Why did Hillary mention Fidel and Chavez before Kim Jong Il and Ahmenijad? Here is the answer

[antiimperialist]

Florida Cubans.

Florida is the most important state in the map, since it's the biggest swing state in terms of population.
Of all Hispanic voters, Cubans are the only nationality that tilts right. (68% of Cuban voters in Florida voted for Bush in '04 against Kerry, and 82% in 2000 against Gore). Hillary wants to secure this block.

Here is the transcript of the part where Hillary mentioned world dictators (or in the case of Chavez, an authoritarian president).

And I will use a lot of high-level presidential envoys to test the waters, to feel the way. But certainly, we’re not going to just have our president meet with Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez and, you know, the president of North Korea, Iran and Syria until we know better what the way forward would be.

Notice how Hillary did not even remember (Or didn't care about) the name of everyone but those despised by Miami Cubans: Fidel Castro and his socialist buddy Hugo Chavez.

Now you know what are Hillary's priorities: First the senile, pacific Fidel Castro. Second, the Democratically elected president whose only major sin was to shut down a radio station. Then the guy with the six nuclear bombs and the one who wants to wipe Israel out of the map.

[marylanddem]

1. Hillary the Hawk

just when I start to kind of like her just a little bit, she says something like this.

[Deja Q]

2. Anyone can be a hawk. Hillary seems to be running on air.

What they have to say about domestic issues is as of equal importance these days. We all know there are foreign leaders who are dangerous. But that's not what gets people elected.

[marylanddem]

3. I know it's been said before, but I think the Repugs REALLY

want her to be the candidate. Didn't Murdoch even hold a fundraiser for her?

[RaleighNCDUer]

13. Oh, yeah. Fidel and Hugo are Sooooo scary, with all their

nuclear missiles aimed at Miami. So lets make sure that everyone knows we don't like them and will not talk to them.

[durrrty libby]

4. It's called intelligent strategy .Too bad you don't get it

[marylanddem]

7. Sorry, but what's intelligent about it?

[durrrty libby]

9. If you ever spent time living in Miami, you would get it

[Forkboy]

10. Why don't you try to explain it to the people who DON'T live in Miami.

I'm assuming that's a large portion of DU.

[GeorgeGist]

5. Leaders lead ...

and Hillary follows.

[illinoisprogressive]

6. Hawk Hillary . this is how she got Menedez endorsement. to continue the old ways

[BeyondGeography]

8. Pretending Castro doesn't exist has worked beautifully all these years

Plus we always win Florida as a result of our pandering. :freak:

[antiimperialist]

11. Pretending he doesn't exist is one thing. Admitting that Kim Jong Il is more dangerous is another

Don't misrepresent the central point in question.
She called Kim Jong Il, "you know the president of North Korea".

[LostInAnomie]

12. The only reason any national poiltician mentions Castro anymore.

Is to kiss the ass of Cubans in Florida. He's essentially been irrelevant for the last 40 years. That is, except of a certain group that votes in very big blocks and swings Florida's electoral votes.

I just hope the Dems make some gains out west and make Florida irrelevant by '08.

[ProudDad]

19. Yeah, right...

"He's essentially been irrelevant for the last 40 years"

Yeah, right, that's why every asshole who has sat in the oval office since 1959 has been trying to murder him...

[LostInAnomie]

22. The only relevance he has is that there are a large group of voters in Florida that hate him.

Other than that he's a militarily toothless dictator of a small island nation with far fewer human rights violations that many of the countries we eagerly trade and have relations with. To put him on par with the leaders of N. Korea and Iran is ridiculous on its face.

[Hekate]

14. Perhaps because both are in the Americas? Hmmm? nt

[antiimperialist]

15. Believe me. Americans are worried about Iran and NK more than Fidel

My naive friend. In your eyes, what has more weight? How dangerous a dictator is? Or how close he is to the United States?
When asked who is the biggest threat to world peace, Americans mention Iran first (Pew poll, Feb. 2006), and Cuba is not even on the list. Cuban proximity to the states would be relevant if this were 1961, with the Cuban missile crisis and all.

[Hekate]

16. I just took her comments to mean we should re-open relations with Cuba,not pretend they're a danger

I just took her comments to mean we should re-open relations with Cuba, not continue to pretend they're a danger to the US. "Talk to bad people" means engagement, even detente, as opposed to invasion or sulking in a corner like Bush.

And since Castro and Chavez actually happen to be our neighbors to the South, better we should talk to them instead of ignoring them.

Perhaps I misunderstood what the Senator said.

Hekate

[ProudDad]

20. Talk to bad people

only the corporate capitalist masters and their tools (Hillary among them) could believe this of Castro and Chavez...

[msongs]

17. nice to know you can read her mind AND speak for her on DU :-) nt

[antiimperialist]

18. It's called an opinion.

A lot of opinions are voiced in the Democraticunderground. It would be immature to call everyone who shares his/her opinion a mind-reader wanna-be. Political analysts are not psychics, yet they analyze politicians' moves, trying to predict why they do what they do, and say what they say.

[Progressive Friend]

21. Ahmadinejad was popularly elected too (unlike Bush)

I bet Hillary will bash Ahmadinejad when she is in LA though. That is where most of the Iranian monarchist exiles live at.