Posted on 12/17/2014 6:25:29 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
I first heard of this when John Podhoretz tweeted about it and I thought, “Nope, John’s exaggerating. I wonder what Shep really said.” Then a bunch of other people tweeted that Podhoretz was right, so I thought, “Okay, but obviously a joke.” Then I watched the clip.
Actual quote about an honest to goodness police state, no apparent irony intended: “The last thing they need is a Taco Bell and a Lowe’s.”
Two ways to read that, I guess. One is that he’s objecting to having the wrong priorities, not to American businesses invading the island. Cubans need basic necessities, not fast food. Get a couple of Charmin factories in there churning out TP and that’d be a corporate move worth applauding. But wait — if that’s his point, why’s he reminiscing at the start of the segment about the sweet-ass four-dollar Cuban rum he likes to bring back whenever he travels there? That’s not a necessity. Which brings us to theory two: This is exactly what it sounds like, a guy seemingly willing to trade away greater prosperity for Cubans if it means Americanizing the island in return for preserving the quaint, simple culture that decades of authoritarianism and economic retardation have produced. It’s basically the “noble savage” view of economics. What doth it profit a Cuban to gain a middle-American depot for cheap building materials if he lose his cheap-rum-making soul? Where are we going to go to watch people riding around in 60-year-old Studebakers now?
Lot of that going around on the left today, as it turns out. As an emetic, go read Michael Totten’s account from earlier this year of what Havana is really like.
(VIDEO-AT-LINK)
the taco bell would be particularly insensitive LOL
Isn’t the fact that they are driving 1950’s cars and trucks still proof enough that it is ALREADY ‘ruined’?
Who knows? If Germans will drink Budweiser, maybe Cubans will smoke Muniemakers.
“Americanizing”
I say throw Smith with a double dose of PC. Cuba IS american, Colombia is american, mexico IS american and Peru and 51 other nations are in the Americas.
C’mon Shep, you really think the US is the ONLY american nation in the new world?
Would be funny if the two he mentioned are Fox sponsors.
You have to look at the inverse logic of the left to view Sheppie’s comments. To ruin Cuba would be to improve conditions and have individual liberty vs dictatorship and national slavery to the castro bros.
Me, I’d open a bar. It would feature Cuba Libres.
Cuba would be a much better place if Shep Smith would visit there.
And stay there.
With so many buildings in Cuba falling apart after 60 years of communist rule, Shep needs to understand that Lowes & Home Depot and all the cool DIY classes they offer along with lower priced materials is exactly what the average Cuban needs access to. Unfortunately, this President is the exact wrong guy to make this change of policy.I am sure he will make it happen in such a way as to prolong the communist grip on power.
They're Libs. They think visiting backwards countries is like going to a zoo.
What? Like go back to the days of Batista?
I will take all the 55, 56, and 57 Chevies I can get. Well in my dreams.
Fidel Castro “jailed political prisoners at a higher rate than Stalin during the Great Terror. He murdered more Cubans in his first three years in power than Hitler murdered Germans during his first six. He came closer than anyone in history to starting a world-wide nuclear war.” Humberto Fontova (http://www.carolinajournal.com/opinions/display_story.html?id=11121)
NOOOOOOOO!...it just proves that “Cash for Clunkers” didn't enrich the Cuban Auto Industry like it did in the US auto industry !!
He likes the nation kept in a bubble, preserved for time. Except it wasn’t really and maybe the people there would LIKE to have unfiltered internet and to be permitted to freely roam the island, even the tourist zones that are restricted access...
My understanding is that the engines are not by Chevrolet these days.
powered by 4 cylinder soviet lada engines, cause that’s the only thing they can get. Mobile? yes. Fast? no.
CC
Shep doesn’t seem so concerned about the influx of tens of millions from Mexico and Central American forever changing American culture (and requiring all government work and television broadcasting to be available in espanol but not the other way around).
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