Showing posts with label isolationist. Show all posts
Showing posts with label isolationist. Show all posts

Thursday, December 18, 2014

Obama Liberates Cuba and Senator Rubio's Head Explodes Like a Water Balloon

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Previous Related Posts:
Stay Thirsty, My Friend: Senator Rubio and Water-Bottle-Gate
Tea Party Tantrum When Obama Shakes Hands with a Castro
CPAC 2013 Day One: Rat Heads in a Coke Bottle
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Yesterday, President Obama announced that the U.S. will be normalizing relations with Cuba after years of isolating that country with an embargo. Since politicians are never supposed to change anything or do anything worthwhile to change the world, this was met with immediate criticism from the GOP. And even though His Holiness, Pope Francis, helped in negotiations with Cuba from a humanitarian point of view, Senator Marco Rubio, R-Florida, immediately criticized the plan because his knee jerked towards the White House; then he had a long, cool drink of water while rightwing heads exploded all over the country. This is really the moment that Rubio has been waiting for - a rush to the bully pulpit on the way to his own presidential bid. But GOP and Rubio may be on the wrong side of history again, as they are on the immigration issue.



From the White House Fact Sheet on Cuba:
FACT SHEET: Charting a New Course on Cuba

Today, the United States is taking historic steps to chart a new course in our relations with Cuba and to further engage and empower the Cuban people. We are separated by 90 miles of water, but brought together through the relationships between the two million Cubans and Americans of Cuban descent that live in the United States, and the 11 million Cubans who share similar hopes for a more positive future for Cuba.

It is clear that decades of U.S. isolation of Cuba have failed to accomplish our enduring objective of promoting the emergence of a democratic, prosperous, and stable Cuba. At times, longstanding U.S. policy towards Cuba has isolated the United States from regional and international partners, constrained our ability to influence outcomes throughout the Western Hemisphere, and impaired the use of the full range of tools available to the United States to promote positive change in Cuba. Though this policy has been rooted in the best of intentions, it has had little effect – today, as in 1961, Cuba is governed by the Castros and the Communist party.

We cannot keep doing the same thing and expect a different result. It does not serve America’s interests, or the Cuban people, to try to push Cuba toward collapse. We know from hard-learned experience that it is better to encourage and support reform than to impose policies that will render a country a failed state. With our actions today, we are calling on Cuba to unleash the potential of 11 million Cubans by ending unnecessary restrictions on their political, social, and economic activities. In that spirit, we should not allow U.S. sanctions to add to the burden of Cuban citizens we seek to help.

Today, we are renewing our leadership in the Americas. We are choosing to cut loose the anchor of the past, because it is entirely necessary to reach a better future – for our national interests, for the American people, and for the Cuban people.





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Senator Rubio criticizes Evil Tyrant Obama, via Tampa Bay Times
"This president is the single worst negotiator we have had in the White House in my lifetime," Rubio said, contending Obama "has basically given the Cuban government everything it asked for and received no assurances of any advances of democracy and freedom."
Rubio deemed it a victory for the "oppressive Cuban government" and "another concession to a tyranny" by the Obama administration. The president, he said, let the Cuban people down. He used words like "absurd" and "disgraceful and "outrageous." He vowed to do whatever possible to block the moves.
"This Congress is not going to lift the embargo," said Rubio, who will chair the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere when Congress reconvenes in January.



Rubio also blamed Pope Francis for his role in negotiations, which proves once again that no good deed goes unpunished:
Via Politicus USA
“My understanding is that the influence that His Holiness had was on the release of Mr. [Alan] Gross, which I’ve not criticized. As I said, I’m happy that he’s with the Cuban people [sic]. I would also ask His Holiness to take up the cause of freedom and democracy, which is critical for a free people — for a people to truly be free. I think the people of Cuba deserve the same chances to have democracy as the people of Argentina have had, where he comes from; as the people of Italy have, where he now lives. Obviously the Vatican’s its own state, but very nearby. My point is I hope that people with that sort of prestige on the world stage will take up the cause of freedom and democracy. The Cuban people are the only people in this hemisphere that have not been able to elect a leader in more than 55 or 60 years. That’s outrageous.”















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Saturday, September 7, 2013

Alan Grayson ~ Democrat or Anti-Obama Libertarian?



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Previous Related Posts:
Irony Takes a Holiday when Rumsfeld Slams Obama on Syria
Obama's Red Line in Syria Draws Criticism Left and Right
'Is This Live?' ~ Fox Snooze On Air for Tucker Carlson
MSNBC Ratings Fall as Hosts Go Emoprog - Now with Olbermann Tweets
Glenn Greenwald Threatens America
Chris Hayes Thinks Military Heroes Don't Exist
Sarah Palin Calls Nancy Pelosi a 'Dingbat' and Obama a 'Tool'

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This Happened: "Let Allah Sort it Out"



"This is one of those rare occasions
in which I'm in agreement with Sarah Palin.
Let Allah Sort it Out."
~ Congressman Alan Grayson D-Florida



















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Defended By Libertarian Glenn Greenwald?



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Quoting from Right-Wing Daily Caller

Note: The Daily Caller is a slanted online news website
founded by Conservatives:
Tucker Carlson, a Libertarian Fox News Host
Neil Patel, former adviser to former Vice President Dick Cheney

From U.S. News Blog
The White House released its four-page public report Aug. 30, arguing that Assad's government killed 1,429 people on Aug. 21 with a planned chemical weapon attack. Evidence cited in that report included "intercepted communications involving a senior official intimately familiar with the offensive who confirmed that chemical weapons were used."

Grayson, however, says "the claim has been made that that information was completely mischaracterized."
He points to an article published by The Daily Caller that alleges the communications actually showed Syrian officers were surprised by the alleged chemical weapon attack.

. . . "What they say in The Daily Caller is that [intercepted communications] would lead one to the opposite conclusion," Grayson said. "I don't know if it's right or wrong, [but] there's a very simple way to find out, that's for the administration to show me and other members of Congress" translated transcripts of the intercepts, he said.

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PBS Interview: Send Syria a Hallmark Card

Complete Interview Transcript Here
Tonight, the view of a House Democrat leading the charge against using force. Florida Representative Alan Grayson serves on the Foreign Affairs Committee. I spoke with him from Capitol Hill a short time ago. Well, thanks for joining us.

 Let's just get right to it. Why would a limited strike against Syria be a mistake?

REP. ALAN GRAYSON, D-Fla.: Several reasons.
First, it's not our responsibility. It's not our responsibility to act unilaterally. Secondly, it's not going to do any good. It's not going to change the regime. It's not going to end the civil war. It's not even going prevent a new strike and use of chemical warfare.
Third, it's expensive, and, fourth, it's dangerous. It could easily spin out of control.

JEFFREY BROWN: A key argument from the president of course has been that chemical weapons are simply different, the use of them must be punished, it must be stopped, or what kind of message do you send to the Syrian government and to other governments, including Iran?

ALAN GRAYSON: As one of my colleagues said, if you want to send a message, use Hallmark, not missiles. I think that logic applies here.

. . . JEFFREY BROWN: But this is your -- many people in your own -- of course, this is a president in your own party. He's talked about -- he said: "My credibility is not on the line. The international community's credibility is on the line."

 Is he wrong about that?

ALAN GRAYSON: Yes. The international community has spoken. We are the only ones who are contemplating anything like this.
If we don't do this attack, no one else will. The British, on exactly the same evidence, decided against doing exactly this specific thing. The international community has decided that, when it works, it works multilaterally, and not simply by lobbing missiles and bombs into a war zone, with effects we cannot even possibly anticipate.

JEFFREY BROWN: What about the international community long ago coming out against the use of chemical weapons, saying that they are somehow different?

ALAN GRAYSON: Honestly, I don't even know what that means. I mean, it sounds like many of the cliches that I hear coming out of the mouths of administration spokesmen.
The fact is this. People understand, it's not our problem, it's not going to do any good, it's expensive, and it's dangerous. If you want to get us into a third war in the Middle East, this is the way to do it.






































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