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Home Front: Politix
Bush promises to rid Cuba of 'tyrant' Castro
2004-11-01
US President George W. Bush vowed Sunday to "keep the pressure on" to rid Cuba of Fidel Castro, an appeal to the hard-line Cuban-Americans Bush was counting on to win Florida and the White House.
If only he means this.
"I strongly believe the people of Cuba should be free from the tyrant," Bush told a boisterous crowd of supporters here two days before the election, winning the rally's loudest cheers and chants of "Viva Bush"—long live Bush. "Over the next four years, we will continue to press hard and ensure that the gift of freedom finally reaches the men and women of Cuba," he said. "We will not rest, we will keep the pressure on, until the Cuban people enjoy the same freedoms in Havana they received here in America." The crowd packed into the Coconut Grove Convention Center cheered, screamed and applauded, waving pro-Bush signs in English and Spanish and shouting: "Four more years!"

Like most Republican candidates in Florida, the state that decided the disputed 2000 election, Bush's hopes of victory here rest in large part on the support of the state's sizeable anti-Castro Cuban exile community. That reality underpinned the latest horseplay from Bush's top political strategist, Karl Rove, whose only words to reporters travelling to Miami with the president were a shouted "Cuba Libre" -- free Cuba. But Bush dropped the Cuba comments at campaign stops in Tampa, where the Cuban population is tiny, and Gainesville, where it is nonexistent. He was to travel to Ohio, without which no modern Republican has won the White House. Instead, he focused on attacking Kerry as certain to raise taxes and fickle on national security issues, and leavened his speech with an upbeat appeal to Americans to "come stand with me" come Tuesday. "If you believe America should fight the war on terror with all our might and lead with unwavering confidence in our ideals, I ask you to come stand with me," he said in Tampa.
Posted by:Steve White

#19  mojo,

I am with Mrs. Davis.

The ONLY way to run an effective government, is in the open. This government belongs to the U.S. citizens not the bureaucrats and I will not give it up. We cannot allow our government to make back door deals.

I will give you an GOOD example. When the U.S. Senate was on Christmas vacation, Clinton tried to give the U.S. over to the ICC (Internationl Criminal Court). Clinton tried to sell the U.S down the river in a dangerous "back door" deal that would assure him the Nobel Peace prize. Clinton knew the U.S Senate would NOT ratify the handing of our freedoms to the chocolate making countries so, Clinton tried to bypass the Senate.

Bush stopped it DEAD in it's tracks.
Posted by: Poison Reverse   2004-11-01 3:50:47 PM  

#18  You CAN'T run an effective government totally out in the open, no matter what you think - and even if you could, you'd never get anywhere with most of the thugs, criminals and borderline psychotics running the majority of UN-recognized countries. They want a quid for their pro quo, baby, and if you can't deliver one, you're SOL.
Posted by: mojo   2004-11-01 3:11:08 PM  

#17  It also got Europe WWI
Posted by: Mrs. Davis   2004-11-01 2:22:15 PM  

#16  It is important if you want to run a secret foreign policy. I doubt that's what the founders had in mind.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis   2004-11-01 2:21:45 PM  

#15  Well, I would argue thet's it's even more important to keep your backroom deals than it is to keep your public commitments. If you don't, you lose that capability to wheel and deal out of the limelight.
Posted by: mojo   2004-11-01 2:16:41 PM  

#14  like Kyoto
Posted by: Frank G   2004-11-01 2:09:11 PM  

#13  It means there's no deal the American people are obliged to adhere to.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis   2004-11-01 2:04:19 PM  

#12  The fact that it wasn't public, but instead was a backroom deal, doesn't mean it wasn't made. The Sovs kept IRBM's out of El Paradisio del Trajabadores, we cleared ours out of Turkey, the deal was made.
Posted by: mojo   2004-11-01 2:02:58 PM  

#11  mojo,

What was the promise? I don't recall it being ratified by the Senate.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis   2004-11-01 1:30:17 PM  

#10  No, unlike the Soviets and now the Russians, we like to keep our promises. Castro gets a free pass, as long as he lives. After he's dead, that's another story.
Posted by: mojo   2004-11-01 12:40:21 PM  

#9  Any deals Washington made with Nikita Kruschev are the same as those reached with Stalin during WWII =Void, void, void. In terms of Turkey, they were a lot help with Saddam....nuff said.
Posted by: Mark Espinola   2004-11-01 12:32:12 PM  

#8  ...to the Russkies, Indians, and the Israelis.
Posted by: lex   2004-11-01 10:45:17 AM  

#7  You can't take out all the dictators of the world at the same time. No matter how much their continuing existence irks.

Agreed! Let's go after the low hanging fruit, Castro, and leave Islamofascism and Turkey to the Ruskies, same as WWII.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis   2004-11-01 10:41:29 AM  

#6  Cuba is one of the global poles of fascism, though by far the smallest of the four I count (China, Russia/CIS and obviously Islamofascism are ofcourse the other three poles).

But right now, it'd be better if you focused on Islamofascism instead. You can't take out all the dictators of the world at the same time. No matter how much their continuing existence irks.
Posted by: Aris Katsaris   2004-11-01 10:37:02 AM  

#5  Time to repudiate Kennedy's agreement. If the Ruskies want Turkey they can have it. No loss as far as I can see.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis   2004-11-01 9:46:52 AM  

#4  Actually its all been a Karl Rove plan - first discredit the UN so Americans won't give a crap what they screed, then get the French to promise to support Fidel, and then release the materials which have been underwraps for 40 years that the Russian never did remove the nukes. Can't have those falling into the hands of terrorist! Muhawahahahahah.
Posted by: Don   2004-11-01 9:31:56 AM  

#3  On the issue of Castro, each Presidential election GOP candidates inform the Cubano community that that if elected their administration will work for the downfall of the repressive communist dictatorship. Since 1962 Castro still remains in command in Havana.

Unless Moscow & Washington remain glued to the outdated, post-1962, back room US-Soviet gentlemen's 'agreement',, which mandated a policy of 'you guys lay off of Cuba and we shall not act against Turkey' then during President Bush' 2nd term Cuba should be set free of Castro & his ruthless company of comrades. Cuba is only 90 miles from Key West. Its time!
Posted by: Mark Espinola   2004-11-01 1:21:15 AM  

#2  Castro will be Paris bound soon. See Paris before you die is becoming de riguer for aging thugocrats.
Posted by: phil_b   2004-11-01 12:53:23 AM  

#1  "I mean just look at the filthy old reprobate. Still smokin' those stogies, too. How long could he last?"
Posted by: mojo   2004-11-01 12:51:59 AM  

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