Olympic garb not the issue

Friday, January 1, 1904

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is outraged -- fuming mad -- that the uniforms America's athletes will wear at the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games in London were made in China.

Members of the U.S. Olympic Committee should be "ashamed of themselves," he said.

His indignation is a little late -- 33 years late, to be exact. It was in 1979, under President Jimmy Carter, that the United States severed official diplomatic relations with free, democratic Taiwan to pander to Communist China, one of the most brutal regimes of the 20th century. China covets Taiwan's free market-based success and hopes one day to take control of the island nation.

Taiwan's second-rate status in the eyes of the U.S. government continues today.

If Reid is really that uptight about some Chinese manufacturer making a little money on uniforms for U.S. athletes, he must have veritable seizures over how we treat Taiwan -- a beacon of freedom off China's shores.

But while he is busy waxing indignant about Olympic garb, he might want to point out that America today is indebted to China to the tune of well over $1 trillion.

Reid can make symbolic, politically appealing gestures of outrage about China. But don't look for him to take a genuinely hard line against that repressive nation. As then-Sen. Hillary Clinton pondered, "How do you get tough on your banker?"