No Democrat has yet been able to stop the surprise surge of Sen. Bernie Sanders for president. However, it looks as if the late Cuban leader Fidel Castro might just be able to get the job done.
Politics
Sen. Sanders is under rapid-fire today after volunteering a strange defense of Fidel Castro and his communist regime, declaring “It’s unfair to simply say everything is bad” with the way the now-deceased dictator ruled the country.
In a damaging interview Sunday on CBS’ “60 Minutes” following his Saturday victory in the Nevada caucus, Sanders shot himself in the foot by invoking the former Cuban leader.
“We’re very opposed to the authoritarian nature of Cuba but you know, it’s unfair to simply say everything is bad. You know?” Sanders said. “When Fidel Castro came into office, you know what he did? He had a massive literacy program. Is that a bad thing? Even though Fidel Castro did it?”
Although Sanders’ attempt to promote literacy was a noble idea, connecting Fidel Castro to the concept was political suicide.
Now, Sanders is reaping what he sowed and paying a hefty price for his perceived Castro-embrace.
“After four years of looking on in horror as Trump cozied up to dictators, we need a president who will be extremely clear in standing against regimes that violate human rights abroad. We can’t risk nominating someone who doesn’t recognize this,” Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg tweeted.
“Fidel Castro left a dark legacy of forced labor camps, religious repression, widespread poverty, firing squads, and the murder of thousands of his own people. But sure, Bernie, let’s talk about his literacy program,” Mike Bloomberg said on Twitter.
Vice President Joe Biden’s campaign also took aim at Sanders, saying his comments “are a part of a larger pattern throughout his life to embrace autocratic leaders and governments across the globe.”
“He seems to have found more inspiration in the Soviets, Sandinistas, Chavistas, and Castro than in America,” Biden senior adviser Cristóbal Alex said in a statement.
Additionally, 2 freshman Democrats from South Florida, Reps. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell and Donna Shalala rebuked Sen. Sanders for his remarks.
“I find Senator Bernie Sanders’ comments on Castro’s Cuba absolutely unacceptable,” Mucarsel-Powell wrote in a pair of tweets on Monday. “The Castro regime murdered and jailed dissidents, and caused unspeakable harm to too many South Florida families,” she continued. “To this day, it remains an authoritarian regime that oppresses its people, subverts the free press, and stifles a free society.”
Rep. Shalala also took to social media to denounce Sanders, saying in the future he should “take time to speak to some of my constituents before he decides to sing the praises of a murderous tyrant like Fidel Castro.” She then accompanied her text with a cat gif that read, “C’MON, BRO.”
Apparently, this is not Sanders’ first expression of affection for the late Cuban leader.
According to a 2016 report from Buzzfeed, Sanders once said America was “very, very mistaken about” the Cuban people’s desire to revolt against Castro because Americans “forgot that he educated their kids, gave their kids health care, totally transformed the society.”
On Monday, Sanders attempted to defend his remarks.
“If you want to disagree with me, if somebody wants to say — and by the way, all of those congresspeople that you mentioned just so happen to be supporting other candidates, just accidentally, no doubt. Coincidentally,” Sanders said. “But the truth is the truth, and that’s what happened in the first years of the Castro regime.”
It’s no wonder many in the Democratic Party are doing everything possible to stop the man who refers to himself as a “Democratic Socialist” from becoming the party’s nominee and their hopeful Trump-stopper.
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Was hoping you’d jump on this DJ…lol.
I laugh to keep from crying because THIS is what the DNC and Democrat leadership has allowed the party to be reduced to. The Dem version of Trump is now the front-runner for the nomination to become president of the United States. Bernie Sanders, a rich Old white guy, and Democrat-Socialist ta boot, who (like Trump) appreciates certain things about authoritarian dictators…in this case the communist dictator Castro.
Suuuuure Castro had thousands of his own people killed BUT let’s look on the bright side. He started a literacy program for the people he allowed to live…so there. /being facetious.
You cannot make this stuff up!