Our good friend Dr. Carlos Eire addresses the Washington Post hit piece on Senator Marco Rubio. As always, the good professor tells it like few others can.
‘Waiting for Snow in Havana’ author blasts WaPost over Marco Rubio story
By Matt Lewis
As you probably know, the Washington Post recently published an article alleging that Sen. Marco Rubio had “embellished” details about his parents’ experience as Cuban exiles.
This is an interesting topic, and so I decided to ask Carlos Eire, a professor of history and religious studies at Yale University — and author of the National Book Award-winning memoir “Waiting for Snow in Havana” — for his take. (Eire was part of operation “Pedro Pan,” an early 1960s airlift that sent fleeing Cuban children — including Eire — to the United States.)
Here’s what he emailed back:
This Wash Post “article” is a sad testimony to ignorance and ill-will. It shows that the author and the editors of this major newspaper know absolutely NOTHING about Cuban history and the nature of Cuban exile.
Before Fidel, Cubans went back and forth to the US freely. It was very common. In the 1950?s the political situation in Cuba was very bad: Batista was despised by most Cubans, even though the economy was booming. Some left to escape violence or persecution by Batista; most who left did so thinking it would be temporary. Their goal was to breathe freely and return some day soon. That is the story of Marco’s parents. They left, hoping to return. But then Fidel came along and prevented their return. As proven by the records, his mom went back several times to test out the situation, and decided they could not go back under Castro.
Marco has not embellished details. He has not mis-remembered anything. His parents did not twist the truth. He has given the full story to the press already, and, as usual, very few pundits seem to believe him. This is because there is a deeply seated prejudice against Cuban exiles, and especially against Marco, who is a rising star among conservatives.
A very simple fact ignored by the WaPo article is this: Cuba has been a dictatorship since 1952, not 1959. Batista was bad –everyone acknowledges this. Another fact ignored: Cuba went from a bad dictator to a monstrous dictator. Those who had left the island hoping to return were not able to do so because things went from bad to worse.
So, in essence, in a very real way, what Marco has been saying all along is the truth. He has also said very, very often that his father also came to the US because he wanted a better life for his children. The fact that he came in 1956, when Cuba had a dictator named Batista makes no difference. Many Cubans who were here in 56 went back–like his mom- and tested the waters and discovered that things had gotten much much worse.
Yes, sometimes parents don’t give children all the details. In this case, Marco has admitted that his parents gave them all the details. The problem is that the non-Cubans interpreting the details refuse to understand them.
(Emphasis mine.)
Well, we should to understand WaPo. Maybe they couldn’t get Oliphant (assuming he’s still alive and lucid) to provide another venomous anti-Cuban cartoon, hence “plan B.” It so happens this plan B was quite lame, not to say pitiful, but something had to be done. And you’d better believe there’s more to come. Wait for it.
We can expect all the usual attacks from the usual suspects as the Name MARCOs RUBIO is mentioned again and again as a possible future Presidential Candidate.
The Left is beginning….I MEAN REALLY panic….at this possibility. Thank you Prof. Carlos Eire for your comments.
I got up early this morning and started changing the channels when I came across Chris Matthews’s “Hardball.” I don’t ordinarily watch him, but since he was talking about the Washington Post article on Marco Rubio, I decided to.
Matthews went overboard. He was trying to milk the story for all it was worth and went as far as calling Marco Rubio an ex-vice-presidential candidate as if the Washington Post story were such a monumentally important expose and Rubio’s “breech” [that’s what he called it] was such an ethics violation that it would derail his chances for becoming vice-president. He, also, had the author of the article as a guest and said that the author should win a Pulitzer Prize. Of course, at no moment did Matthews mention that Rubio’s mother went back to Cuba, or that Cubans pre-59 used to travel back and forth between Florida and Cuba, nor did he mention that it was the family’s intent to move back to Cuba. Matthews just kept on hammering in that it was a lie, a breech of conduct, that this would dash Rubio’s chances of becoming vice-president, etc…
At one particular moment that I found very insulting, he said that Rubio family weren’t victims of communism, but rather a victims of Batista and then he had the audacity to say and I quote:
“And we know how bad that was from watching the “Godfather II.”
Anybody who uses the Godfather II as an example of what Cuba was like pre-59, a film that was made by Francis Ford Coppola [who teaches film classes at ICAIC provided gratis] and whom I hear consulted with the people at ICAIC or used their help when making that film, is seriously misguided.
So, the left continues to milk this story for all that its worth. They know that a lie repeated a thousand times becomes truth. Very sad.
Wow, if inaccuracies preclude you from becoming Vice President, how the hell did Joe Biden get there? Chris Matthews is a pinhead.
Ray, enough shit will find you that you shouldn’t go looking for more. Matthews is simply swine (with apologies to literal swine, which are far more useful). I love the bit about knowing how it was under Batista from watching Godfather II. That’s like saying you know how it was in ancient Rome from watching a gladiator movie. I mean, if the guy wasn’t so third-rate (if that), he’d never say something so embarrassingly ridiculous. “Oh, yes, I know all about world history from watching Hollywood movies.” Moron. But hey, he’s laughing all the way to the bank, ‘cause there are enough morons and/or swine to keep him in business.