Sanders's Comments on Fidel Castro Provoke Anger in Florida

[ehrnst]

MIAMI — Cuban exiles and Democrats in Florida on Monday angrily rejected comments from Senator Bernie Sanders praising aspects of the Communist Cuban revolution that aired in an interview with “60 Minutes.”

The Vermont senator’s remarks threatened to undercut his candidacy for the Democratic nomination in the nation’s largest presidential swing state, as he seeks to build momentum on a broader scale after a series of early primary victories.

“I’m totally disgusted and insulted,” said Lourdes Diaz, the president of the Democratic Hispanic Caucus in Broward County, who is Cuban-American. “Maybe this will open people’s eyes to how super, super liberal and radical Bernie is. I’m not going to defend him anymore. I’m over it.”

The comments ricocheted across Miami, a bastion of Cuban exiles where any defense of Mr. Castro is seen as disqualifying to hold public office. Many Cuban-Americans are Republicans, but those who are Democrats have been increasingly worried that Mr. Sanders’s views on Cuba and other authoritarian leaders in Latin America could cost the party support among Hispanic voters.

“Senator Sanders has clearly and consistently criticized Fidel Castro’s authoritarianism and condemned his human rights abuses, and he’s simply echoing President Obama’s acknowledgment that Cuba made progress, especially in education,” Mike Casca, the campaign’s communications director, said.

.......................................

In Havana in 2016, Mr. Obama praised Cuba’s “enormous achievements in education and in health care.” But those comments were made in the middle of a historic policy overture and not in the middle of a primary campaign. The Florida primary is on March 17.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/24/us/bernie-sanders-fidel-castro-florida.html

[HarlanPepper]

1. "But but Obama said it too!111"

No, he didn’t.

[George II]

11. Some are trying to say Obama did, but they neglect to include ALL of Obama's comments or...

...the context in which he made those comments.

[Gothmog]

24. No, Bernie Sanders' Discussion of Cuba's Castro is Nothing Like Obama's

Link to tweet

Eric Levitz in New York Magazine on Monday makes the case that Bernie Sanders’ 1985 interview admiring some aspects of Fidel Castro’s regime in Cuba was roughly the same as Barack Obama’s 2016 discussion of Castro. This is in large part just an amplification of ideas flying around Twitter this week, as in the tweet pictured above. A quick look at Sanders’ and Obama’s statements shows why this analysis is entirely incorrect.

In 2016, Obama was addressing hundreds of young business and social entrepreneurs from across Latin America in Buenos Aires, Argentina. If you read the transcript of his talk, you see immediately that Obama, in his signature style, was reinforcing the message of pragmatism and evidence-based decision making — as he puts it “be[ing] practical and just choos[ing] from what works.” He was in fact arguing against ideology, at a time when he must have been watching the destabilizing effects the surge in ideological politics was causing not just in the United States but in other countries long considered staid and practical.

In discussing Cuba, Obama relayed direct conversations he had with the Castros, insight into the diplomacy of highlighting policy areas where there might be more agreement in order to create common ground with space to push for change in other areas. I doubt many would think it rational to approach a nascent foreign relationship with a guns blazing, take no prisoners attitude, especially when any agreement depended on the other country’s support. Obama was relaying one relatively high stakes conversation with foreign leaders to another unaligned audience in a foreign venue. I expect it does not take an expert in international relations to see the U.S. interest in pitching this information a certain way for both of these audiences.

In contrast, Bernie Sanders’ 1985 interview was not conducted for foreign consumption or to support U.S. national interests, and it did not come at a time of opening up in the U.S.-Cuba relationship. Instead, it was given for a local public access TV show. It was effectively a vanity project giving Sanders a platform to expound his views of politics and the world. Because of this, the messaging here is all Sanders. Further contrasting Obama, it was rooted in ideology, with Sanders opening, “As a socialist, the word socialism doesn’t frighten me,” before launching into his discussion of self-described socialist regimes. While you could argue the interview might not be a perfect snapshot of today’s presidential candidate’s innermost thoughts, it was a clear statement of what Sanders believed at the time and unfiltered by the degree of drafting and review Obama’s messaging on this topic would have undergone....

From this brief look, we can see that Obama’s talk involved a little flattery, a little spin, and a good deal of appealing to an audience that he saw as future leaders. In contrast, Sanders’ words were simply praise without an intentional objective towards a defined audience. Conflating these two discussions is flimsy, misleading, and indicative of the pro-regime propaganda captured in Sanders’ own sentiment.

[Gothmog]

25. you can always count on @JoeBiden to defend @BarackObama 's record and legacy.

Link to tweet

[ehrnst]

13. Well, alrighty then.

Some people don't take bad news very well at all, do they?

Blast away at the messenger... brown people in Florida just don't tow the line, do they? And the NYT goes ahead and LISTENS to them...

[Cha]

22. omg! No they do not.

[Ron Green]

3. Ah, the rise of Batista's ghost. n/t

[apcalc]

4. That train has left the station....no going back.

At this point it doesn’t matter what his campaign says.

[honest.abe]

5. This is making headlines everywhere and could be a huge turning point in this primary.

Sanders may have just blown it.

[madville]

8. No one really cares about this outside of South Florida

The FL Democratic Party rather strongly came out against him as well, that was surprisingly quick.

[honest.abe]

10. Perhaps but the headlines certainly sound bad even if many dont connect to it personally.

I think this hurts him everywhere.

[George II]

12. There are communities called "Little Cuba" or "Little Havana" in many parts of the country.

There's a very large Cuban community in Union City, Northern New Jersey, dubbed "Havana on the Hudson". There are many on the West Side of Manhattan, one in Bridgeport, CT, and many other places.

[NoDakLinda]

27. Sanders may have just blown it.

You wish! Not according to the polls I am reading.

What Cuba really needs is for organized crime to return.

Americans are taught to not get along with people who do not agree with everything you believe. That is how they keep you at war with who ever they need to go after. It's way sick, and I don't mean that in a good way.

[madville]

6. Well that basically writes FL off for the primary and the general election

for him. It's too hot to campaign down here anyway.

[Sloumeau]

7. K&R

[sandensea]

9. Among the Posada Carriles types, sure.

But among younger, more politically attuned Cuban-Americans? Doubtful.



"Bernie has lost my vote!!!"

"Riiiight."

[ehrnst]

14. Keep telling yourself that.

[sandensea]

15. Lest we forget, these Felix Rodriguez/Alpha 66 types feel the same way about Liz Warren.

Nationwide, I do agree Liz would be a slightly less risky proposition than Bernie.

But could either one make any inroads among the smear-shit-on-the-Miami Herald crowd?

¡Imposible, chico!

[ehrnst]

16. I hadn't heard that.

Can you share some links about their similar feelings towards Warren?

[sandensea]

17. I have Cuban-American acquaintances - older ones as well as those in their 30s.

With one exception, the ones in the 60+ cohort are to the right of the Pinochet and Somoza dictatorships.

They consider all Democrats comunistas. To them, there's hardly any difference between Biden and Bernie.

Most of those older Cubanos will never forgive Democrats for the Bay of Pigs.

"­¡Ese hijo 'e puta de Kennedy!"

[ehrnst]

18. I have Cuban immigrant neighbors - in their 70's and they were upset that people

were calling Obama "socialist."

They said, "We know from socialism, and Obama is not it."

[sandensea]

20. Would that more of them were that reasonable.

The good news is that younger Cuban-Americans, for the most part, certainly are.

!Salúd!

[NoDakLinda]

28. Re: Lest we forget, these Felix Rodriguez/Alpha 66 types feel the same way about Liz Warren.

And they vote far right.

[sandensea]

29. Exactly. No Democrat is good enough for them.

Plus, I doubt de Santis will refrain from stealing Florida for Cheeto.

At least there'll no liver-colored lipstick involved, that's for sure.

[dalton99a]

19. Amateur Hour With Bernie

[sandensea]

21. I agree that he should've kept that to himself

But I doubt that, should Bernie be the nominee, it'll make much difference.

De Santis would sooner part with his Putin loot, than allow free and fair elections in Florida.

[Cha]

23. Good on President Obama.. BS not so much..

“I’m totally disgusted and insulted,” said Lourdes Diaz, the president of the Democratic Hispanic Caucus in Broward County, who is Cuban-American. “Maybe this will open people’s eyes to how super, super liberal and radical Bernie is. I’m not going to defend him anymore. I’m over it.”

We need Florida!

[Gothmog]

26. The sanders talking point about President Obama is simply false

Link to tweet

[NoDakLinda]

30. The sanders talking point about President Obama is simply false

In March 2016, Barack Obama became the first U.S. President to visit Cuba since 1928.

On December 17, 2014, U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuban
President Raúl Castro announced the beginning of the process of normalizing relations between Cuba and the United States.

New York Times “U.S. to Restore Full Relations With Cuba, Erasing a Last Trace of Cold War Hostility”, and though Obama’s not as smart as Joe Biden, he is obviously reaching out an olive branch. In those kinds of situations it is really smart to say nice things about the other persons country.

However, there are those people who want to keep fanning the flames of Cold War Hostilities, and are working very hard to have conflicts with Cuba, Russia and Asia. We need to keep the military industrial complex producing war machines and bombs.

[Gothmog]

31. For this thread

Link to tweet

?s=20