It’s not clear what impact the allegations against Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain will ultimately have on his campaign. What is clear is that press scrutiny has been intense since this story broke.
Also receiving considerable attention was Mr. Cain’s comments about China. In an interview with PBS News journalist Judy Woodruff, Cain stated in part that China is “Trying to develop a nuclear capability.” Obviously China has had nukes for decades now, so this misstatement certainly deserves comment. But not the scorn and derision shown by some, particularly by the usual suspects on MSNBC (Lawrence O’Donnell, Rachel Maddow, Chris Matthews, and Al Sharpton, et al.)
It’s interesting to recall how quiet they were, how willing to overlook and forgive whoppers told by their favored “progressive” politicians. Remember candidate Obama’s “It’s wonderful to be back in Oregon… I’ve now been in 57 states.”
Vice President Joe Biden had a similar problem in basic counting skills when he claimed that “The number one job facing America is a THREE letter word, J-O-B-S.” (Sounds like four letters to me.)
And who can forget Hillary Clinton’s fable about “running with our heads down under sniper fire” when arriving at the airport in Bosnia, when actual film footage showed no such thing. The press virtually ignored these Democratic gaffes – but not Republican Herman Cain’s.
Here’s a refresher on The People’s Republic of China’s nuclear capability – just to make sure the record is straight. China’s first atomic test took place back in LBJ’s Administration – 1964. They followed up with a hydrogen bomb test in 1967. It’s estimated that China has about 400 nuclear warheads, compared to the United States’ approximately 8,500 (down from a peak of about 32,000.)
Herman Cain was absolutely correct in stating that China is attempting to develop an aircraft carrier program. China has acquired four decommissioned aircraft carriers (one from Australia and three from Russia) and is studying how to develop its own version to meet its own specific needs and desires.
As the United States currently has eleven nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, China is not currently a threat in this department, but they have time and a huge trade surplus on their side. It also doesn’t help that we owe them nearly a trillion dollars, and that our budget is so out-of-whack that we continue to borrow huge amounts of money from them.
In conclusion, most experts agree that China will be the United States’ principal rival over the next century. If we are to prevail in this historic rivalry, we better start by getting our own fiscal house in order.
(In case you were wondering, the United States’ aircraft carriers are: the Enterprise, the Nimitz, the Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Carl Vinson, the Theodore Roosevelt, the Abraham Lincoln, the George Washington, the John C. Stennis, the Harry S. Truman, the Ronald Reagan, and the George H. W. Bush. The Gerald R. Ford, and the John F. Kennedy are under construction. A previous aircraft carrier named the John F. Kennedy was decommissioned back in 2007.)