LewWaters
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Joined: 18 May 2004
Posts: 4042
Location: Washington State
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 Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2004 11:40 pm Post subject: Kerry Wants Castros Support Too |
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From the June 6, 2004 edition of the Miami Herald;
| Quote: | Expand travel to Cuba, Kerry says
Sen. John Kerry, disputing President Bush's actions on Cuba, told The Herald that he would open Cuba to 'principled travel' and lift a restriction on sending money to people on the island.
BY LESLEY CLARK
lclark@herald.com
Denouncing President Bush's crackdown on Fidel Castro as election-year politicking that ''punishes and isolates the Cuban people,'' John Kerry told The Herald that he would encourage ''principled travel'' to the island and lift the cap on gifts to its people. (nevermind that every President since Castros 1960 takeover of the island nation has had this policy, regardless of party affiliation)
In his first detailed remarks on Cuba policy since clinching the Democratic presidential nomination, the Massachusetts senator sought to carve out a middle ground in what has been a dicey subject for him. He embraced the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba and support for dissidents, but criticized Bush's restriction of travel and cash gifts to Cubans on the island as a "cynical and misguided ploy for a few Florida votes.''
Kerry said in the telephone interview Friday that Bush's new hard-line policy restricting travelers to a single visit every three years "punishes and isolates the Cuban people and harms the Cuban Americans with relatives on the island while leaving Castro unharmed.''
''Selective engagement, not isolation, is the best way for the American people to send real, not just rhetorical, hope for a better future to the Cuban people,'' he said. (Selective engagement? Anyone understand what that means from an anti-war, pro-communist symapthizer?)
Kerry, who has a long voting record generally sympathetic to increasing contact with the island and has faced Republican criticism for shifting stances on the trade embargo, sought to fine-tune his position. (Sympathetic to a Communist dictatorship, what a revelation)
`THE HEMINGWAY BAR'
A decade ago, Kerry, an influential force behind the decision to lift the trade embargo against Vietnam, pushed to ease travel restrictions in Cuba. He said Friday, though, that he would lift only the ban on Cuba travel that is not ''pure tourism,'' suggesting that democracy efforts in Poland, Russia and China were aided by similar "political travel.'' (Political travel? Does that mean he and fellow Democrats are welcome to enjoy the sun and fun and hospitality of Fidel?)
''It's travel that is engaged between families, travel engaged for culture and advancement,'' he said. ``I think you want to begin a process that engages on a principled, measurable goal rather than just going to the Hemingway bar somewhere and spending some money.'' (this doesn't sound like "political travel" to me)
Kerry said he would also lift the restriction on remittances to allow gifts to ''households and humanitarian institutions.'' Bush has restricted gifts to only ''immediate family members,'' but Kerry said the money can be a ''powerful tool'' to help Cubans on the island start small businesses "and thereby gain a measure of autonomy.'' (Sending money that ends up propping up another Communist dicatator? He would have the US finance and create wealth in a Communist dictatorship?)
OTHER COUNTRIES
And he accused the Bush administration of failing to better engage the international community to oppose Castro, a position that mirrors his criticism of the president's strategy on the war in Iraq, which Kerry has said has damaged U.S. credibility. (he wants to open trade and allow free travel, but wants international opposition to Castro?)
''If we were more effective,'' he said, ``we would have a little more goodwill in the bank to be able to effectively move the international community with respect to Cuba.'' (I wonder if France would be willing to jump on board for this one? Why hasn't he brought this up to his disUnited Nations?)
Kerry's stab at a more nuanced Cuba policy comes as some suggest that by playing to those exiles who urged him to get tough on Castro, Bush may have alienated more moderate Cuban Americans, particularly newer arrivals with relatives still on the island. Nearly 200,000 people traveled to Cuba from the United States last year, and some Cuban-American groups have pledged to launch voter registration drives to target Bush. (But of course, Kerry isn't pandering yet again)
PRESIDENT'S ACTIONS
Bush's new restrictions came after pleading from hard-line exiles who said the Republican president sorely needed to shore up his conservative base after failing to deliver the aggressive anti-Castro strategy that he had promised the Cuban community during the election and a 2002 visit to Miami.
At least eight in 10 of Florida's nearly half-million Cuban-American voters backed Bush in 2000, when he won the state by just 537 votes, but polls conducted before he announced the new restrictions last month suggested that his approval ratings were slipping. (So, Kerry will win them over by loosening the very restrictions they seek?)
The new restrictions, which include reducing the number of visits to the island and limiting spending during family visits, met with acclaim from some of his Republican critics.
But the rift between Bush and some in the traditionally loyal GOP voting bloc energized Democrats who hope to peel at least a sliver of votes away from the president as part of an aggressive push to target Hispanic voters in the state. Democratic strategists note that if they can take away even a portion of the Cuban-American electorate, their nominee can win Florida -- and the White House -- just as President Clinton did in 1996, when he won an estimated 40 percent of the Cuban vote.
Democrats have been divided on whether to court Cuban Americans on Cuba or on issues such as healthcare and education. But Kerry's campaign said it believes that Bush has given the Democratic candidate an opening by pursuing a hard-line strategy. (Well, John, just protest them and call them all baby killers too.)
A spokesman for the Bush campaign suggested that Kerry's remarks were pandering "from a candidate who, every time he had the opportunity, voted against restrictions on Castro.''
''Sen. Kerry's talk is always tough, but his votes always go easy on Castro,'' said the spokesman, Reed Dickens. "His policy proposals for the people of Cuba are policies that are already in existence. They show a lack of understanding of the existing policy and a total disconnect with his entire voting career.''
Republicans have already sought to label Kerry as soft on Castro, pointing to a 2000 interview in which Kerry told The Boston Globe that the only reason the United States treated Cuba differently from China and Russia was the "politics of Florida.''
KERRY'S VOTE
Kerry voted against the final version of 1996 legislation designed to strengthen trade sanctions against Cuba, but told a Miami television reporter during a visit to South Florida that he backed the measure. (another flip flop?)
He said Friday that he supported the embargo, but voted against the final version because it included a controversial provision to allow Cuban Americans to sue foreign ventures using property confiscated by Cuba. (Don't tell me, he voted for it before he voted against it. LOL, now where have we heard that line before?)
The Bush administration has maintained the Clinton policy of preventing such lawsuits, but Kerry said Friday that the administration is looking at enforcing the provision, which the European Union has denounced.
''This will further strain relations with Canada and our European allies when, frankly, we most need them,'' Kerry said. ``Instead, I will work to craft a policy toward Cuba that our allies can join and support.'' (Is there any pandering this guy won't do?) |
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