In preparation for our enthusiastically volunteering at this fall’s Republican National Convention in New York City, we’ve begun heartily agreeing with a number of Republican opinions of late, including obsessive madman Dick Cheney yesterday, and, today, Representative Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), who has decried the Bush administration’s latest efforts to clamp down on Cuba’s government as the continuation of an historically ineffective methodology of dealing with our petite Communist neighbor to the south, and little more than primitive election-year antics targeted to Florida’s Cuban voters. Specifically, Flake is addressing administration plans to further impede the ability for Americans to visit the island nation, while increasing funding for flying U.S. military C-130 aircraft over Castro’s homeland while broadcasting pro-American and pro-democractic messages.
From the May 7, 2004 Washington Post:
Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) is a leading proponent of congressional efforts to lift ever-tighter restrictions on travel to Cuba, a proposal that won majorities in the House and Senate last year. He said trying to use a C-130 to defeat Cuban jamming of U.S. government broadcasts is laudable but insufficient.
“If we’re really serious about letting Cubans hear a voice other than Castro’s, why not let Americans travel there?” Flake asked in a written statement. “After all, Castro can’t scramble a firsthand conversation.”
One reply on “OK, we admit it, again: Republicans are right”
Well the US gets all the cheap labor it needs from Mexico and everywhere else so as to control the middle class and turn it into the lower middle class. Who needs Kuba?
Catching part of Castro’s three hour speech, this month on CSPAN, would lend me to believe the situation won’t change. Castro is well spoken in his criticism of the US and he is global/historical in his knowledge. Of course he doesn’t mention his gulags but claims Cuba sends more medical technology/personnel to foreign countries the US.
He also wore a shiny, starched, immaculate military uniform during that speech. I guess it was a MayDay speech.
For the non-paranoid entry into Mexico or Canada has been the vehicle for Americans to enter Cube, they don’t stamp the passports at Cuban Customs for an easy re-entry through US Customs.
The whole thing is like a fear of admitting we (US) are not absolutely right that Castro is absolutely bad. Like back tracking. Like blue laws that hang in state statutes forever.