WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Jimmy Carter says he is “proud and grateful” for the president’s efforts to restore diplomatic ties with Cuba. Carter calls the shift in policy “courageous.”
Carter rejects accusations that President Barack Obama is appeasing Cuba’s communist leaders.
He said Thursday on MSNBC that the best way to bring democracy to Cubans is to let Americans “go there and trade and invest.” Carter says that will show Cubans that Americans are “not the enemy.”
Carter tried to normalize relations with Cuba shortly after taking office in 1977 by re-establishing diplomatic missions and negotiating the release of thousands of prisoners. But conflicts over Cuban military action in Africa and a flood of Cuban refugees in 1980 stymied those efforts, which ended when Ronald Reagan became president in 1981.
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APTruthFix:
Always glad to help the Associated Press get things straight!
jw1
“…and wingnut pundits’ heads explode.” Only thing they hate worse than Jimmy Carter or Barack Obama is when one calls the other “courageous.” Way to go, Mr Carter!
Another thing from that era that the AP Style Manual forbids mention of or allusion to would be the remarkable similarity between the opportunistic booga-booga-boo! fear and wrath dance from the right that has followed Obama’s normalization of relations with Cuba and the opportunistic booga-booga-boo! fear and wrath dance that followed Carter’s normalization of relations with China. Obama’s action is far, far less momentous and significant geopolitically and economically, but the rush of Republicans and a few Democrats to get on the wrong side of history is remarkably similar.
And that’s not the only similarity, of course. Both actions came more or less out of the blue and in both cases, the people rushing to get themselves on the wrong side of history did so secure in the knowledge that the momentary political gains would not have to be paid for later with any long term consequences.
International comedians are up in arms: “Shit. There goes the last beach on earth where thigh gaps and six packs outnumbered the muffin tops and back folds.”
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you Mr. Carter for deregulating “the American beer industry by making it legal to sell malt, hops, and yeast to American home brewers for the first time since the beginning of Prohibition. This deregulation led to an increase in home brewing over the 1980s and 1990s that by the 2000s had developed into a strong craft microbrew culture in the United States, with over 2,000 breweries and brewpubs in the United States by 2012.”
In addition to being a human rights president, you set the stage for Fat Tire beer, Rouge, and many other great beers. Not to mention the many, many jobs related to the industry. I will drink a Minnesota Surly beer in your honor at noon.