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Asner Defends Castro: "We Didn't Have a Free Election in 2002"
MRC ^ | Thursday, May 08, 2003 | BrentBaker

Posted on 05/08/2003 12:35:27 PM PDT by fight_truth_decay

Ed Asner sees a greater threat from the Bush administration than from the hapless Fidel Castro who is being pushed around unfairly. Defending Harry Belafonte and Danny Glover signing a letter denouncing the U.S. for threatening Cuba, Asner charged on Wednesday's Buchanan & Press on MSNBC that "they may well be put in prison here for...the support they're giving to Castro, the way things are going in this country."

Asner insisted that those put to death by Castro, for trying to hijack a ferry so they could escape to the U.S., received a "very fair" trial.

Blaming the U.S. for Castro's repressive regime, Asner insisted: "My country is much more fortunate so it can't, it doesn't have to afford the excesses that Fidel Castro has to resort to by constantly being embargoed by the United States."

Asner asserted that he doesn't "regard the Bush Administration as being representative of my country."

When Pat Buchanan noted that Castro "has denied" Cubans "free elections for 40 years," Asner fired back: "We didn't have a free election in 2002."

MRC analyst Ken Shepherd caught Asner's wackiness which occurred during the 3-4pm EDT edition of MSNBC's May 7 Buchanan & Press. The relevant portion:

Buchanan: "Mr. Asner, thanks for coming on and Ed, let me ask you about Danny Glover and Harry Belafonte who have co-signed this statement basically supporting Fidel Castro after he put 75 dissidents in prison for up to 28 years and executed the three who tried to sort of hijack a ferry boat and come to Cuba [meant U.S.]. What is it about these, Harry Belafonte, frankly, and Danny Glover that they can attack the American government and defend a guy who would basically put him in prison for doing what they do here in the United States?"

Asner: "Well, they may well be put in prison here for those, for the support they're giving to Castro, the way things are going in this country. I am opposed to capital punishment by any country, by any persons. I disapprove of Mr. Castro's executing. I understand that the trial was very fair, that the death penalty is exercised in Cuba and therefore, by Cuban standards, the trial was fair and judicious even though I abhor the death penalty."

Buchanan: "I want you to name individuals in this country who have made political statements criticizing President Bush who have been put into a penitentiary for five, ten, or twenty-five years like these dissidents who criticized Castro were put into prison. And is this not a real slander on your own country to suggest that it behaves in the same manner as Fidel Castro?"

Asner: "Uh, my country is much more fortunate so it can't, it doesn't have to afford the excesses that Fidel Castro has to resort to by constantly being embargoed by the United States."

Buchanan: "Why does he have to do this? Why does he have to do it?"

Asner: "Why does he have to do it? Because he feels the imminent threat of the Bush administration. I don't regard the Bush administration as being representative of my country."

A bit later Buchanan pointed out: "He has persecuted his own people, he has denied them free elections for 40 years. He's an unelected dictator who puts people in prison on his own whim. What is the infatuation?"

Asner interjected: "We didn't have a free election in 2002."

Buchanan: "Alright, what is the infatuation in Hollywood with Fidel Castro given the record of this fascist regime over 40 years?"

Asner blamed the U.S. for driving Castro to communism: "What is the, because when Castro first took over, we all celebrated enormously. Cuba, which was never supposed to be under the hegemony of the United States had finally found its freedom. Within a year, because of pressure by the United States, Fidel demonstrated his independence of the United States. The United States could not tolerate a little country, a little Hispanic country 90 miles off the United States declaring its independence of the United States so immediately embargoes, everything began to take place, forcing him into the sphere of Soviet influence."

Yeah, he was such a pro-freedom guy as a guerrilla fighter.


TOPICS: Activism/Chapters; Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Cuba; Culture/Society; Editorial; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: asner; belafonte; buchanan; castro; cuba; edasner; glover; lougrantisaclymer; msnbc
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To: fight_truth_decay
What a load of crap, what Eddy Arsner really meant was "you didn't let us steal the election in 2002". I've got bad news for the election scammers... this time we have our eyes on you and those military ballots. With any luck these guys will assume room temperature before the next election. By natural means of course.
21 posted on 05/08/2003 12:50:51 PM PDT by Camel Joe (Proud Uncle of a Fine Young Marine)
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To: fight_truth_decay
read later
22 posted on 05/08/2003 12:51:09 PM PDT by LiteKeeper
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To: fight_truth_decay
Asner conveniently ignores the tens of thousands of freedom-loving Cubans who have voted with their feet and escaped from Fidel's gulag.

Then he complains about the effects of the US embargo and of how that forces poor Fidel to do these terrible things, and of how its the imminent threat of the Bush administration. The idiot seems not to know that this embargo has been going on for close on 40-50 years now, going back to Asner's beloved Kennedy administration. If socialism is so great, why is Cuba bothered at all by an embargo by a decadent Western capitalist country? Surely their multitude of flourishing Maxist brethren countries around the world (how many are there now, one or two, maybe?) can help them out? Mugabe or Chavez, maybe, when they aren't bankrupting or otherwise ruining their own countries?

23 posted on 05/08/2003 12:51:36 PM PDT by chimera
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To: fight_truth_decay
Ed Asner is still alive?
24 posted on 05/08/2003 12:53:02 PM PDT by jpl
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To: fight_truth_decay
Here's everything you need to know about The Workers Paradise...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/665733/posts
Fidel Castro - Cuba
various LINKS to articles | April 14, 2002
25 posted on 05/08/2003 12:53:40 PM PDT by backhoe
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To: jpl
Ed Asner is still alive?

Only from the neck down.

26 posted on 05/08/2003 12:54:30 PM PDT by Paul Atreides
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
Asner is a loon. He's got every lefty pretextual deflection down pat. Castro became communist because of the USA. My favorite was his rant that Iraq had to invade Kuwait because of slant-drilling for oil.
27 posted on 05/08/2003 12:54:40 PM PDT by Shermy
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To: Camel Joe
Of course.
28 posted on 05/08/2003 12:54:46 PM PDT by katana
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To: chimera
Clymer = @sshole, Asner = Moron
29 posted on 05/08/2003 12:55:07 PM PDT by Bringbackthedraft
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To: fight_truth_decay
Asner interjected: "We didn't have a free election in 2002."

Uh, Ed...the disputed presidential election was in the year 2000...

30 posted on 05/08/2003 12:55:58 PM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: fight_truth_decay
I think he screwed up.

Isn't that supposed to be 2000? The Sore/Loserman year?
31 posted on 05/08/2003 12:56:07 PM PDT by mabelkitty
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To: DoughtyOne
He is either ignroant or just plain stupid. Either way, that is no way to go through life. Asner is so pathetic you do not know whether to cry or laugh.
32 posted on 05/08/2003 12:56:58 PM PDT by never4get
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To: Consort
You are right!!!

If we STOLE the election, then he wasn't ELECTED!

22nd Amendment only says you can't be ELECTED TO TWO CONSECUTIVE TERMS.

EIGHT MORE YEARS! EIGHT MORE YEARS!
33 posted on 05/08/2003 12:57:52 PM PDT by mabelkitty
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To: Saundra Duffy
YEP....I'm with you...I think the LIBS have lost it and are burning up fast....and we are watching HISTORY.....we lived through their historical rise over the last 50 years, and now for the rest of my life I will celebrate their demise (I pray, I pray)....but, yes, they are hysterical in the depths to which they will go in their stupidity.
34 posted on 05/08/2003 12:58:25 PM PDT by goodnesswins (He (or she) who pays the bills, makes the rules.)
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To: rrstar96
The Glover MCI connection has been cut according to another thread.
35 posted on 05/08/2003 12:59:29 PM PDT by xp38
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To: fight_truth_decay
For years lefties have been calling any government or authority they disapprove of "fascist." This of course shows a profound lack of understanding of political systems. It is good to read that ol' Pat called Castro the commie a fascist when in fact, national socialism is structurally the same as the Leninist states. Perhaps if enough people catch on to this, groups like the ANSWER Coalition and their brethren will not be able to actively recruit at future protests, whether it be war or IMF. I'm hoping people will say "wait, how is the government you purpose any different then that of the Nazis?"
36 posted on 05/08/2003 12:59:40 PM PDT by sbw123
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To: Camel Joe
"We didn't have a free election in 2002."

Translation = "We didn't win so there must have been something wrong with the election."

News Flash "Rats are sore losers"
37 posted on 05/08/2003 12:59:45 PM PDT by DelphiUser
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To: never4get
I'm still sitting here wondering why anyone should care what that has-been has to say.
38 posted on 05/08/2003 1:00:20 PM PDT by Paul Atreides
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To: fight_truth_decay
When Pat Buchanan noted that Castro "has denied" Cubans "free elections for 40 years," Asner fired back: "We didn't have a free election in 2002."

The a$$hole Asner is correct. Although, not for the reason he thinks.

I was there Ed, and your boys did everything in their power to insure it wasn't a free election.

Only problem Eddy boy, is that we were there en masse, and prevented the theft.

8^)

5.56mm

39 posted on 05/08/2003 1:05:33 PM PDT by M Kehoe
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To: DoughtyOne
He could certainly afford to have a Cuban lovely in every week to shave his back.
40 posted on 05/08/2003 1:06:26 PM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks
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