[lbo-talk] Cuba petition

[JBrown72073 at cs.com]

Nathan Newman:
>On a lot of this stuff, the issue is not what is being advocated to do,
>but the moral authority being squandered by the left in refusing to condemn
>the dictators, since it means that anyone listening should rightly have 
little
>confidence that those defending dictators really want them replaced with
>a democratic alternative.

But the left squanders no moral authority, and in fact gains it, when it 
refuses to condemn the Democratic party.  We can--no, must!--denounce Castro 
but not Clinton.  (Giving new meaning to 'he might be a sonofabitch, but he's 
our sonofabitch.')

Brad DeLong:
>Is Castro a "legitimate" ruler? If Mexico and Costa Rica decided that 
>the days of dictators were over in Cuba, would you oppose them?

Yes, but that intervention seems improbable.  I don't think you'd find much 
disagreement among honest Cuba scholars that were a referendum held in Cuba 
tomorrow, Castro would get a substantially higher percentage of votes than 
Bush did in 2000.  And the turnout would be much greater.

Jenny Brown