Lovefest In Havana
'Ah, paradise, at long last', Carter probably said to himself as his private jet touched down in Havana Sunday morning.
The question isn't why the visit, but what took Carter so long? Indeed, Jimmy's always struck me as somewhat of a trailblazer, of sorts: His island rendezvous with el loco makes him only the first U.S. President to step on Cuban soil since Castro's takeover in January, 1959.
Then again, if memory serves, the former peanut farmer was First at many, many other things, too. For openers, Jimmy was first to give us the Misery Index (remember that one?); first to give us 22% interest rates; first to give us stagflation; first to give us a Mariel boatlift; first to give us $1-plus gas and long lines at the pump in "peacetime" -- oh, and an "Energy" department, to boot!. And let's not forget the Sandinistas and the ever lovable, always adorable Ayatollah Khomeini -- Ol' Jimmy gave us them, too!
For liberals, the problem with Castro's Cuba isn't the lack of human rights -- heck, when have liberals given diddly-squat about 'rights' under communist regimes, anyhow? Stalin's biggest bootlickers were, not in Moscow, but right here in the good ol' U.S. of A. -- among the squalid, militant, flag-burning leftist elite. Just like Castro's today.
Nope, according to libs, ya see, if only the U.S. did more business with Cuba, Voila! Castro becomes Thomas Jefferson and Cuba a mecca of pluralism -- overnight! Yessiree, Bob.
Gee, lemme see if I get this straight: If we -- the U.S. -- traded more openly, more freely with Castro, up from his tropical gulag emerges a pluralistic society -- dictatorship vanishes magically in the winds of a glorious democracy, right?
But, wait a sec -- stop the presses! Isn't this called 'Constructive Engagement' -- the hated Reagan policy towards South Africa during the days of Apartheid?
I don't get it: Weren't lefties clamoring for sanctions then? 'Sanctions! Sanctions! Divest now!', they cried. 'Constructive Engagement'? Ha! 'Get real', they'd tell you. To libs, those were dirty words, a corporate ruse, barely disguised, to prop up repression. 'The U.S. has no business doing business with South Africa -- divest now!', they bellowed like banshees.
Help me out here: If, as liberals tell us, Socialism/Communism is so terrific, so splendid, so superb, so superior, why, O why does Castro so desparately need the Great Satan of commercialist/capitalist "evil" itself -- the United States? A bailout for Marxism from 'dirty', capitalist 'pigs' -- what's wrong with this picture?
Call it 'ideological projection': Liberals doing with Castro exactly what conservatives were falsely accused by liberals of doing with South Africa: To wit, using excuses to prop-up repression.
Liberalism has a crush on Castro, a school-girl-like infatuation that forever endures.
To liberals, Castro is a heartthrob; he's an inspiration, a "moral" guiding "light", a "moral" compass, the veritable apple of their eyes.
No human rights in Castro's Cuba? Liberals could care less. Under Castro, citizens are deprived of the most basic conceptions of human liberty -- again, lefties don't give a lick.
In Cuba's brutal island prison, one-party, one-man-rule prevails: Except for Castro's Communist "party", all political parties are outlawed. The same goes for unions.
The liberal media calls Castro, deferentially, the "President" of Cuba -- an utter perversion of language so grotesque it boggles the mind. By what sick, warped, convolution of "logic" can Castro conceivably be referred to as such?
Only a twisted media would dare sully the title by bestowing it to Castro, a ruthless killer, filthy crook, murderous tyrant.
Freedom of speech? Freedom of expression? In Cuba, only for the Castro brothers. Opponents of the regime who dare speak out are jailed, tortured, beaten and killed. Political prisoners, by the thousands, languish in Castro's dirty prisons.
Human rights, political prisoners, government repression, corruption -- these issues, for liberals, take a backseat to "improving" U.S.-Cuba 'ties'.
Yes, oh yes, that old smokes screen is back again; the same one which, during the Cold War, was used to thwart debate over Moscow's appalling human rights 'record'. 'Better not rock the boat by pressing the Soviets too hard on human rights: Bear in mind -- they have nukes, so back off', liberals would warn.
But in Cuba, that humbug, that bogus poppycock doesn't wash: There are no nukes in Cuba.
Carter parades himself sanctimoniously as "democracy's" champion, monitoring elections from Haiti to East Timor, ostensibly checking them for fairness and openess. His comaraderie and friendship with the most barbaric regime ever to blot this hemisphere says all you'll ever need to know about ol' Jimmy. The stench of hypocrisy oozing from Havana is beyond insufferable.
The inescapable bottom line: Carter and his leftist dregs, yet again, stand revealed as the contemptible apologists for tyranny that they are, and will always be.
Anyway, that's....
My two cents...
"JohnHuang2"
Even without Chip Carter's connection, the former President has endorsed TravelSmart and the dots will be connected when/if TravelSmart lands a big Cuban deal after the President's visit (perhaps long after).