Spokesman P.J. Crowley, in an interview with Fox News, disputed the notion that Assistant Secretary of State Michael Posner was apologizing to China, saying he was actually "standing up" for America by describing how debate functions in a "civil society." But he echoed other top Obama administration officials in describing the law as a gateway to "racial profiling" and doubled down on Posner's comments to the Chinese. Posner told reporters on Friday that the U.S. delegation brought up the Arizona law "early and often," as an example of a trouble spot Americans need to work on. "It was mentioned in the first session, and as a troubling trend in our society and an indication that we have to deal with issues of discrimination or potential discrimination, and that these are issues very much being debated in our own society," Posner said.
And, no, of course Crowley hasn't read the law he's criticizing as a human rights abuse:
But Crowley backed Posner for bringing up the Arizona law as something of comparable concern. "There is, as many have said, real concerns about -- that this Arizona law will inevitably devolve into racial profiling. That would be a fundamental challenge to human rights around the world," Crowley said. Crowley acknowledged Tuesday that he has not read the Arizona law, putting him in the same boat as top officials like Attorney General Eric Holder and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. Holder admitted last week that he has not read the 18-page law, though he has publicly warned that it could lead to racial profiling.
Sarah Palin tears into the Obama administration:
Note that [Posner] said “We brought it up” – not the Chinese, but the U.S. State Department’s own delegation. Instead of grilling the Chinese about their appalling record on human rights, the State Department continued the unbelievable apology tour by raising “early and often” Arizona’s decision to secure our border. Arizona’s law, which just mirrors the federal law, simply allows the police to ask those whom they have already stopped for some form of identification like a driver’s license. By what absurd stretch of the imagination is that the moral equivalent of China’s lack of freedoms, population controls (including forced abortions), censorship, and arbitrary detentions? Surely our U.S. Ambassador to China, John Huntsman, must disagree with the Obama Administration’s continued apology tour? We have nothing to apologize for. If Administration officials want to apologize to anyone, apologize to the American people for the fact that after a year and a half in office, they still haven’t done anything to secure our borders, and they join our President in making false suggestions about Arizona’s effort.