No kidding. Remember, half of America thinks Gore is a genius, and we elected Clinton twice. Twice.
So if half of Puerto Rico is leftist, that would only be par for the course.
And it is primarily the left that is complaining about Vieques, and mainly it is non-Puerto Ricans that are leading the charge. Puerto Ricans work there, and are dependent on the base for their employment.
The good governor is the equivalent to a US Democrat, and so has been trying to have it both ways, as Democrats normally do. The island's Republicans proudly display the flag, the US flag that is. It is only a small leftist sliver of mostly academics and similar types who are advocating independence, and even they are hedging their bets, telling people that they would be able to vote independence and retain their US citizenship, an obvious lie. Which should tell you that there is no real support for independence, and no real anti-Americanism there. Quite the contrary. They are very comfortable with their American citizenship. They are not going anywhere. They can easily look across the sound at the Dominican Republic, or south to Venezuela, to see where but by the grace of God go I... so to speak.
Don't make the mistake of buying into the left's propaganda. We are at this website because we know the press can't be trusted. Why believe them where Puerto Rico is concerned?
Puerto Rico has a vibrant economy, it is heavily industrialized, and most of the tax breaks that drew industry there years ago have been discontinued. They now face tough competition from Mexico as a result of NAFTA. NAFTA wasn't intended to hurt Puerto Rico, but that has been the effect. Still, the island flourishes, it is not anti-American (outside of college campuses), and it is a living rebuke to the rest of Latin America.