What do Cuban American views on the embargo and global warming have in common? They are shifting at about the same pace, 1.3° per century. Think about it, there has been a U.S. foreign policy position in place for over 50 years and its opponents are reduced to grasping for signals in the most recent post-election polls.

Poor fellow travelers. After all their efforts, their assets now consist on a pair of octogenarian dictators in fluctuating states of lucidity and a third riddled with cancer. What to do? How about planting an article about how the embargo’s days are numbered? To paraphrase Michael’s question to Tom Hagen, ‘we have newspaper people on the payroll, don’t we?’

I feel as though I am living the Miami version of Groundhog Day meets The Exorcist. In this sequel, Phil Connors finds a different way out of the time loop by having the curse transferred to the lovely town of Punxsutawney [‘take them, take them!’] instead. His yearly visits now require him to pretend to take seriously the townspeople who assure him that the embargo is losing support.

In Sunday’s Miami Herald, a young AP reporter, Christine Armario, must have been up next on the assignment desk when the call from the fellow travelers came in and had to take one for the team. ‘Call these people Christine, the thing will write itself, trust us, we do this every so often.’ The bias I allege is not because pro-embargo views are not presented in the article. The bias I allege comes in the lack disclosure about those giving their anti-embargo views. My specifics:

• Armario notes “… said Tomas Bilbao, executive director of the nonpartisan Cuba Study Group.” The “nonpartisan” reference is misleading, it suggests academics merely following the facts, not people with an agenda. The main purpose of the Cuba Study Group can accurately be described as seeing the embargo discontinued.
• If you think it a minor point–having partisans described as nonpartisans–the consistency with which journalists attempt to do so, suggest that it is of great worth.  The mythical ‘nonpartisan expert’ is the go to move for those who seek to manipulate on the cheap. Click here for a sampling of go to moves by the New York Times since 2000.
• Tim Ashby wrote an opinion piece in 2010 for Travel Industry Wire [owned by Orbitz, more on that later] which advocated lifting the embargo. Armario described Ashby as “a former Commerce Department official and lawyer who counsels companies on Cuba law and trade” and then enlisted his prediction on the fate of the embargo. You will not be surprised that his prediction did not bode well for the embargo.
• Julia Sweig is quoted. Ms Sweig is always quoted because she is the most reliable Castro apologist in the mainstream media. Ever wonder how Cuba, Orbitz, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Blackstone Group and Julia Sweig are related–I know you don’t, just play along–the answer is Peter G. Peterson.
• Sarah Stephens, who was not quoted, is another reliable Castro apologist, at least according to The Washington Post. Examples from Sept 2010 and May 2009. Ms Armario, be honest now, was Sarah on vacation?

Given that the Miami Marlins may be open to riskier marketing ideas–the freedom that comes with no fans left to lose–I’d like to suggest a new entry into the late-inning theme park-sized characters race. [Fear not Q, the Lobster would only be reassigned]. Here’s my version of the public-address announcer’s revised script:

Coming down the right field line we have Cuban American views on the embargo [huge duffel bag named Gusa] and global warming [Clevelander dancer in bikini and 52 inch heels named Coño] running neck and nekid … Gusa and Coño still even … But wait, who’s that coming down the right field foul line like a bat into hell … why it’s Hugo [character resembling a greyhound with a map of Cuba replacing the carrot] desperately seeking approval.  Maybe in next realm Hugo [don’t bet on it].

The Armario article is copied in full at end of post, courtesy of your non-nonpartisan blogger.

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Posted on Sun, Dec. 09, 2012
Obama maintains standing with Cuban-Americans

By CHRISTINE ARMARIO
Associated Press
The door for travel to Cuba cracked open during President Barack Obama’s first term.

Cuban-Americans can now visit family on the island as often as they like. Americans can travel legally as part of an academic or religious trip.

Perhaps it’s for this reason that Obama’s standing with the Cuban-American community in Florida stayed largely steady on Election Day, even though the modest openings with Cuba have riled some of South Florida’s more conservative exiles. Exit polling showed that 49 percent of Cuban-Americans voted for the Democrat, roughly the same percentage as four years ago.

At the same time, Florida voters sent to the House a Cuban-American Democrat from Miami who supports Obama’s expansion of travel and remittances to Cuba while still favoring the 50-year-old embargo that limits American trade with the communist country. Joe Garcia defeated Republican Rep. David Rivera, who was implicated in a campaign finance scandal and had supported a traditional, isolationist stance toward Cuba.

The victories by supporters of looser restrictions on Cuba travel illustrate changing attitudes of Americans who hail from the island nation: They seem to be less resistant to politicians who promote travel to Cuba and more focused on more traditional American concerns such as the economy, rather than Cuba policy. Those shifting attitudes could have implications for U.S. policy toward Cuba in the next four years, as well as how presidential candidates and politicians approach Cuban-Americans in Florida, an important swing state, in the future.

There are plenty of other impediments, chiefly the continued detention of U.S. contractor Alan Gross by the Cuban government, which could delay a further easing of restrictions with Cuba. Gross was arrested in 2009 while working as part of a democracy-building program; he’s now serving a 15-year prison term for bringing restricted communications equipment into Cuba.

But analysts argue that the political environment is ripe for reducing restrictions on the Cuba travel policy, and they point to both the election outcome and changes on Capitol Hill among Florida’s Cuban-American delegation.

“The fact the president did extremely well among Cuban-Americans in the election … should give him a good indication that the Cuban-American community supports the type of measures that he’s enacted and would like to see additional steps taken,” said Tomas Bilbao, executive director of the nonpartisan Cuba Study Group. He served in former President George W. Bush’s administration in the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Polling suggests that the Cuban-American community is less supportive of continuing an isolationist policy with Cuba. Florida International University’s most recent poll of Cuban-Americans in Miami-Dade County, done in 2011, found that 44 percent opposed continuing the embargo and 53 percent said it had not worked at all.

At the same time, Florida’s Cuban-American legislative delegation, which has taken a hard-line approach against easing travel restrictions, is changing.

Analysts point to two developments in particular: the election of Garcia, who served in the Obama administration as the Energy Department’s director of the Office of Minority Economic Impact, as well as Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., a Cuban-American who has strongly supported a tough Cuba policy, finishing her term as head of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Julia Sweig, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said that Garcia’s election in particular will strengthen the view in Washington that the potential political risk of easing economic penalties against Cuba “has been diminished substantially, if it ever existed.”

Another factor that could influence Cuba policy is the emergence of leaders such as Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., a Cuban-American who has objected to Obama’s Cuba travel expansion. Rubio has said he will not support lifting the embargo until the Castro brothers -retired leader Fidel and current President Raul – are gone, and Cuba releases all political prisoners and respects basic civil rights.

“Every U.S.-Cuba policy decision should be guided by the simple test of whether it helps free political prisoners, stops the daily repression and paves the way for the people to express their will through free and fair elections,” Rubio said.

Tim Ashby, a former Commerce Department official and lawyer who counsels companies on Cuba law and trade, predicts that Republican Cuban-American legislators who argue against easing travel restrictions may change their tune if the politics favor Democrats. Of Rubio, he said: “If he sees the younger Cuban-Americans moving toward the Democrats he may adopt a different approach.”

Omar Lopez, human rights director of the Cuban American National Foundation, said he believes Cuban-Americans are more in favor of traveling to Cuba, but he added, that doesn’t mean they’re ready for a full opening with the government.

“People believe there is a dictatorship in Cuba, it should be gone, and Cuba should be democratic,” Lopez said. “That is the main consensus of the community. ”

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/12/09/v-print/3134127/obama-maintains-standing-with.html#storylink=cpy