作为刚从美国驻华大使任上离任的美国大使，洪博培应该是美国政府内最了解、也主导过美国政府的对华政策的美国政客之一。在这次辩论对华政策时洪博培的语言相当露骨。居然公开宣称要利用美国政府在中国内部的内应、网民和年轻人搞垮中国，只有这样美国才能重振经济，保住世界霸主地位。语言如此露骨，主持人都听不下去了，几次想打断他的讲话。这也让很多中国网友理想起在所谓中国茉莉花运动时，洪博培曾经到现场指导，被网友认出后被迫狼狈离开的事件。
这是有关对话的文字部分：
Major Garrett（主持人之一）: Governor Huntsman（竞选人）, Governor Romney（竞选人） just said we're in the middle of a war that's-- we're not even declared or we're not even aware of. And Governor Perry said China will end up on the ash heap of history. You've been in China. You were the ambassador for our nation there under President Obama. What's your reaction?
Jon Huntsman（洪博培，竞选人）:
....... So what should we be doing? We should be reaching out to our allies and constituencies within China. They're called the young people. They're called the internet generation. There are 500 million internet users in China.
Scott Pelley（主持人之二）: And Governor, we're going to have to--
Jon Huntsman: And 80 million bloggers. And they are bringing about change, the likes of which is gonna take China down.
Scott Pelley: We're gonna have to leave it there, Governor.
Jon Huntsman: While we have an opportunity to go up and win back our economic--
Scott Pelley: Governor--
Jon Huntsman: --manufacturing muscles. That's all I wanna do as president.
辩论中的洪博培
辩论的完整视频