I think you mean David Lampton of SAIS. No?

Hi there Mark. Was on the road last week. To address your comments point by point:

1. Um, I don't think I ever claimed to be impartial. Ever since I started blogging (years before I started teaching), my position has been that for an individual blogger, it's best to be upfront about where you stand, rather than try to hide behind impossible-to-achieve objectivity. Anyway, if I tried to be "impartial" guys like you would be outing me for "hidden agendas" behind a pretense of objectivity.. just like the NYT and other "liberal media"..

Also I don't think I ever made any claims to my students that I was trying to be objective on my blog. There is a time and a place to conduct "impartial" reporting and there is a time and a place to be honest about your biases. In my opinion, an independent blog requires the latter in order for the author to be credible in the long run. I happen to think that journalists who work for news organizations go too far in hiding their personal affiliations, to the detriment of public trust in the media.

I know that Thomas takes a different approach, which is certainly his right, as it's his blog. But just because he doesn't express his political views here doesn't mean I should hide mine over at my blog.

2. I'm all for honest blogger reporting about everything related to Obama. I've been linking to a lot of critical blog posts about his FISA vote. I will likely start writing about some of these issues in the coming months.

Why don't you start a blog - or encourage your friends to start a blog - focused on exposing the political interests of Obama's advisers? That would be great. It will help keep everybody honest and strengthen the quality of his team. Despite the fact that some of them are my friends, I also believe that anybody who gets involved in advising a presidential campaign deserves to be scrutinized.

3. Yes some but not all of those people work for Stonebridge. As for the relationship between the U.S. embassy, run by a Bush appointee and close friend, and people who worked for Clinton, I have no inside information but I can guess one obvious reason why they're not very close.

Sure I'd love to know more about where Bader and Lieberthal get their money. They should be held to scrutiny just as Bush's advisers have been held to scrutiny... and who have not come up terribly snow-white themselves.

You can call me anything you want. If you think I'm irrational that's your right. Do I dislike W quite strongly? Sure. I think historians 100 years from now will place large amounts of blame on him for America's decline. But I think Obama is a politician not some deity (as some of his followers seem to think), and deserves critical scrutiny, for sure. Everybody who works for a politician who has been in and out of government, academia, and private sector tends to have some questionable things in their history that deserve scrutiny. I'm puzzled why you seem to assume that I think that the people I support politically are perfect and immaculately conceived before they entered this campaign. Or is that what you think about your folks?

4. Well, I'm sure we could have an interesting argument about the usefulness of the Bush administration's China advisers... given the back-burner status that human rights in China has taken in the Bush admin as well. I have not exactly seen great strides forward in Chinese human rights these past 8 years and it doesn't seem to have been a great priority for Ambassador Randt.

Whether I am serious enough about human rights in China to fit your standards of serious, I have no idea. With all due respect, I don't really care. I fit my own standards and I do what I think makes most sense to me and my own conscience. Most people on both the far left and the far right don't like my views or my approach. You don't have to like them either.

Shocking news, Rebecca is for OBAMA.... Not that her students wouldn't know from her "impartial" position from her blog, with the Bush countdown. (Not that we have ever heard of students being afraid to to take positions opposite a teacher)....
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To bad Rebecca is not for some honest blogger reporting on the business interests of her friends who advise Obama.
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Question one. Do they work for a company called Stonebridge? Why is it no one at US embassy in Beijing has dealt with Stonebridge on any access deals with US companies coming into China? (I asked).

Wouldn't it be nice to know where Bader and Lieberthal get their money as lobbyists for Stonebridge? I mean, for goodness sake a Sandy Berger lobby shop in China might be of interest to some.

I know that "in the tank" might be too strong a word to describe Rebecca, but I have to wonder at what level does the critical thinking get blocked out by the irrational hate for W?
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And how serious is Rebecca about Human Rights in China if she backs Bader, Lieberthal, and the rest of the lefty Sinologists, who were reasonably worthless on the subject in the Clinton administration.
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Rebecca???

I hope they both lose, but I suppose that's not possible.

On the China team, I know Ken, Mike, Evan, and Bob quite well.

Hope Obama wins.

Mona Sutphen's new book "the Next American Century" is really insightful and deep especially for how to create new embracing relationship with China and India. Hope the next administration will make better foreign policies.

Ken Lieberthal was an advisor to the Clinton administration on China; he's an old-school dyed-in-the-wool China guy, been around forever, and taught (me) politics and business at UMich. Glad to see him on the Obama team.

HI THOMAS...THANX FOR THE PLUG!

THESE ARE ALL GOOD FOLKS, WELL-KNOWN AS FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES TO THE "INSIDER" PROFESSIONALS, BUT OF COURSE FOR THE MOST PART NOT KNOWN TO THE PUBLIC.

AS YOU OF COURSE KNOW, GENERALLY SPEAKING THE BIGGER THE NAME, THE LESS ACTUAL DAY TO DAY INVOLVEMENT.

THE TIME TO WATCH FOR "WHO GETS WHAT JOBS" IS "TRANSITION TIME" IN DECEMBER AND EARLY JANUARY.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND...I FEEL AN EARLY BEACH DEPARTURE IN MY FUTURE.

CHRIS NELSON, THE NELSON REPORT