Anti-Communist prisoners are of no interest to anybody. A prisoner of a left-wing government is highly suspect, probably a fascist."
January 15, 2004, 8:45 a.m.
Biscet, the candidates, Wisconsin, &c.
Jay Nordlinger NRO
I know this is a bit of a hobbyhorse, ladies and gentlemen, but let me ride it again: Oscar Elias Biscet, the Cuban democrat and political prisoner who is close to death. Cuba is an old, sorry, infuriating topic, and one that I have addressed repeatedly. (See, for example, "Who Cares About Cuba?")
Jeane Kirkpatrick has called indifference to Cuban suffering "both a puzzling and a profoundly painful phenomenon of our times." And the late Vernon Walters said, about Free World journalists: "They would go to the death searching out Franco's or Pinochet's prisoners. But the attitude toward Castro's is, 'They probably deserve to be there anyway.' Anti-Communist prisoners are of no interest to anybody. A prisoner of a left-wing government is highly suspect, probably a fascist."
Oscar Biscet is the kind of man who should attract our media's interest: a fairly young doctor, a democratic idealist, a practitioner of civil disobedience, a disciple of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King. He's black. What more could you want? He should be featured on 60 Minutes, his fate should be chronicled in the New York Times — he should be a cause. But Walters was right: An anti-Communist prisoner is of no interest to anybody.
Such prisoners are of interest to us, of course. Along with other conservatives, I have screamed about Biscet, and many of his fellows. But our screaming has done little good; we scream mainly to one another; and we, of all people, don't need to hear it.
If the likes of 60 Minutes and the New York Times got interested in Biscet, they could save him. Castro would move. But because no one is shouting — no one with a sufficient megaphone — Castro imprisons and tortures at will. If our media are at all interested in Cuba, it's to perfume the dictator, revile the Cuban-Americans, or bash U.S. policy (which, of course, they misunderstand).
Yesterday, I was talking with a veteran Cuba hand. He said that Castro's habit is to allow his prisoners to get desperately sick, in some dungeon, and then release them. They die not long after, but not in prison. And they are promptly forgotten, except by their loved ones and the "crazies" in Miami.
Castro has just begun the 46th year of his totalitarian rule: receiving Hollywood stars, trading kisses with Barbara Walters, doin' his thing.
Great. Great.
I read the other day that Carole King sang, or will sing, for John Kerry, in Iowa. This is the same Carole King who has sung for Castro, in Havana. "You've Got a Friend." That's what it was.
Great. Great.
Speaking of endorsements: Jimmy Carter has gone for Dean, Michael Moore has gone for Clark. Which is the more desirable endorsement? And would a candidate of conscience actually accept an endorsement from Moore, a hateful loon? Clark should be confronted — by some independent-minded journalist — with the claims this man has made. He should then be asked, "Is this the kind of support you'd like?"
Don't hold your breath.
No word yet, as far as I've seen, on whom Noam Chomsky likes. Strikes me as a Dean man, however. Although it's hard to tell the candidates' positions apart, except for Lieberman's.
Gov. John Rowland of Connecticut, as you know, is in a heap of trouble. Recently, he said, "I've wrestled with John Rowland the governor, and the mess I've created. But I've also wrestled with John Rowland the person."
This reminded me of something: I once attended a conference at which I said I'd wrestled with a particular issue for many years (capital punishment). Digby Anderson — the tart British conservative — said, "Come on, Jay, conservatives don't wrestle. Conservatives know." At least that's what I remember his saying.
It was perfectly, and hilariously, Digbian.
Lest you think that Clark, Kucinich, and Sharpton have cornered the market on lunacy: Dr. Dean said, to Rolling Stone, "George Bush's philosophy is, If you're rich, you deserve it, and if you're poor, you deserve it." Yes, you had discerned that as George W. Bush's philosophy, hadn't you? Nothing about growth and opportunity, so that people who are poor can rise out of it.
Dean also said, "I admire George Bush's father" (yeah, right). "He tried to be a good president. This president is not interested in being a good president. He's interested in some complicated psychological situation that he has with his father."
To think that marks you as a bit of a nutter, and an ignoramus about politics, or at least about George W. Bush. Actually to say it . . . As a presidential candidate . . . The man is too raw, to say the least, to run for president.
The Gephardt campaign blasted Dean for a "negative attack ad" — that's to be distinguished from the positive attack ads.
But remember the rule: Bush, Quayle, Reagan, and other conservative Republicans are stupid. No one else can be.
Let me compliment Richard Gephardt on something, though. He said, "I think all the polls that I've seen indicate basically a dead heat between Howard Dean and me." I was so grateful that he said "me," I almost felt like embracing him.
Al Sharpton? He has Third Person Disease, as many egotists do: "I think that what [Paul] O'Neill says vindicates the position that Al Sharpton had in the first place." That was Al Sharpton talking, incidentally.
Clark? His campaign may be a disgrace (for details, please see my article in the current NR), but I'll always be grateful to him for a phrase he has given us: "to shake it like a Polaroid picture." That alone has made his run worthwhile.
(Only longtime readers of this column would know that I mean that.)
Arafat's prime minister, Ahmed Qurei, condemned a barrier that the Israelis have erected in Jerusalem in order to keep their people from being murdered by Palestinian terrorists. (Is that a direct and clear enough sentence?) Qurei called this barrier "a racist separation wall." He certainly has learned the lingo, hasn't he? Someone told him — he somehow found out — that "racist" is the worst thing you can say about anybody or anything, in the Western view.
Of course, no one will pause to recognize what such a charge could mean from an Arab leader. To take lectures on racism from the likes of Qurei . . . how very rich. No doubt you've noticed that Arab societies are models of racial toleration. Yes, real multicultural utopias, they are.
To be sure, they used to be, some of them. Think Alexandria and Beirut — two of the most glorious international cities in the world. And then Islamic fundamentalism took over, along with Nasserite nationalism: and just about all of those who weren't Arab Muslims were hounded out, or worse.
But, yes, Qurei knows to apply the Scarlet R. Good boy, Ahmed.
In the New York Times, I read something seemingly banal, but actually quite remarkable: "[The actress Kate Hudson] gave birth last week to an 8 pound, 11 ounce boy . . . The father is Ms. Hudson's husband, Chris Robinson . . ."
I was stopped by the sentence "The father is Ms. Hudson's husband." Twenty-five years ago — certainly 50 years ago — that sentence would have been unthinkable. Unnecessary, rather. But it seems perfectly natural, and necessary, now, doesn't it?
Readers may recall that, back in October, we had a discussion in this column about the Capital Times, of Madison, Wis. — specifically its website, whose logo features a star. How appropriate, some readers said, that a leftist paper in a leftist city should have a Communist star in its very name!
The prosaic truth is that the star stands for the capital — for a capital city — as in the way we indicate such cities on a map.
In light of all this, consider the following letter, just received:
"Dear Mr. Nordlinger: I lived in Madison for the past year. It was . . . interesting, to say the least. I worked closely with members of the UW-Madison sociology department. Again . . . interesting. I thank God that I was blessed with a new job (in the private sector!) a couple of months ago.
"Anyway, I remembered that link you provided, to the Capital Times website, and that suspicious-looking star. I didn't give it much thought, accepting the explanation about the map symbol.
"But about a month before we moved, we were driving to Sunday-morning services and I saw a billboard. I had to look twice because I could not believe my eyes. It was for the Times, and it looked like a recruitment sign for Pravda, for cryin' out loud. When we went back the following Sunday, the billboard had been replaced. Had I been hallucinating?
"During the move, we were out and about in Madison, and I saw it again. This time I had my camera with me. Let me ask you: What are we to think now?"
And for that amazing picture: nationalreview.com
Well, Seattle has a Lenin statue. Madison has to find some way to keep up. And, no, it's not true that my hometown of Ann Arbor has a law requiring at least one Che Guevara mural per block — no matter what my exaggerations!
You want some more Wisconsin bashing? I thought so:
"Hi, Jay: I thought you'd get a kick out of this: Here in Milwaukee, there are two public radio stations, one broadcasting 'official' NPR programming and one state-sponsored one called Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR) that features both NPR and local material. As my husband puts it, WPR is so left-wing it makes NPR sound like the Heritage Foundation. Well, apparently they air a weekly feature on health and medicine called The People's Pharmacy. At least they have a certain candor!"
One mo' (not about Wisconsin): "This is apropos of nothing much but it seems like a question for a guy like you [thanks a lot]: Why is it that the people who ask, 'Who are we to impose our values on them?' when it comes to our preference for liberal democracy are often the same ones who want to limit trade with other countries unless they adopt our labor standards?"
And with that . . . see you real soon.
nationalreview.com |
