Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Why is The NY Times blaming voters for not being excited about Obama & Democrats?

The latest nonsense from The New York Times is to blame the 2014 election on low voter turnout.     They say that it's bad for democracy!

This is today's editorial:   THE WORST VOTER TURNOUT IN 72 YEARS
"Over all, the national turnout was 36.3 percent; only the 1942 federal election had a lower participation rate at 33.9 percent. The reasons are apathy, anger and frustration at the relentlessly negative tone of the campaigns."
First of all, the editorial is right about voter turnout, although mid-term elections usually have low turnout.   Normally, the ones who show up are the ones angry with the incumbent, as we saw in 2010, 2006, 1994 and so on.

The editorial is wrong is saying that 2014 was devoid of ideas or themes.   Obviously, The NY Times did not listen to the candidates' debates or watch the commercials.

The themes were clear:  Repeal ObamaCare, stop the expansion of the federal government and send President Obama a message that we don't like his aloof attitude about leadership.   Those were the messages that defeated Democrat incumbents in North Carolina, Alaska and will soon cost another her seat in Louisiana.   Across the land, the GOP ran against President Obama and won.

Yes, many Democrats did not show up.    They didn't show up because there was nothing to show up for.  "Hope and change" is old, a message from the past that has done little to help the Democrat base.

The NY Times needs to listen to voters.   Perhaps they would have more readers if they actually hear what voters are saying from coast to coast.


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Yes the Cuba embargo had an impact in Florida's governors race

Florida had a very close election for governor. So it's hard to identify "one issue" that reelected Gov Scott 48-47% out of 5.6 million votes cast.

Nevertheless, one issue did not help Mr Crist, i.e. calling for lifting the US embargo against Cuba. It energized Cuban Americans, as my friend Jorge Ponce wrote:
"In the Florida governor’s race, Democrat Charlie Crist stated his preference for lifting the U.S. embargo, while Republican Rick Scott indicated that he would keep it. To the majority of Cuban-Americans in Florida, home to 70% of the nation’s Cubans, keeping the U.S. embargo against a Communist regime that has oppressed its people for 55 years is an article of faith. With Scott’s victory decided by a 1.4% margin, those who advised Charlie Crist on the U.S. embargo did not help his cause.   
Moreover, U.S. Representative Joe Garcia (Democrat) lost to Carlos Curbelo (Republican). Although Joe Garcia expressed his support for keeping the U.S. embargo, most Cuban-Americans did not believe him because of his efforts to expand travel and remittances to the island. You cannot vacillate on your position regarding the U.S. embargo in Florida’s 26th Congressional District, where Cuban-Americans make up 35% of the electorate. Most Cuban-Americans are thoroughly familiar with the nuances surrounding the U.S. embargo. They cannot be fooled on this one, and they easily recognize and punish politicians who try to dance on both sides of the fence.   
In her new book “Hard Choices,” former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says she pushed President Barack Obama to lift or ease the decades-long U.S. embargo on Cuba. If she decides to join the 2016 presidential race, she better learn from the mistakes made by Charlie Crist and Joe Garcia. That is, if she plans to carry Florida.   
Perhaps, some politicians were fooled by the op-eds and editorials that have appeared recently on the pages of most national newspapers. The authors of these publications claimed that the influence wielded by Cuban-Americans who favored a hard-line on the U.S. embargo was waning, and that the younger Cuban-Americans favored lifting the U.S. sanctions.
These articles and editorials failed to recognize that whether you are a Democrat or a Republican, young or old, most Cuban-Americans refuse to extend a helping hand to a totalitarian regime who continues to be on the U.S. State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism.
And, in Florida, they have elected three U.S. Representatives and a U.S. Senator, who could be a Presidential candidate in the 2016 election, who support keeping a hard-line on the U.S. embargo issue."

Jorge is referring to those New York Times editorials calling for lifting the embargo.  (We posted about this recently)


Most Cubans, those born in Cuba like my parents or raised here like me, oppose lifting the embargo because it makes no sense to reward a lawless regime.   

Lifting the embargo, without significant concessions from the Castro regime, makes no sense for the Cuban people. This is about the Cuban people in the island not our politics here.   

There is no evidence that lifting the embargo will do a darn thing to bring freedom to Cuba. However, it will make "Castro Inc" richer, specially when they have access to US export & import credits!

Memo to Mr Crist and other Democrats in Florida: Talk to Cubans in the US about the embargo rather than get your instructions from The New York Times.  

P. S. You can hear CANTO TALK here & follow me on Twitter @


Tags: US-Cuba issues  To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the My View by Silvio Canto, Jr. Thanks!

A LOOK AT GOV WALKER'S REELECTION IN WISCONSIN WITH FRANK BURKE



Tags: Wisconsin 2014 election, Governor Scott Walker  To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the My View by Silvio Canto, Jr. Thanks!