oy vay ....

send them more vaseline...

if this isn't proof positive of elitist liberal media I don't know what is...

but these pimps say Fox News is biased? Puh-lease

I guess this is CNN's version of "Fair and Balanced."

Yes, there's a reason CNN is called the Commie News Network.

You know, when I heard the blonde bimbo say that on Headline News this morning, I knew she had to have been coached. And I thought exactly the same thing alberto said above (CNN's version of "fair and balanced"). BTW, would CNN tell its anchors to be similarly "balanced" when speaking about some right-wing dictator? I mean, I'm sure Pinochet had his fans, too.

Pinochet stepped down after 16 years, but you won't hear CNN applauding him.

Oh, and if you use CNN's criteria, Franco "stepped down" (actually he died, but fifo is as close to dying as you can get without actually dying), and I don't hear CNN applauding him neither.

Franco actually set the stage for a Democracy.

All federal and state prisons in the U.S. offer free health care and education. Where is CNN's praise for the U.S. prison system?

"* Please note Fidel did bring social reforms to Cuba – namely free education and universal health care, and racial integration. in addition to being criticized for oppressing human rights and freedom of speech."

Absolutely true. He gave free *marxist* indoctrination to all cubans, he provided universally abismal health care (including to himself, who ultimately had to get his life-saving doctor from spain) -- All cubans can get the foreign expert of their chosing, just for the asking, right? And racial integration is everywhere in the Cuban government, as long as you are white...

On the other hand, I can't see much factually wrong with the next paragraph:

"* Also the Cuban government blames a lot of Cuba’s economic problems on the US embargo, and while that has caused some difficulties, (far less so than the collapse of the Soviet Union) the bulk of Cuba’s economic problems are due to Cuba’s failed economic polices. Some analysts would say the US embargo was a benefit to Castro politically – something to blame problems on, by what the Cubans call “the imperialist,” meddling in their affairs."

I think that the above paragraph is surprisingly even-handed, considering where it comes from. If you doubt it, please parse it slowly.

Albertodelacruz: We'll see if the comparison holds. Democracy in Spain was hatching even as Franco was in his death bed. The transition was peaceful because Franco's system, if not Franco himself, actually allowed the growth of a responsible political class under its watch.

Are you willing to bet that Cuba will follow the same peaceful route?

For the sake of my cuban brothers I really, really hope so.

Unbelievable, pero cierto.
I've always realized this about CNN, but Gosh, this email is pure evidence...I wonder if something would explode from here...

He also brought in Ernesto "Che" Guevara, and other henchmen thugs, whio carried out brutal tortures and killings of Innocent Cubanswhose only crime was to disagree with the Communist "Revolution" and Castro Regime. Castro turned one of the rising economies in Latin America and the Caribbean into the 2nd most impoverished after Haiti.

Way to Go Castro!!!!

Several years ago, I had a short article in my hands that was either from the New York Times or the Washington Post--I've since lost it and can't find it-- that would probably explain why CNN and other news agencies would send out a memo like that. The article examined a day in the life of the Cuban mission to the UN in New York City. For those that don't know, the Cuban Mission to the UN is on 38th Street and Lexington Avenue in NY and its a large building inhabited by 300 Cuban families. The article explained that the Cubans inside have very busy days. They routinely meet with the editorial staff of local newspapers and instruct them on how they want to be reported on, this is especially the case whenever any paper reports negatively about Cuba [READ THIS AS WHEN ANY PAPER REPORTS THE TRUTH ABOUT CUBA]. Not only that, but they, also, routinely meet with university presidents, heads of cultural institutions, heads of television stations, etc.. Of course, as cultural attaches and diplomats, they have the access that you and I don't have. If we were to ask to meet with the editiorial staff at CNN because we don't like how they report on Cuba, their initial reaction would be laughter, and then they would quickly turn around and continue whatever they were doing without giving it another nano-minute's thought.

So, basically, the Cuban diplomats in the USA spend day after day spindoctoring what the American public hears about Cuba. It's an enormous propaganda machinery right here under our noses. I'm sure that this is one of the reasons--aside from the threat that their agency in Cuba will be expelled--that they always shill for Castro.

By the way, all the news agencies are repeating:

and I paraphrase: AND HE LEFT ON HIS OWN TERMS.

This seems to be a very important soundbyte--force fed no doubt by the Cuban regime-- that they keep on repeating over and over again.

God Forbid that the public think that Castro was defeated by anything at all EVEN SICKNESS, EVEN DEATH! No, he is fully cognizant, alive and well and resigned on his own terms. Yea right!!

This is no surprise. After all, look who founded CNN - the guy who thinks Iran ought to have nukes ("We have 'em - why shouldn't they?").

Looks like Allison Flexner could use some help with capitalization and punctuation, too.

el chino said, "BTW, would CNN tell its anchors to be similarly "balanced" when speaking about some right-wing dictator? I mean, I'm sure Pinochet had his fans, too."

CNN article after Pinochet's death, December 11, 2006: "To many, he was the archetype of the South American despot, setting a template for brutal, authoritarian rule that was imitated in countries across the continent in an ideological crusade that would leave the Latin American left crushed and defeated. [...] To his apologists, the excesses of Pinochet's rule were excused by the circumstances of the Cold War in which they were committed and by the free market economic reforms implemented under the dictatorship from which, they claim, Chile continues to benefit to this day. They argue that by turning the country into a radical pioneer of neo-liberalism, Pinochet ensured steady economic growth and social stability. Even under two successive socialist governments, Chile remains South America's most dedicated disciple of the free market."

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/12/11/pinochet.legacy/index.html

Fair and balanced, after all.

CNN article on Castro's retirement, February 19, 2008: "Castro clung to a socialist economic model and one-party Communist rule, even after the Soviet Union disintegrated and most of the rest of the world concluded that state socialism was a bankrupt idea whose time had come and gone. [...] And yet, his defenders in Cuba point to what they see as social progress made under Castro's revolution, including racial integration and universal education and health care. They blame the U.S. embargo for the country's economic woes."

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/02/19/castro/index.html

The approach taken in these two articles was similar: an effort to be fair and balanced. The question is, was Fox News similarly fair and balanced? (I don't know; all the relevant articles on the Fox News website are from AP.)

"...brutal, authoritarian rule that was imitated in countries across the continent in an ideological crusade that would leave the Latin American left crushed and defeated..."

What continent-wide ideological crusade was that, I wonder? I think South America has had more than its share of dictators before Pinochet as well.

Henry, why don't you send a copy of the email to Drudge?
It would be terrific if he posts it.

Adios, Fidel. Or maybe I should say, "A diablo". I don't think Dios would want him. Of course, when Castro's life is finally over, el Diablo might be afraid that Castro might try to oust him and take over.

I'll let Humberto Fontova explain what a tyrant Fidel was as the leader of Cuba, and how the media lionized him in spite of his atrocious behavior.

skylight:

Pinochet had "apologists" while Castro has defenders.

CNN: Not so fair, not so balanced.

Castro for Cuba:

Change CNN can believe in.

>As if health care and education were a good enough excuse to violate human rights. We have to be fair now don't we?

Well, that's no different from the Democratic platform. They are still using the empty promise of free healthcare and the bottomless pit of the corrupt education system to shoehorn this country into a socialist state.

Always: the old folk and the children. Soft targets.

since when did fidel castro bring free education to Cuba? that existed on the island LONG before FC. the term "fact checking" comes to mind.

Scott: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Condor

Not sure if Chile was the "template," but it was one of the main participants.

Eason Jordan would be so proud of CNN for this bit of reportage.

chsw