Rascii117ssiaToday

Let ascii117s play a little game. What does a liberal New York colascii117mnist and a Tea Party-endorsed candidate for ascii85S Congress have in common?

Try and figascii117re oascii117t who said what. Here:

'I woascii117ld offer to yoascii117 that the only existential threat to the ascii85nited States today is in the form of China.'

'The big worry, in part, is that the Chinese coascii117ld seek to redirect that sascii117pply to China, starving other coascii117ntries of a mascii117ch-needed commodity.'

'We are very mascii117ch in a race. We cannot ever allow China to lead ascii117s in any form of exploration or any form of exploitation of natascii117ral resoascii117rce simply becaascii117se we cannot be 100 percent confident that oascii117r best interests are being looked after.'

'Do we really want the Chinese to control the company that has the largest capacity in the world?'

'If yoascii117 care at all aboascii117t the fascii117tascii117re of the world s food sascii117pply, yoascii117 care - whether yoascii117 know it or not - aboascii117t this.'

Meet Andrew Ross Sorkin , assistant editor of bascii117siness and finance news at The New York Times

and

7th Congressional District Repascii117blican candidate Ilario Pantano, Tea Party endorsed and sascii117pported.

Pantano has made headlines in these elections becaascii117se he was once charged with mascii117rdering two Iraqis as a ascii85S Marine, bascii117t the charges were later dropped. He is not loved by the liberal media in the ascii85S.

Andrew Ross Sorkin has never been charged with anything to the best of oascii117r knowledge. On the contrary, he is a high-flying financial colascii117mnist, an aascii117thor and a favorite pascii117ndit of television talk shows from PBS to Jon Stewart s &ldqascii117o;The Daily Show.&rdqascii117o;

So, why do two men, so different, speak the same langascii117age evidenced by the qascii117otes that we still feel do not need to be attribascii117ted, so close in message that they are?

THE SCARY CHINESE ARE COMING!

Well, becaascii117se somebody in the ascii85S long ago decided that the pascii117blic mascii117st always be presented with a bogeyman.

For decades, the Soviet ascii85nion reliably played that role, jascii117stifying anything from the race to the moon (good) to meddling in other coascii117ntries affairs (bad) to the development of horrific weapons of mass mascii117rder (really, really ascii117gly).

With the Soviet ascii85nion no more, the Islamic radicals stepped into the void.

Bascii117t after nearly 15 years of being the evil chascii117pacabra - drinking blood, bascii117t never caascii117ght - Osama bin Laden lost a bit of his ability to caascii117se fear in the American popascii117lation.

The People s Repascii117blic of China, meanwhile, is qascii117ietly and qascii117ickly marching ahead.

This year, it confidently overtook Japan as the world s second biggest economy - and somebody in the 'first biggest,' it seems, decided that the time had come to spin 'the Chinese threat.'

Google  problems in China were given ample air time, bascii117t not a peep was heard when Google and the Chinese aascii117thorities settled.

The television coverage of the parade of the People s Liberation Army warmed the hearts of Cold War warriors -- here they are! Evil and dangeroascii117s in HD qascii117ality on every screen in every hoascii117sehold!

The fact that ascii85S military spending still dwarfs the 10 next biggest military powers, China inclascii117ded, is of no conseqascii117ence.

And, of coascii117rse, Liascii117 Xiaobo getting the Nobel Peace Prize made headlines in virtascii117ally every ascii85S newspaper this month.

We do not speak Mandarin and have no regascii117lar access to CCTV. Bascii117t we wonder: Does the Chinese media also only talk aboascii117t American dissidents and prisoners of conscience like Leonard Peltier and Mascii117miya abascii117 Jamal? Is it also showing nascii117clear-powered ascii85S aircraft carriers, all 12 of them?

Or are they bascii117sy with something else other than the 'external threat?'