Monday Short Cuts
The Gipper: “How do you tell a Communist? Well, it’s someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It’s someone who understands Marx and Lenin.”
For the record: “A silver lining to Castro’s long life is that he lived enough years to see the collapse of the Soviet Union, the end of communism in Eastern Europe, the discrediting of Marxism, China’s abandonment of communist economics if not statist brutality, and, depending on his mental acuity in his final years, the collapse of Venezuela. Even some countries that are still communist, like Vietnam, the streets showcase American icons like McDonalds, Subway, Starbucks, and Kentucky Fried Chicken. Commandantes may rule the closed systems, but Colonel Sanders conquers the free market. The last 30 years of Castro’s life were a thorough global comeuppance for his philosophy and worldview.” —Jim Geraghty
Braying Jenny: “Let’s remember Hillary Clinton won the popular vote. We actually won the hearts and minds of a majority of voters.” —Debbie Wasserman Schultz
That’s racist! “In my opinion we don’t need white people leading the Democratic party right now. The Democratic party is diverse, and it should be reflected as so in leadership.” —Symone Sanders, former spokeswoman for the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign
Non Compos Mentis: “[M]ost oppressed people are celebrating the life of a liberator who fought and won against the rich and oligarchic rule of Batista. … Why should we celebrate the life of a freedom fighter? President Castro helped to free Mandela in South Africa. Upon his release he went to Cuba to say thank you. Castro stopped South African apartheid expansion into Namibia and Angola, which protected American interests. … In many ways, after 1959, the oppressed, the world over, joined Castro’s cause of fighting for freedom & liberation.” —Jesse Jackson
And last… “Fidel Castro was a freedom fighter — if he found freedom anywhere in his country, he fought it.” —Frank Fleming