May 20, 2005

Charlie Rangel, defender of human rights

Jay Nordlinger had an interesting item in his Impromptus column yesterday. Chew on Charlie Rangel's comments for a while and let the words sink in...

Tomorrow, an astonishing event is scheduled to take place in Cuba: the General Meeting of the Assembly to Promote Civil Society in Cuba. This is a great democratic gathering, and those participating have put themselves at great risk: For days, Castro has been arresting democratic activists, and otherwise flexing the muscles of his police state.

Various groups and institutions around the world have expressed their solidarity with the Cuban democrats, including the U.S. Congress. The House passed a resolution — and 22 congressmen voted against. Oh, yes.

Who were they? Oh, you know — the usuals: Charles Rangel, Dennis Kucinich, Maxine Waters, John Conyers, Barbara Lee, Jim McDermott, Cynthia McKinney, Pete Stark . . .

You’ve heard me say a thousand times before that Rangel is about Castro’s best friend in the United States — at least in the political class. This is doubly a shame, because Rangel is so beloved of the American media. “Good ol’ ‘Chollie,’” they say (because Rangel is a New Yawker, and he talks like that — irresistibly charming guy, most people find).

Guess what he told Meghan Clyne of the New York Sun? He said that he voted against the Cuba-democracy resolution because American politicians “refuse to give the government the respect that it deserves.” He was referring to his friend Fidel’s regime, of course: a regime that imprisons, tortures, and executes at will. That denies its subjects all rights. That is listed by the State Department as terrorist.

We hear all the time that all Americans — certainly those in our political class — love freedom and democracy. We’re all joined in the same cause, no matter what our (minor) differences.

But guess what: It isn’t so. It just isn’t. We are not all on the same side, even broadly speaking. It is sometimes called McCarthyite to point that out. I regard it as realistic.

Posted by George Moneo at May 20, 2005 08:31 AM



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Comments

Sounds like Jay reads babalublog. It would be decent of him to cite it. This isn't the first time he's take material from blogs and made it his own without citation. Oh well, it was good that he did it.

Posted by: A.M. Mora y Leon at May 20, 2005 09:02 AM

Just imagine if there was a gathering of foreigners in Washington,DC plotting to change the USA government. Would we be calling them an "Assembly to Promote Civil Society in USA"?

Posted by: Barba Blanca at May 20, 2005 10:47 AM

There was, Barba. Leftwingers the world over gathered to finance and support the diselection of George Bush. Never has the world seen such a show of 'support.' They weren't persuasive.

Posted by: A.M. Mora y Leon at May 20, 2005 11:08 AM

"plotting to change the USA government"???

First:
The American government gets ELECTED every 4 years. Don’t like Bush?, wait 4 years and vote for someone different.

I had to tolerate Clinton for 8.

Second:
The assembly is about Human rights and pacific resolution to political discrepancies. Had these basic civil liberties & human rights tenets been observed by The Beast’s government, no one would be meeting today.

Third:
Where you in some isolated area of Antarctica when the “Million Man March" on Washington took place?

Fourth:
Ever heard of the "Black Panthers", Angela Davis, Malcom X ?

The reasoning here my esteemed idiot, is that there is NO need to congregate to change the American government; the leftist media, politician and cultist like you do it DAILY and openly wherever they want and right here WITHIN THE USA.
Or what do you think the “Democratic” convention was about? Oh shit… sorry, that went way passed your pseudo intellect.

Now, go get a "chambelona" and come back when your IQ gets higher than that of a frozen yogurt.

Posted by: KillCastro at May 20, 2005 03:26 PM

I agree with KILLCASTRO...Amen

Posted by: zsa zsa at May 23, 2005 03:29 PM