Matt Welch Shreds Freeman for Being a Mao/Tiananmen Apologist

An Example of What Chas Freeman Calls "Overly Cautious Behavior" On China's Part

My man crush, Matt Welch, obliterates Chas Freeman for being sympathetic towards human rights abuses in his latest Reason column:

This is the definition of clientitis; it exhibits not a "startling propensity to speak truth to power" but rather a startling propensity to lob bouquets at dictators. Like, for instance, these Freeman remarks at the 2006 SAIS China Forum:

Mao Zedong had a force and energy which none but men of equally great spiritual conviction could withstand. His animal appetites, we now know, matched his intellectual vigor. He was an object of adulation to his subjects and of mingled admiration and dread to his subordinates and intimates. While Mao lived, the brilliance of his personality illuminated the farthest corners of his country and inspired many would-be revolutionaries and romantics beyond it.

In case you didn't know, Chas Freeman is not some octogenarian wearing a beret at San Francisco protests, but Obama's pick for National Intelligence Director. Hillary's lack of comment on China's human rights abuses during her visit to the region was at least understandable in a diplomatic context. But this knucklehead is a full-on sympathizer! Perhaps, Obama's getting ready to embrace the totalitarian tactics of executing/imprisoning political dissenters, which are common among far-left regimes. This has already been seen from left-wing commentators on CNN, where Stephanie Miller pondered whether or not Rush Limbaugh should be executed for not worshiping The Obama.

Welch also makes note of some LaRoucher and kool-aid drinker at The Nation saying Freeman is under a coordinated attack from a small group of Neo-Cons. Lemme tell ya, Matt Welch and Reason magazine are pretty far removed from being part of some backroom cabal, and people who think that a government, anywhere in the world, should not routinely threaten political dissent is hardly a minority of neo-cons in America.