Tag Archives: Cuba

Quote of the Day

“It is my belief, shared by many lawyers who have followed the legal battles over Guantanamo, that the president could have shut the prison down if he had really been determined to do so.  One reason the prisoners can’t get out is that the courts have essentially ruled that a president has an absolute right to imprison anyone he wants during a time of war — with no second-guessing from either of the other two branches of government.  by the same legal logic, a president can free any prisoner in a time of war.  Had the president taken that stance, there would undoubetdly have been a court fight.  but so what?  Aren’t some things worth fighting for?”

Joe Nocera, “Obama’s Gitmo Problem,” NYT

Dead Heat in Florida

And I’m not talking about the weather.

The Mason Dixon poll out today show President Obama leading Mitt Romney by 46 to 45.

If Mittens puts Marco! Rubio! on the ticket, he leads Obama by 46 to 45.

Libertarian Gary Johnson is getting the protest vote at 2% from those who don’t get the concept of lesser of two evils.  They’d rather go with the third evil who doesn’t have a chance.

Obama can win without Florida, but Mitt really can’t.

With Florida so close, I need to warn  all you hanging-chad folks that if you mess up another presidential election, we’re giving you back to Spain.  Except for those who get sent to Cuba, and I don’t care if your feet are wet or dry.  One Bush v. Gore is enough of a blight on our history.

Rubio Is Romney’s Mini-Me

Marco Rubio seems to be a “mini-me” of Mitt Romney in terms of being an opportunist, driven by ambition rather than values.  From the new Rubio biography:*

“In two decades of ascension he [Rubio] had learned to slide quickly on the issues, tailoring messages on immigration and spending that got him where he needed to go, even if they sometimes raised questions about his political core….”

The book, which will be out June 19, also says that his maternal grandfather, Pedro Victor Garcia, was ordered deported back to Cuba in 1962, but didn’t leave and stayed in Miami.  He finally received permission to stay in 1967 as a refugee from Castro, even though he had come to the United States before Castro took power and then chose to return to Cuba in 1959, just two weeks after Castro ousted Batista, and stayed there until 1962.  Under those circumstances, I would have sent him back to Cuba.

*  The Rise of Marco Rubio, by Manuel Roig-Frazia

Uh, Oh, What’s Santorum Going To Do Now?

As we all know, Rick Santorum is just the best little Catholic boy in the whole world.  If he does say so himself.

Now the Pope is calling for an end to the American embargo of Cuba that has been in place for 50 years.  Rick and the GOP support the embargo.

Rick has to choose between his party and his Pope.

Will Rick call for an end to the embargo?  No, he’ll just ignore this, as he does other Catholic doctrine he doesn’t like, like opposition to pre-emptive war and capital punishment.  But Catholics who ignore the birth control stuff?  You’re definitely going to Hell.

The Hispanic Vote in Florida

While Newt is perceived as having a less hard-line position on immigration than Mitt (another flip flop in his move to the right), it’s unlikely to help him among Hispanic voters in Florida, where the Hispanic community is largely Puerto Rican or Cuban rather than Mexican.

Puerto Ricans are already U. S. citizens, so it’s not an issue for them.  Cubans who get themselves onto U. S. soil are given refuge under the “wet foot dry foot” policy because of the Communist regime in Cuba.  There’s really no such thing as the “Hispanic vote,” since members of different Hispanic communities have different immigration statuses and perspectives.

Time to Give Michele Bachmann the Hook

By her insane prattling on everything from the HPV vaccine causing mental retardation to a re-play of the Cuban Missile Crisis starring Hezbollah, Michele Bachmann hurts not just herself, but the entire wing of the GOP she aspires to represent.

You can be a social conservative without being crazy.  You can be an economic conservative without being crazy.  You can be a national-security conservative without being crazy.

But the more rabid nonsense the country hears from Bachmann, the more she taints the non-establishment side of the party.  The sooner they get her to drop out, the less credibility they lose.