With Friends Like These? Kerry's Latin Fans

John Kerry has racked up three more "endorsements" from Latin America. Since Mr. Kerry says that as president he will be more engaged with the region, his Latin fan club deserves some attention.

The most eye-popping Kerry endorsement last week came from Tómas Borge, one of the nine commandantes of Nicaragua's famed Sandinista revolution and perhaps the most feared.

Mr. Borge of course has reason to like Mr. Kerry. The Massachusetts senator went to Nicaragua in 1985 to meet the Soviet-backed Sandinista leadership and worked hard in the U.S. Senate against President Reagan's efforts to defend U.S. security interests in Central America.

A second Latin admirer of Mr. Kerry is former Peruvian President Alan García, and in this case, the good feeling is mutual. Mr. García was an invited guest to the Democratic Convention in Boston.

But the Massachusetts senator may remember Mr. García for a different reason. Mr. Kerry played point man in the Senate's not very productive investigation of the Bank of Commerce and Credit International (BCCI). Mr. García's government was implicated in the shenanigans of that infamous bank.

The Peruvian Congress charged the former president with embezzlement. But as the Associated Press reported in August 1992, Mr. García had "filled the benches during his last year in office with judges sympathetic to his Aprista party" and the supreme court threw out the case. Mr. García fled to Colombia. He is now back in Peru trying to revive his political career. With reference to his trip to the U.S. this week, he said: "I think we have to guarantee that the immense flows of cash that move around the world don't miss Peru."

Finally, there is Cristina Fernández, wife of Argentine President Nestor Kirchner. She was also an invitee to the Boston show. The populist Kirchner government is notoriously left wing, with a strong anti-American tilt.

Revisiting Mr. Kerry's views toward the Sandinistas tells Americans something about his judgment in the past. Taking note of his current "friends" in Latin America yields something about the senator's capacity for good judgment today. People can change but apparently Mr. Kerry hasn't.

At the time it was estimated that a Communist victory throughout Latin America, a real possibility, would cause 44 million people to flee for the United States.

Thank you, Senator Kerry, for being tough on immigration, NOT.

Reagan, Bush 41, Poindexter and North who deserve our gratitude.

Ronald Reagan (the Republican president, not the son who has no record of politically supporting his father but nevertheless presumes to be an expert on who is and who is not pollitically sympatico with him) was buried with the fullest expression of the gratitude on the nation, and of the respect of the former head of the former Soviet Union.

Ronald Reagan called the Soviet Union "an Evil Empire" and forecast the downfall of the Communist system at a time when it was the United States which was in relative decline and the Soviet Union which was at its most prosperous, as a major exporter of high-priced petroleum.

John Kerry made common cause with Jane Fonda, who said that we should want to live under Communism, and opposed the Reagan foreign policy and every defense and intelligence proposal Reagan favored.

After Kerry supported the Communist Sandanistas as illustrated in the photo, Jimmy Carter oversaw and election to validate Sandanista rule. Trouble was, it was a secret ballot - and the Sandanistas were defeated by an 80%-20% margin.

Democrats put their trust in Public Relations and they flatter anyone who has PR power. They presume that they can speak for "the masses" with impunity because "the masses" can be persuaded to acquiese in anything as long as they have good PR.

Can Democrats - can the "wise" journalists (what else does "objectivity" imply?) be confronted with the necessity to make a simple declarative statement that Communism is as evil as Ronald Reagan said? Make Kerry answer that one question, and the race should be over.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.