Kerry, Cuba, and the truth

Boston Globe ^ | March 21, 2004 | Jeff Jacoby

[Cincinatus' Wife]

IT COMES AS no surprise to learn that John Kerry, who hates to take one position on an issue when he can take two or three, has come down strongly in favor -- and strongly against -- US policy in Cuba.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Kerry's World: Father Knows Best***"Americans," he writes, "are inclined to see the world and foreign affairs in black and white." They celebrate their own form of government and denigrate all others, making them guilty of what he calls "ethnocentric accommodation -- everyone ought to be like us." As a result, America has committed the "fatal error" of "propagating democracy" and fallen prey to "the siren's song of promoting human rights," falsely assuming that our values and institutions are a good fit in the Third World. And, just as Americans exaggerate their own goodness, they exaggerate their enemies' badness. The Soviet Union wasn't nearly as imperialistic as American politicians warned, Kerry argues. "Seeing the Soviet Union as the aggressor in every instance, and the U.S. as only reacting defensively, relieves an American observer from the need to see any parallel between our use of military power in distant parts of the world, and the Soviet use of military power outside the Soviet Union," he writes. He further claims that "Third world Marxist movements were autonomous national movements" -- outside Moscow's orbit. The book culminates in a plea for a hardheaded, realist foreign policy that removes any pretense of U.S. moral superiority. ***

[ChadGore]

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

It was just one year ago that Castro launched a vicious crackdown on Cuba's peaceful opposition. In the space of three weeks, 75 democracy advocates, human-rights monitors, librarians, and independent journalists were rounded up, tried on phony charges, and sentenced to as much as 28 years in prison.

This is the very same regime so openly and extravagantly championed and admired by the know-nothings over at the DU site.

Go fig, huh...? < /sarcasm>

[not-alone]

ping

[HarryCaul]

Sooooooooooo....

Kerry voted for Helms-Burton before he voted against it.

Heh.

[craig_eddy]

I think there's a theme going here. :)

[Rome2000]

[MEG33]

Great campaign poster...for Bush!

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

(Foreign leaders for Kerry!!!!!)

Yet another foreign leader who has discovered a kindred spirit in John "I NEVER FALL, DAMMIT!" Kerry:

:)

[prion]

John Kerry, who hates to take one position on an issue when he can take two or three

Yup, it's going to stick. Of course, it's sticking because it's manifestly true, but it's still some relief to have the caricature nailed this early in the season.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Bump!

We want Kerry!

We want Kerry!

We want Kerry!

[OldFriend]

Let's hope that Jacoby doesn't find himself suspended for the duration of the campaign. Remember what happened four years ago!

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Great visual.

[DustyMoment]

Victor Rolando Arroyo Carmona, a 52-year-old independent journalist, has lost 35 pounds since being imprisoned. He is afflicted with heart problems, high blood pressure, and frequent headaches. Last June, after protesting the abuse of another inmate, he was locked in solitary confinement. On Dec. 31, he was dragged from his cell by three prison guards, who brutally beat him about the face and body.

Oscar Espinosa Chepe, 63, is an economist who was convicted of "undermining national independence" by criticizing the regime. He is sick with cirrhosis of the liver and bleeding from his digestive tract. According to Miriam Leiva, his wife and fellow dissident, he is in a cell at a Havana military hospital, with no windows or clean drinking water. The light in his cell burns 24 hours a day, he has lost 40 pounds, and a fungal infection is eating his legs. He is not allowed to use the telephone or receive letters, and his wife is permitted to visit him just one hour per month.

Nelson Aguiar Ramirez went on a hunger strike in August to protest intolerable prison conditions. He has arteriosclerosis, which causes his legs to swell, and suffers from an enlarged prostate and a urinary infection. His wife, meanwhile, has repeatedly been warned to stop praying at the Church of St. Rita, a gathering place for the families of jailed dissidents. When she brought medicine and vitamins to the prison where Aguiar Ramirez is being held, she was told he couldn't have them until she stops going to church.

Ahhhh, Democrats! These humanitarians NEVER met a brutal, oppressive dictator they didn't LOVE!!!

[Cincinatus' Wife]

I remember. But he's in there fighting the good fight!

[Cincinatus' Wife]

U.S. Democratic presidential candidate, Senator John Kerry, snaps off one last salute for police officers who guarded his motorcade as he heads to his campaign plane to leave Orlando, Florida, March 3, 2004. REUTERS/Jim Bourg

After presenting him The Purple Heart medal, U.S. President George W. Bush salutes U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Santiago Frias of Bronx, New York, at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, March 19, 2004. Sgt. Frias was injured while serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Also pictured is Sgt. Frias' mother, Cristina DeJesus and his wife, Nejil (R). REUTERS/White House/Eric Draper EDITORIAL USE ONLY

[Cincinatus' Wife]

The Left loves Castro's communist order in the People's Paradise.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

(Jim Bourg/Reuters)