Recently, I met a wonderful lady named Trisha at an event I attended.
She wore a beautiful golden hat and, recognizing me, introduced herself. We
chit-chatted for a few minutes before I apologized for my Chinese accent.
But she assured me that I was perfectly understandable.
“I am the only one in my family who speaks with a Chinese accent,” I told
her. “My wife and kids all speak ‘American’ English.”
What’s so strange is that I am the only one in my family who makes
appearances on television and radio, and I happen to be the only one with an
accent, I explained to her. It’s tough to talk with an accent — I have to
make sure people understand what I’m saying.
“Oh Lord! What’s your plan?” I often jokingly exclaim.
After the event, Trisha sent me an e-mail saying my accent is perfectly
acceptable, and that sometimes, it even causes people to listen to my
speeches more attentively.
“Your Chinese accent makes you sound more like an expert in Chinagate,”
she wrote.
Trisha later sent me another e-mail which touched my heart.
“Several days ago, my husband’s father passed away,” she wrote. “He was
87-years-old and was a WWII Marine. … The funeral was (June 28). It was a
wonderful full Marine Corps honors funeral complete with the Marine Corps
anthem during the service with a Marine honor guard at the gravesite.
“After the playing of ‘Taps’ and the folding of the flag, a Marine
presented the flag to my sister-in-law. He said some beautiful words, but
honestly, Johnny, I am sorry to say that I actually cringed inside. I say
this because his first words were, ‘On behalf of the President of the United
States. …’
“Isn’t it a rotten shame that we have to feel these emotions regarding
our president? My father-in-law fought proudly and bravely in the South
Pacific and told us of so many horrors he lived through. This president, who
is a proven draft-dodger, isn’t fit to touch that beautiful Marine Corps
dress-blue uniform my father-in-law was buried wearing!”
A military burial is the highest honor that can be bestowed upon our
dead, and I believe Trisha’s family agrees. After all, American soldiers,
including Trisha’s father-in-law, fought to preserve freedom for this
country. How many of us, when we listen to “God Bless America,” have tears
in our eyes?
I had a tear in my eye this year on the Fourth of July when I heard “God
Bless America” played. It made me feel so proud to be an American. It made
me feel so proud to think of those American soldiers who fought to preserve
the freedom of this, the greatest nation.
But it breaks my heart to hear that a soldier’s family member cringed at
the name of the president — the military’s top commander and the leader of
our country.
Mr. President, look at what you have done to this country. Integrity and
honesty is so important to Americans, and you just simply don’t have it.
It’s come to the point that the mere mention of your name insults the memory
of a veteran soldier.
Mr. Vice President, let me tell you an old Chinese saying: “If you tell
the truth, you won’t have to worry about a ghost knocking at your door in
the middle of the night.” In other words, if you tell the truth, you will
sleep well. There’s no ghost of guilt haunting you, threatening to expose
your lies.
This week, the
Associated Press published the results of its poll regarding the voters’ opinion on the trait that is most important in a presidential candidate. The answer? Honesty and integrity.
When Bill Clinton was running for president in 1992, voters placed honesty near the top of the list of most important characteristics along with leadership abilities and the candidate’s stand on issues. But in the new poll, honesty, at 39 percent, was far in front — 22 points ahead of the second most important category.
So many newspapers and television shows talk about the lack of honesty and integrity in the president, vice president and first lady. Scandal after scandal, gate after gate — every time one is exposed, another appears. It’s like those little Russian dolls — you open one only to find another.
Some people call critics of this administration “Clinton-haters” and say we are trying to make up stories. But, ladies and gentlemen, I was not a Clinton-hater. I used to be a hard core party-liner. The Democrats made me feel like everything I was doing was good for the country and for the party. But obviously, I was wrong.
Let me give you an example. In the summer of 1996, I went to a DNC event called, “Back to the Future,” which used the theme of the famous movie to describe the party’s focus on the future. The event took place on the movie set at Universal Studios in Hollywood.
I took Gen. Gi Sheng-de’s wife, Mrs. Gi, and his son Alex, who was studying at UCLA, to the event. I told DNC fund-raisers Karen Sternfeld and Kimberly Ray that I was bringing very important guests — the wife and son of a high-ranking Chinese official. I have explained in other columns that Gen. Gi was the leader of Chinese military intelligence.
I needed to get a picture of his family with the president. After all, they weren’t there to listen to the president’s long and boring speech. They wanted a picture.
Sternfeld said the picture would cost me $25,000 and asked me to wait with my guests. After the president’s speech, the two fund-raisers would take us to the president. So we waited.
After his speech, President Clinton walked far away from us, and no one came to get me and my guests. I took Mrs. Gi and Alex and charged through the crowds of people like a bull. I finally moved to a position in front of Clinton and said, “Mr. President, this is a fine, good young man from UCLA.”
“What’s your major?” he asked Alex. Surprised by the question, the boy answered nervously, and I introduced Mrs. Gi.
Behind Clinton was Steven Gooding, the president’s “suitcase boy” — he accompanied the president everywhere, taking down names and doing Clinton’s bidding. Crowded with thousands of people on either side of me, I yelled out to Steven to come and grab my camera for a picture. Knowing very well who I was, Steven came and took the picture.
Mrs. Gi and Alex were very happy, but the fiasco was far from over. I found out that the two DNC fund-raisers who were supposed to come take us to the president had instead taken my secretary and driver back stage, introduced them to Clinton and had their picture taken. The DNC mistook my employees for the VIPs I had mentioned.
Not able to find me, my driver called my cell phone and said, “Boss, you made my day!” When I asked why, he told me what had happened.
Before Gen. Gi’s family and I walked out to the parking lot, the fund-raisers came to collect the money for the photo.
“Dream on!” I said. “You made my driver and my secretary very happy. I had to fight my way out through a crowd of people to get to the president,” I said. “You guys flunked!”
Yet they still demanded I pay the money. Then DNC chairman Don Fowler strolled up. I asked him if he would take a picture with my guests.
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| DNC Chairman Don Fowler claimed he had been “victimized” by Johnny Chung. |
“No,” he said. “I won’t take a picture with your guests. You always give your money to other fund-raisers. When are you going to give the money to me? Remember, I am the DNC chairman. When am I going to get money from you?”
He left with a smirk on his face.
When I gave my
testimony to Congress in May of 1999, I brought up this incident, which had everyone in the hearing room, including the media and congressmen on both sides of the aisle, laughing themselves silly.
In the DNC’s mind, the only thing that matters is money. They don’t care whose face is in pictures with the president. All they care about is “$25,000! You have to pay! Where’s my money?”
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| Fowler met with Chung’s Chinese guests many times, including on this occasion in 1995 in a DNC conference room where he was invited to visit China. |
And if you don’t produce the money, you had better duck for cover. Congress documented another incident of the DNC’s greed. A Nov. 10, 1995, memo from Ari Swiller of the DNC asked Chairman Fowler to call me up, demanding more money.
“Johnny committed to contribute $75,000 to the DNC reception in Los Angeles on September 21,” the memo said. “He has still not sent his contribution. Tell him if he does not complete his commitment ASAP bad things will happen.”
I had already given the DNC $25,000 at the event. That contribution entitled me to have three pictures taken with the president and vice president. Unfortunately, I had one more person than I had expected. Because of that one extra person, the DNC tried to charge me $75,000 more. If this is not highway robbery, I don’t what is!
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| Chairman Fowler and two of Chung’s Chinese visitors. |
There is no integrity. There is no honesty. They took my money with a smile, and when I turned my head, they laughed at me. Then they had the audacity to portray themselves to the judge as “victims” of Johnny Chung and asked the judge to throw the book at me.
Anyone willing to come out and tell the truth about this administration should be prepared for the consequences. This White House, the DNC and Democrats in Congress trash and discredit truth-tellers.
This administration does not embrace truth; it tries to eliminate truth.
But folks, there’s no way you can eliminate the truth. The truth always survives, and WorldNetDaily.com does its best to make the truth known. WND’s pursuit is to root out government corruption so that you, the voters, know more about what’s going on behind the scenes. You have a right to know what your elected leaders are up to and how they are using your tax dollars.
As part of that pursuit, I will be at both the Republican and Democrat conventions in August, along with two of my colleagues. The president is the reflection of the people, and as the AP poll shows, Americans want honesty and integrity.
This country, indeed every family, teaches people to be honest. It is the foundation of our society — that’s how America built its strong foundation. If we lose our honesty and integrity, we lose the country we fought so hard to build.
