"Let a thousand flowers bloom": Thoughts from (Manchurian?) Candidate Mao-Tse McCain
In an interview with CNN's "State of the Nation," Sen. John McCain (R: AZ), admitted that there were serious problems with his 2008 campaign both structurally and because of his choice of then-Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska. Looking ahead to 2012, McCain declined to prognostic who would top the GOP ticket but asserted that Palin remained a "formidable force" within the Republican party:
"Let a thousand flowers bloom" is a common (usually American) misquotation of Chinese Chairman Mao Tse-Tung, who declared in 1956, "Letting a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend is the policy for promoting progress in the arts and the sciences and a flourishing socialist culture in our land." However, the "hundred flowers" campaign was a trap. Its goal .was to identify critics of Mao's regime and wipe them out, After the ideological crackdown, Maoist orthodoxy resumed its chokehold on Chinese self-expression.
Doesn't McCain KNOW this? If he does, has he perhaps revealed what he believes to be Palin's secret strategy for capturing the 2012 Republican nomination from the Little Red (State) Book? Could McCain be hinting that Palin is clever enough to sit back and allow all other potential Republican potential contenders to say and do the stupidest things they possibly can think of between now and 2012, so that she seems sane and sweetly reasonable by comparison?
It will be interesting to see whether anyone in the mainstream media even going to be able to identify the source of the seemingly innocent paen to floral diversity? ;-)
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/11/mccain-responds-to-palin_n_316655.html#postComment>
"Let a thousand flowers bloom" is a common (usually American) misquotation of Chinese Chairman Mao Tse-Tung, who declared in 1956, "Letting a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend is the policy for promoting progress in the arts and the sciences and a flourishing socialist culture in our land." However, the "hundred flowers" campaign was a trap. Its goal .was to identify critics of Mao's regime and wipe them out, After the ideological crackdown, Maoist orthodoxy resumed its chokehold on Chinese self-expression.
Doesn't McCain KNOW this? If he does, has he perhaps revealed what he believes to be Palin's secret strategy for capturing the 2012 Republican nomination from the Little Red (State) Book? Could McCain be hinting that Palin is clever enough to sit back and allow all other potential Republican potential contenders to say and do the stupidest things they possibly can think of between now and 2012, so that she seems sane and sweetly reasonable by comparison?
It will be interesting to see whether anyone in the mainstream media even going to be able to identify the source of the seemingly innocent paen to floral diversity? ;-)
