If the Democratic Party is looking for an ad campaign to use against Republican Dave McCormick, they might use the theme that worked against their 2004 presidential nominee John Kerry. You may recall that Kerry once famously said that he was for the war in Iraq before he was against it, handing Republicans a chance to label him as a flip-flopper and show him in a commercial as windsurfing in one direction and then the opposite.

When it comes to China, McCormick seems to be on the same surfboard.

According to news accounts, when McCormick ran Bridgewater Associates, a hedge fund, the firm had more than $200 million in stock in multiple Chinese companies later sanctioned by the United States as being tied up with the Chinese military. When U.S. sanctions were imposed, Bridgewater stopped the investments.

One could praise him for following the law but on a deeper level one could question his judgment to begin with. China has hardly been a beacon of freedom in this century and the military’s ties to many corporations is an open secret. Wouldn’t it have been ethical not to invest even if it was legal?

Now McCormick opposes investments in China. But one wonders how he’ll surf if the rules change.

Like Pat Toomey before him, McCormick seems more interested in serving in the Senate to watch over his own financial interests, not yours and mine.

R. Thomas Berner

Bellefonte (formerly of Tamaqua)