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backtop |
| September 12, 1994 |
|
(Vol. Seven; No. 19) |
|
Why Would Anyone Leave Cuba? It's a Worker's Paradise "Back then, the island may
have been a thorn in Washington's side, but it was a beacon of
success for much of Latin America and the Third World. For
decades, Cuba's health care and education systems were touted as
great achievements of the revolution....Some say the trade ban
has never given Cuba a chance to see whether or not Castro's
socialism might work." "Welcome to Fidel Castro's
playground, Cuba's Caribbean paradise few have seen, a Cuba the
commandante is now inviting the world to enjoy. In the last two
years alone, Cuba and its sultry beaches has become a major
vacation hot spot...While tourism may be changing the landscape
of Cuba's Caribbean shores, Fidel Castro is banking on it to
save his workers' paradise from becoming a paradise lost."
We Never Cared About Freedom, Just Votes "Did we ever have a Cuba
policy, really? Or did we have a policy that was dictated by a
minority of Cuban Americans and by the fact that Florida is a
delegate-rich state?....nothing to do with the fact that Florida
always goes Republican in elections, but we'll let that
be."
Gump: A True Reaganite Conservative "America is cheering [for Forrest Gump]. Much as it cheered Ronald Reagan, who more than Schweik or Candide, is the real proto-Gump. Reagan too was relentlessly upbeat. Reagan too was extraordinarily lucky. And his luck, like Gump's, was often built on the backs of people who suffered off-screen. Forest had bankrupt shrimpers, martyred Vietnam buddies, and his wife, whose death was remarkably demure, considering her ailment. Reagan scored points off America's poor; somehow managed to cloak himself in heroism while apologizing for a needless screw-up that killed 241 servicemen in Beirut; and avoided tarnishing his reputation for optimism by spending too much time on AIDS.... "Gumpism risks devolving
quickly into a mindless, heartless conservatism where, if the
next guy over is having a rough time of it, it's not because
America has failed to grapple with the real and complex problems
that face it -- it's probably because he's not sufficiently
upbeat. Or not decent enough. Lacks family values. Reads
insufficiently of The Book of Virtues."
Bill Clinton's Excellent Presidency "Isn't it about time
someone says something nice about President Clinton?...He
proposed and got enacted a sound economic program. He proposed
and got passed a strong anti-crime bill. And he and his wife
have raised health care to the point where now we're all talking
about it as a real problem that must be solved....Is that not a
record to be proud of?...So, why is he getting all this guff?
Because of blunderbusses on the radio and the dunderheads in his
administration....The blunderbusses simply are wealthy cynics
whose livelihoods would disappear if people felt good about this
country and their President. So, on their radio talk shows, they
fire noisily and randomly at anyone and anything related to the
president." "Well, it may seem the
sheerest act of heresy to say so, but far from being
pathologically dishonest, Bill Clinton has been more faithful to
his word than any other chief executive in recent memory. He may
have skirted the truth about the draft, Gennifer Flowers, Paula
Jones, and so on. But Clinton has kept his contract with voters.
On policy issues, he does done almost exactly what he said he
was going to do, despite setbacks and enormous obstacles. And by
so doing, he has made himself an excellent President."
No Taking Sides Here "Nice to have you here.
Hopefully we'll see that crime bill passed."
So Much for the Conservative Argument "Opponents, most of them Republicans
determined to deny the President an easy victory on even the most politically
easy subject, argued that the bill was loaded with special-interest spending,
bleeding-heart prevention programs and onerous and anti-constitutional
prohibitions on the right to bear arms. Most of these claims do not stand up
to scrutiny."
Does She Shoot the Rowdy Kids? "Meier, is in a way, the
Mikhail Gorbachev of American education, a social democrat who
grew up with the values of the progressive left but concluded
later that some ideas with a rightist taint -- like choice of
schools for parents and students -- were necessary to kill off a
bureaucratic monster strangling the profession she loved."
Speaking of Cynicism... "The Wall Street crowd is
basically new money, which is to say they stole it fair and
square. They are somewhat resented by 'old money' -- those whose
fathers or mothers stole it fair or square."
Clinton on Vacation? Could Be Worse "Whenever Mr. Reagan got
all worked up and sounded like he wanted to blow up the world or
throw people out into the snow, his people said to him 'Take it
easy. Relax.' And he did. Perhaps too much."
The West Can't Win "Though Africa owes much of
its current plight to Western meddling, the outside powers have
worsened matters by turning their backs during the most
desperate times."
The Clintons on Health: Misunderstood Centrists "The White House was not so
much driven in this by the desire to boost government power, as
its most vehement ideological opponents have insisted, as it was
by the need to raise new money to expand insurance coverage,
without raising taxes."
Feeling at Home with Liberals "At first it seemed
preposterous. Ollie North asking me for money? After all, I live
in Northern Virginia, hardly a hotbed of your political
persuasion. And not just Northern Virginia but Reston....And not
just Reston but the original Lake Anne area, a liberal bastion
that has gone over the cliff for Humphrey, McGovern, Dukakis and
a hundred other heartbreakers. In short, a place where I feel
right at home."
Publisher:
L. Brent Bozell III
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