Fong on Communists, Primary

Cedar Rapids' own Republican candidate for governor, Christian Fong, gave a speech to the Iowa Minuteman Civil Defense Corps on Saturday in Des Moines. The Des Moines Register was on the scene:

Chinese communists swept to power in the last century without mentioning plans to nationalize businesses or institute forced abortions, Republican gubernatorial candidate Christian Fong told supporters of the Iowa Minuteman Civil Defense Corps on Saturday.

"They came in promising hope and change," Fong said. "Sound familiar?"

Fong, a Cedar Rapids businessman who described himself Saturday as the son of a Nebraska farm girl and "a legal immigrant" from China, told a crowd of roughly 30 onlookers at a Minuteman rally that he should be "allowed to take this a little more personally as the son of someone who had to do it the right way."

That sort of raised a red flag. So I called Fong, who inists he's not trying to revive the Red Scare.

Fong said he used communist China in the mid-20th century as an example of a place where one party consolidated its power without facing credible opposition. And he says Republicans can't be a credible opposition party now if they just sit around and wait for Democrats to fail.

“If the Republican Party turns into a party that doesn't offer effective ideas, effective counters, then, over 10 to 15 years, the priorities of the Republican party will be lost to an entire generation. That's the comparison," Fong said.

“But no, I do not believe that President Obama is a communist,” Fong said.

Sure, but could he have made that same argument without dragging the commies into it? Of course.

But it wouldn't have packed the same punch, and I guess punch is what counts most when you're trying to stand out in a crowded, six-way GOP primary.

Speaking of that primary, Fong says he's sticking with it, even though it looks like Terry Branstad is comingout of retirement to run for a 5th term. Branstad has to be considered the favorite.

“I have continued to say I will stick this out until the end. But is the end in June or is the end sooner, that's up to Iowans to decide," Fong said. He didn't explain exactly what "sooner" means.

“It is good for the party to have a primary. You always add voters in a rigorous primary," Fong said. “It's also just good for Iowa. There are good ideas floating around.”