Apropos of President Obama’s announcement of big changes in U.S. policy towards Cuba, Daily Kos founder and publisher Markos Moulitsas suggested in a Wednesday post that just three groups still favor the embargo: elderly Cuban-Americans “who can't get past having lost the war half a century ago”; Republican politicians “beholden to the crusty bitter old fucks in South Florida, or those with national aspirations”; and “neocons, because life isn't worth living for that crowd without a perceived Hitler to rail against.”
But, Kos exulted, “the country is finally moving on, despite the wailing and teeth gnashing of the [Marco] Rubios and [Bob] Menendezes of the world, and the new generation of Cuban Americans is leading the way.”
From Kos’s post (emphasis added):
With news that the president has brokered detente with Cuba…Marco Rubio has predictably lost his [head], but Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez's hissy fit [Wednesday] morning has proven that idiocy can certainly be a bipartisan affair.
…The only people left supporting [the embargo] are the crusty old fucks who can't get past having lost the war half a century ago.
Every year, Florida International Univerisity [sic] polls the Cuban-American community in South Florida. And the results are quite clear:
A slight majority of the Cuban-American community in Miami-Dade County opposes continuing the U.S. embargo of Cuba. Countywide, 52% of the respondents oppose continuing the embargo. This percentage rises among Cuban Americans ages 18-29, 62% of whom oppose continuing the embargo…
…Support for re-establishing diplomatic ties [with Cuba] maintains a solid majority among all age groups up to age 70, after which it drops to a third of the population supporting the policy.
Like I said, crusty old fucks…
…[Y]ou know who else will be happy? Republicans who have pushed for greater trade when serving as governors, like North Dakota's John Hoeven, Nebraska's Dave Heineman, Georgia's Sonny Perdue, Arkansas' Mike Huckabee (who later flipped when running for president), and Virginia's Bob McDonnell. How about Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, at hand to welcome released aid worker Alan Gross when he arrived back home?
In fact, as the Rubio and Huckabee examples show, the only Republicans still vested in the failed embargo are those who either serve in Florida and are beholden to the crusty bitter old fucks in South Florida, or those with national aspirations. Oh, and the neocons, because life isn't worth living for that crowd without a perceived Hitler to rail against.
But like every other one of the GOP's demographic woes, fact is, support for the embargo is (literally) dying off as I type this. The country is finally moving on, despite the wailing and teeth gnashing of the Rubios and Menendezes of the world, and the new generation of Cuban Americans is leading the way.
