Political Backlash Quotes
George W. Bush had become very unpopular and many politicians were trying to distance themselves from him, his policies, and the poor implementation of those policies. Senator Joseph Lieberman, a Democrat, had just lost his own primary election and was attacked because he advocated support of the American president in war and foreign policy.
See Louis XIV for an earlier similar idea.
This was a private speech he made to his corruption inspectors. At this point in time, there was extensive corruption of the millions of local officials of the ruling Communist Party then a generation of two from the idealism of the original communists who fought in the Chinese Revolution. The common people were beginning to complain and demonstrate against local officials who were making things worse by what even the heavy handed Chinese party leaders considered heavy handed. The inspectors were coming under great pressure as the anti-corruption campaign was producing a blowback from local officials and the corrupt officials were so numerous that they could represent a destabilization threat in a political culture where stability was the highest priority. The anti-corruption campaign was an attempt to regain “party discipline”. See Quotation 643893.
