How Liberals View Castro

The Huffington Post is one of the more popular liberal blogs; a sort of liberal combination of the Drudge Report and National Review Online. It doesn’t really have much in the way of news—most of its headlines are recycled from Drudge—and its political commentary consists in large part of C-list celebrities airing stupid views. Its bloggers are just as dumb as the ones at the Daily Kos, but are usually less rabid. Of course, its commenters are the same aggressively dim-witted type found on all liberal blogs.

For the most part, HuffPo bloggers stay away from controversy, and simply spout liberal pieties. However, a post published Friday by Frank Mankiewicz crosses so many lines that it bears notice. Mankiewicz tells of a long ago interview with Fidel Castro as a sort of eulogy to his reign as dictator of Cuba. It is one of the most disgusting things I have seen in a long while.

Frank Mankiewicz was a television reporter, and he tells about one of his interviews with Castro. He starts, inevitably, with the standard liberal mentions of Castro’s alleged wit, charm and intelligence. Mankiewicz marvels at Castro’s “astute” observation that the Palestinians are the “Jews of the Middle East”. (Except that Jews tend to not carry around rocket launchers and slaughter innocent civilians).

For a eulogy, the typical Castro treatment is apparently not sufficient, so Mankiewicz feels the need to tell a story about how Castro, even after the interview was supposed to be over, offered to give Mankiewicz a tour of Hanava. Castro personally drives Mankiewicz around Havana, and is surrounding by cheering crowds, giving our intrepid reporter plenty of time to wonder, as so many liberals and few Cubans have, why the Cuban people love Castro so much. (Oddly, Cuban immigrints don’t seem to feel the same affection for Castro, and he has never allowed free elections). Mankiewicz marvels that Castro feels so confident, even though he issued every citizen a rifle to fight off potential American invaders. (Yes, he took them back, but still).

Mankiewicz finishes his piece with a “touching” story about an interview Castro gave him—it seems Mankiewicz needed an exclusive interview, and Castro took time out of his busy schedule to oblige him. Who knows how many torture sessions Castro missed while giving a reporter a break. I’m sure that all those Cubans who were tortured or braved ninety miles of water in an open boat to escape to the United States will forgive him now.

Mankiewicz’s obvious admiration for Castro is pretty repellant—but the reactions of the HuffPo commenters is even worse. A sample: abbiehoffmansghost:“Castro '08”. littleblackcat: “It remains a fact that Fidel Castro has treated his people better than any republican has ever treated United States citizens”. Pantelleria01: “Fidel is a real man, real leader. Stand george Bush next to him and see what kind of nothing corporate America has set up for us”. Boyaca: “He is a great man.” Kafkaesque: “Fidel is my favorite dictator and I would be proud to have him as my president. The dictator we have now has done nothing but harm to his people and brought shame to our country. Que Viva Fidel.”

I equate Castro’s admirers with those who admired Adolf Hitler. Not those who admired Hitler in 1938, but those who admired him in 1947. Castro, it is obvious, was always a brutal dictator. He massacred thousands of his own people. He brought the world to the brink of nuclear war in 1962. Tens of thousands have fled his brutal regime. Castro is not Hitler, but not for lack of trying.

It is important to note that I do not believe that these Castro admirers hold brutal dictators in esteem because they support totalitarianism ; they are not evil. They are merely stupid and morally blind. They are so obsessed with America’s shortcomings that they cannot see the true wickedness of Fidel Castro. It is testament to the moral and intellectual bankruptcy of modern liberalism.