the gods we quit bowing to our British overlords all those centuries ago.

[truebrit71]

40. So you're defending them then. That's good to know...

:eyes:

[Seeking Serenity]

9. Cafferty's apology to the Chinese people:

I'm sorry your government is so full of goons and thugs.

[amandabeech]

11. Great! Let's outsource more to China!

Let's get ALL out manufacturing to go there!

What a great bunch of folks on which to be totally dependent!

Most favored nation status to this bunch was a HUGE mistake, and neither of our surviving candidates seems to get it.

We're in a position that we absolutely HAVE to suck up, or our shelves will be bare.

[monmouth]

13. Jack reminds me of Barack....He may have misspoke according to

some, but it was the truth....Gojack!!!

[Name removed]

14. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[chelsea0011]

15. And he apologized for what?

[DinahMoeHum]

16. Psss psss psss psss psss! Hey, CNN! Psss psss psss psss psss!

:evilfrown:

[stimbox]

17. Amerika has always been at war with Eurasia. n/t

[ckramer]

18. My opinion only

I think Jack Cafferty is representing an outdated cold-war style anti-China sentiment in America, which is still deeply entrenched in our society today.

People like Jack willfully ignore or be ignorant of the fact that chinese government has done a better job than the US government in giving it's citizen a better way of life in the last a quarter century.

Chinese government has to take care the welfare of 1.5 billion people, 1/5 of the world population, majority of them generally being happy under it.

The US government failed miserably handing 300 million.

The Jack Cafferty type is beyond stupid.

[sudopod]

20. You're so full of baloney you could put Oscar Meyer to shame.

"People like Jack willfully ignore or be ignorant of the fact that chinese government has done a better job than the US government in giving it's citizen a better way of life in the last a quarter century."

"Chinese government has to take care the welfare of 1.5 billion people, 1/5 of the world population, majority of them generally being happy under it."

O RLY?

O FUCKIN RLY?

Did you take a poll? XD

[nolabels]

25. We are probably looking at the two different sides of the same coin

Both governments have been herding their people into a place where the overlords call the shots in steering their respective countries economic engine and social pecking order. The most subtle but also the most calculated are to that of fewer people having more control and authority. The fascist police state is the reality seamlessly is starting to fit both.

Also just like the that other orbit with the US. v USSR., you could not have one with out the other. Whether we are each other's boogie-man or just reluctant partners that same intractable need is still apparent and somehow fostered

[Dreamer Tatum]

27. Your disclaimer is appropriate, for sure

because there is not one whit of fact in there.

Might want to skip the travel brochures if you want to know how people actually live.

How many hundreds of thousands of people slept in rail stations and fields in freezing cold in absolute squalor while
the Chinese government dickered over fixing their rail system?

We are far from perfect, and usually far from good, but that doesn't erase the truth about other countries.

[Kaleko]

39. kramer, kramer, kramer, this is your umpteenth try...

and STILL no cigar.

How gullible do you think these DU'ers are?

[sudopod]

19. LOL

that wasn't an apology. They just pointed out in a round about manner that the government of China is NOT the same as the people of China, no matter how often they stamp "People's" at the front of the names of their institutions.

[snooper2]

21. Wonder what Lou

is going to say about this one

[sudopod]

22. No doubt

he'll find a way to blame the Mexicans. :p

[David__77]

23. I hope people restrain their McCarthyite tendencies.

China is not the enemy. This is not 1950.

[AngryAmish]

24. Supine CNN, licking the boots of their betters.

[onehandle]

26. Don't upset our future masters. Wal-Mart could be forced to raise prices.

Maybe Bush should apologise too...again.

[brentspeak]

29. How is CNN "forced" to apologize?

What's China going to do, shoot them dead like they do in Tibet?

[TheLastMohican]

32. Damn, so much xenophobia in this thread

I thought it was "liberal progressive....", I had to check the browser page, I for one second thought I ended up in Freeperville. :(

[ckramer]

33. You are right about that

Many democrats are no better than the rednecks over the freeper land when it comes to the aged propaganda.

[stimbox]

34. Yep, they sure do get all worked up during the 2 minutes hate! n/t

[JChan]

37. Sure

Anytime anyone speaks about about China and Communism or their regime ... they are imm. labeled xenophobes.

[Marie26]

35. Why?

What right does China have to tell CNN what to do? CNN isn't a country & China isn't an advertiser. So what does CNN care? I'm tired of all these countries submitting to China's bullying. Were they really expecting not to be criticized during the Olympics?

[tom_paine]

36. They wete acutely aware it shone a bad light on their own toadying to Bushie Thugs and Goons.

Mustn't do that. After all, China is now our Sister nation with a very similar form of governemnt to ours. The New Totalitarianism.

In insulting China's authoritarian Thugs and Goons, we are only insulting ourselves and the authoritarian Thugs and Goons who rule US with the same regard for us as the Chinese Bushies has for their Subjects.

[gorbal]

42. Not sure I like the precident this is setting

As much as calling the Chinese "goons and thugs" is going over the line, powerful nations must be held in check by the media that isn't afraid to report on it.

(Especially after they referred to Nancy Pelosi as "Disgusting")