“Fidel Castro is one hell of a guy! You people would LOVE him!” yelled Ted Turner to a beaming crowd at Harvard Law School in 1997: (two weeks later CNN was the first U.S. network granted a “news” bureau in Castro’s fiefdom.)
In his book, Ted Turner himself credits Fidel Castro with inspiring his idea for International
CNN…Wonder WHY Castro DID that????????????????????
Last week “former” Castro intelligence officer Arturo (“Artie Levy to you!”) Lopez-Callejas and The Cuba Study Group’s Tomas Bilbao (who performs essentially the same role for Carlos Saladrigas as Miguel Diaz-Canel performs for the Castro brothers) appeared on CNN Espanol beseeching President Obama to meet Yoani Sanchez upon her forthcoming visit to Washington D.C. A spokesperson from the dogmatically anti-“embargo” CATO Institute was also on the “panel,” (apparently for “balance.”)
Wonder WHY Yoani’s handlers DID that???
Granted, Yoani Sanchez has been talking a good one lately. Looks like her handlers–after lifting their hands from their faces after the Brazil gaffe (PERO CHICA!–CALLETE de ESO!)–cram-coursed on Babalu Blog and drew up some proper talking points for her.
Whatever. Never take your eyes off the ball, folks–and never forget that the value of her anti-embargo message (to “swing-voters” on this issue,) is directly proportional to her image as a fervent Anti-Castroite. And wonder how that message will be covered by the media and their “expert” cronies?…might it get some mileage??????????
But hey…let’s cut dat guy in the middle of the CNN “panel” some slack. He’s from the CATO Institute and probably a sincere libertarian dogmatist. Chances are, like most members of that cult, he means well, but (to the forthcoming and immense relief of his friends and family)–he’ll also grow out of it, as did the boys below from a similar cult:
All You Need is Love!”
Turner: a stupid cracker with lots of money (being great at business, or anything, does NOT preclude being ultimately stupid), craving attention or “validation” and wanting to be in with the “cool” crowd to overcome being a stupid cracker. Hence the Castro connection. And CNN. And Jane Fonda. I believe it’s called overcompensation. And you know what Fidel was thinking the whole time: “What a stupid cracker!” In other words, this is a Jimmy Carter variant, albeit less pretentious, much less holier-than-thou, and thus less obnoxious. I’d add less harmful, but he’s been harmful enough.
YS has been over-hyped and oversold, and I’m afraid she’ll wind up being overbought, which could do serious harm–regardless of her intentions. She’s simply not that bright, more feeler than thinker, and certainly not properly informed, which is a bad combination (even apart from the probably inevitable ideological contamination concomitant with being a product of the Castro system, including a mother who was a militant Castro sympathizer). To a significant extent, she strikes me as a dilettante, and no matter how sincere and well-meaning, she’s not up to playing in the league that wants to draft her for its own interests, which are NOT in the best interest of Cuba.