With apologies to the chairman

Sen. John McCain is famous for his wry sense of humor, and surely knows that fervent capitalists among his supporters won’t begrudge him borrowing a few quotes from Mao Tse-tung.

The other day, at a town hall meeting in Pipersville, Pa., McCain invoked the Chinese communist revolutionary after a rather verbose citizen lectured him about energy independence and suggested that a new federal effort was needed.

“I don’t think we need another bureaucracy,” McCain said. “I am sure many of you know it was the federal government’s research and development that brought us the Internet, but then they handed it over to the private enterprise system. . . . I think the way we’re gonna resolve this issue is to let a thousand flowers bloom.”

Actually, in a fit of symbolism and generosity Mao would come to regret, he urged his people in 1956 to “let a hundred flowers bloom.” Intellectuals were encouraged to criticize the government and offer ideas on new ways of doing things.

But Mao was to free thought what Kryptonite was to Superman. After about a year, he’d had enough: He began persecuting the outspoken, leading some historians to conclude that the Hundred Flowers Movement was a clever way of identifying enemies.

The Chinese probably learned the hard way one of McCain’s other favorite “Maoisms,” which he cites in every stump speech: “It’s always darkest before it’s totally black.”

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-- Robin Abcarian