Politics

Ira Stoll on Why Liz Warren Wants America to Be More Like Communist China

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Massachusetts residents who tuned in to the Olympics opening ceremony saw a new 30-second campaign commercial from the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, Elizabeth Warren, that said America should be more like Communist China.

"We've got bridges and roads in need of repair and thousands of people in need of work. Why aren't we rebuilding America?" asks Warren, a professor at Harvard Law School who served in the Obama administration. "Our competitors are putting people to work, building a future. China invests 9% of its GDP in infrastructure. America? We're at just 2.4%. We can do better."

The ad juxtaposes robust Chinese cranes and dump trucks with decaying American bridges and idle but sympathetic-looking American workers wearing hard-hats.

Warren's approach is so flawed, writes Ira Stoll, that it's amazing that her campaign would spend the money on putting it into a prime-time Olympics commercial that was presumably designed not to alienate people but rather to get them to vote for her. You really have to see it to believe it.