While even some hardcore conservatives are starting to realize that our Cuba policy is ridiculous and counterproductive, our political class remains in thrall to a small group of dead-end exiles who happen to reside in a swing state with lots of electoral votes. Where’s the cigar smoker’s lobby when you need them?
Yes, friends, this bigoted trash appears on the CBS website as the product of their “partnership” with the Washington Monthly. The author of this fine product of journalistic acumen is one Kevin Drum, quoting Steve Clemmons. Frankly, I do not care who he is. I do, however, care and care very much about being slandered on a “mainstream” website. I remind you of Imus who had the rug pulled out from under him over a “racist” slur by the very same network that seems to think it’s okay to insult Cuban Americans. I guess some minority groups are more equal than others.
By all means, let them know how you appreciate the characterization. You can read it here.
20 thoughts on “Outrage of the Day”
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typical moveon.org tripe. if you read the comments on the original article you see the same anti Israel, anti Jewish, anti Miami Cuban dialectic.
I too read the comments on the original article..it made sick and ruined my dinner.
What really teed me off is that CBS would have that post on its site. Cubans are apparently the only minority you can insult with impunity in the media.
Steve Clemons is a fucking liar. Read about the run-in I had with him:
https://www.babalublog.com/archives/004966.html
That’s exactly the problem rsnlk,Cuban exiles are the one group they can smear all they want and no one complains except those within the community, and those complaints rarely get published. Remember that hateful Oliphant cartoon? They never published any of the complaints, not even from such an illustrious source as Carlos Eire. So the public perception is that’s it’s okay, that every negative piece of propaganda they’ve heard about the Miami Cuban exiles is true. It’s sickening.
I must be missing something here. Haven’t generations of exiles actually worked to keep the embargo in place in the face of substantial opposition from people on the Left and Right? Aren’t many of those exiles residents of a certain swing state with a lot of electoral votes? Except for calling exiles “dead-end”–which I quite frankly don’t understand–I don’t know that I’m especially offended by this. What, have we become thin-skinned babied?
Not any more thin-skinned than those who were outraged by the Don Imus incident, including Obama. Either those people were silly crybabies, or we’re not. You can’t have it both ways. And it’s perfectly clear what’s lurking just beneath the surface of a slanderous slur like “dead-end.”
Asombra,
Challenging us on our politics and taking aim at teenage girls and calling them something as ugly and racist as “nappy-headed hos” are not in any way analogous. Now, if the author of the piece had called us “guava-eating, gangsters” maybe I would take offense. But he didn’t. Honestly, sometimes I read the stuff on this blog and the comments are so the comments of acomplejados that its just plain sad.
Intrasigence!
Damn, couldn’t even spell it right. Intransigence. You know what I meant. Anyway, add “dead-end exiles” to the list of descriptions you can wear as a badge of honor.
Don’t cry for me, miramira. I know what I’m talking about, and I expect you do also but are being disingenuous because it suits your position. Of course you’ll deny that, so let’s just say I’m not buying your arguments and leave it at that. And by the way, the worst “acomplejados” are the ones who are mortally afraid of being tarred as “intransigents” by the likes of the MSM. At least that’s not MY problem.
“Don’t cry for me, miramira. I know what I’m talking about, and I expect you do also but are being disingenuous because it suits your position. Of course you’ll deny that, so let’s just say I’m not buying your arguments and leave it at that.” Not sure what this means but as the kids say these days, whatev. I have no fear of being branded an intransigente by anyone in because I know that the truth about Cuba is on my side. I’m confident enough in my understanding of the Cuban police state to not feel so outraged at a benign if impolitic assessment of the exile community. Incidentally, you guys have created such a bogeyman out of the MSM (I guess by MSM you mean any media not owned by the Murdoch clan) that it’s comical at this point. In my discussions with apologists for the regime I hear the same thing: “Bueno, es que la realidad de Cuba no se esta reportando en los periodicos de los EEUU porque todos le tienen miedo a la Mafia cubana.” It’s bullshit from them and from you guys.
miramira, you are entitled to your views, as I am to mine. Dead-end is by no means positive and is in fact name calling by the poster. I’m sorry, but I don’t find it acceptable to use name calling on something posted on CBS, partners or no partners. I actually found it jarring and had to double check the site. If you can’t see my point, substitute any other minority group. Dead-end African Americans, Dead-end Jews, Dead-end Puerto Ricans. Somehow I don’t think that would have passed muster over at the network. Of course, the insult is cloaked with “exiles.”
Are we sensitive to slights? Sure. But it is the MSM that has taught us. At best, the media denies our reality. Lately, we have been fair game for name-calling and attacks. By the way, MSM media refers to most networks, news outlets, etc, beyond the handful that have been supportive.
miramiradePalmira,
You want to know what the problem with that statement is? It’s the underlying attitude that somehow Cubans have maintained a policy that the rest of the country doesn’t want through underhanded means. They simply don’t respect the fact that we use the tools of democracy to implement policies that we favor. They use words like disproportionate power etc. to make it sound corrupt. In fact almost every piece of legislation passed in modern history had some small group behind it lobbying to make it happen. Making laws requires coalition building, lobbying etc.
The argument that Steve “the fucking liar” Clemons makes is very weak.
Thanks, miramira, for making yourself quite clear. Anybody, regardless of background or proclaimed ideology, who finds no serious problem with the way the mainstrem media (MSM) has LONG and CONSISTENTLY screwed us over, going all the way back to the NYT’s infamous Herbert Matthews, is simply not credible. Period. Anyone who calls something so blatantly obvious “bullshit” has nothing to say to me, certainly not about Cuba. I don’t need to know anything else about you or your views. You’re welcome to them, but don’t expect me to respect them or take your commentary seriously.
And while we’re at it, calling the most successful exile group in the history of the US “a small group of dead-end exiles” is a malicious LIE, not “impolitic” (just like the Rev. Wright’s assertions were far worse than merely “controversial”). The “dead-end” bit is just the tip of the putrid iceberg of how this Clemmons asshole feels about the Cuban-American community. Any Cuban who would soft-pedal or whitewash that is at best dubious in my eyes, but again, you’ve told me all I need to know. Thanks again.
I think miramira’s point may be that this particular slight, with the exception of the “dead-end” remark which he/she points out is puzzling, is far from the worst thing we’ve been called. To me, it’s just another little slap in the face courtesy of the MSM, the same little slaps we get from non-Cuban acquaintances and co-workers (one of my co-workers once wondered aloud if Cubans ate dogs!).
Having said that, Henry’s response about the perception he got from the article is dead-on. This is yet another statement to the following effect:
“Who the hell do those minority Spanish-speaking jerks think they are by telling real Americans what our policy will be?!”
“Thanks, miramira, for making yourself quite clear. Anybody, regardless of background or proclaimed ideology, who finds no serious problem with the way the mainstrem media (MSM) has LONG and CONSISTENTLY screwed us over, going all the way back to the NYT’s infamous Herbert Matthews, is simply not credible. Period.” You’re right, Comandante, I have no credibility. Period. You keep on railing against the bad guys in the MSM–which I still have no idea how you define–and keep on feeling like a persecuted minority and we will continue to lose the Public Relations fight regarding Cuba. All of this woe-is-me and bellyaching has resulted in ever larger numbers of Americans and their representatives in Congress calling for a normalization of relations with the Cuban dictatorship. Herbert Matthews–in case you haven’t heard is dead, he left the Times in disgrace (Read Tony De Palma’s excellent new biography of him if you want a good read) and there are many Cuban and Cuban-American journalists who are in the MSM that weren’t there fifty years ago. But I’m wasting my time, I have nothing credible to say.
Henry,
“You want to know what the problem with that statement is? It’s the underlying attitude that somehow Cubans have maintained a policy that the rest of the country doesn’t want through underhanded means.”
This is something that makes a lot of sense to me. I would only suggest that this is an attitude that reflects the growing concern among most Americans that special interests have hijacked the American government whether its Cubans in Miami, the NRA or the Trial Lawyers.
miramira,
I for one welcome your comments in this thread because it’s always good to have a sort of “sanity check” any time a story like this comes out.
I understand and even share your concern about us losing the PR battle. Sometimes we all make a little too much out of the MSM. However, you can’t deny that the MSM has mostly treated the Cuban issue with a definite lack of sensitivity towards Cuban-Americans. As they say, “It’s not bellyaching when it’s true”.
I will disagree with your comment about “hijacking” by special interests. Cuban-American “special interests” have done, and continue doing, what every American enjoys the right to, and that is to lobby Congress and make their voices heard. Something they couldn’t/can’t do in Cuba. If politicians and many bright people out there believe them, it’s not hijacking, it’s making your voice and your opinions count.
I see, miramira. If it weren’t such an old and tired ploy by now, fully worthy of Joe Garcia and Ana Menendez (you wouldn’t be a friend of hers, would you?), I might be offended by how you equate me, and the Babalu crowd in general, with the Castro crowd. You can disagree with my approach to things, as I surely can disagree with yours, but when you say that our issues with the MSM over its Cuba coverage are “bullshit,” well, THAT is bullshit, and if you really believe it, then no, you are NOT credible.
And yes, I know Matthews is dead. Thanks for the newsflash. The NYT had to dump him because his infatuation with Castro became so overtly pathological that he was embarrassing the paper, but the NYT has yet to acknowledge the harm he did and its responsibility for it, let alone formally apologize to the Cuban people (just as it has not apologized, to my knowledge, for its notorious Stalin promoter, Walter Duranty). If I’m not mistaken (Dr. Delacova probably knows the details), there’s still a photo of Matthews up at NYT headquarters in some sort of “Hall of Fame” or “old luminaries” type of set-up. But I don’t mean to bore you with such trivial matters. After all, it’s history, so it can simply be ignored. Just like Mariela Castro says about the aggressive official homophobia of her family’s dictatorship, that was then, this is now. Let’s forget it ever happened. Just some minor “impolitic” behavior.