Oh what? Did this congressman just invent a new slur? This week, at a House Armed Services Committee hearing about the war in Afghanistan, Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) seized the moment to take a dig at U.S. ties to China, referring to the Chinese as "Uncle Chang." Groooaaaaan.Clever. Very clever, Congressman. Did you just make that up? He was talking about the money that the United States is borrowing from China in order to finance the war. Uncle Sam, Uncle Chang. Oh, I see what you did there: Rep. Walter Jones: America Borrowing From 'Uncle Chang' To Fund Afghanistan War.
"When does someone say, 'We've done all we can do?'" he asked.You can imagine Rep. Jones thought he was being clever as hell here. The implication, of course, is that "Uncle Chang" is the powerful, foreign other -- a subversion of the good, ol' American Uncle Sam. Yo, some of us have actual Uncle Changs, and they're American too.
"What is the metric, what is the event?" he added. "We are spending $10 billion a month that we can't even pay for. The Chinese, Uncle Chang, is lending us the money to pay that we’re spending in Afghanistan."