Why Is Bush Launching More False Attacks? (Cuba)

[Feanorcurufinwe]

WHY IS BUSH LAUNCHING MORE FALSE ATTACKS?

POLLS SHOW BUSH LOSING GROUND WITH CUBAN AMERICANS

Kerry spokesman Phil Singer said: "George Bush has watched his standing in Florida plummet which is why he is launching these negative attacks. For three and a half years, he did nothing on Cuba, waiting until an election year to enact a policy that will do nothing to bring down the Castro regime but will hurt the Cuban people. His policy has back-fired, his support among Cuban Americans has dropped, so now he's launching negative attacks."

BUSH LOSING GROUND AMONG CUBAN AMERICANS

BUSH DOWN AMONG CUBAN AMERICANS FROM 2000: "In the 2000 election, Mr. Bush captured 85 percent of the Cuban-American vote in Florida - and won the state by only 537 votes. This year, polls suggest his support among Cuban-Americans could be 15 points lower. 'The new Bush policy has given the Democrats a big opening here, something no one imagined just a year ago,' said Sergio Bendixen, a pollster with Bendixen & Associates." (Dallas Morning News, 8/27/04)

Early June: Bush Down From 82 percent to 69 percent (Miami Herald, 6/8)

Early July: Bush Down To 66 percent(Reuters, 7/9/04) (emphasis added)

CUBAN COMMUNITY OUTRAGED AT BUSH OVER CUBA POLICY

Bush Cuba Policy on Travel and Remittances Hurts Cuban Families. Cuban Americans have showed growing discontent with the restrictions outlined in the Administration's new policy towards Cuba. According to the Miami Herald, the new initiative prohibits Cuban Americans from sending more than $100 a month in remittances to their families. Additionally, the number of allowed visits to relatives in Cuba will be reduced from once a year to once every three years. Cuban Americans worry that these restrictions will hurt Cubans in Florida more than the Castro regime. (Miami Herald, 8/12/04)

Cuban Community Outraged Over New Bush Policy. "Maria De La Torre of Miami regularly goes to Cuba to visit the stepchildren she raised, as well as their children. Despite the Bush administration's crackdown on such trips, 'I will try to go (to Cuba) however I can,' she vowed. 'I will swim if I have to.' She is not alone in her outrage. Several Cuban-Americans say they plan to look for ways around the new regulations, which require them to obtain a license to travel to Cuba and restrict them to one visit every three years. The rules, which go into effect Wednesday, also whittle down the list of relatives they can visit or send money to. In addition, they can no longer send clothes and soap, among other personal items, to loved ones on the island. That upsets Nervy and Raul Diaz, of northwest Miami-Dade County, who often send underwear, socks and soap to their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren on the island. 'We're suffering because of this,' Nervy Diaz said. 'They don't have anything over there.'" (South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 6/29/04)

KERRY HAS RECORD OF HELPING CUBAN AMERICANS, FIGHTING AGAINST CASTRO REGIME

KERRY POSITION ON HELMS-BURTON. John Kerry voted for Helms- Burton twice but opposed the final conference report which contained language that even the Miami Herald said in an editorial was "perverse."

-- Voted in 1992 extend sanctions against countries that assist Cuba as long as it remains a dictatorship. (Kerry Yes, 1992-222)

-- Kerry has voted to prove Castro denies the human rights of Cuban people and that the communist party should permit a vote--by secret ballot with international observers--on Castro's rule. Additionally, Kerry has voted to hold Castro accountable for his continued human rights abuses, his routine restriction of workers' rights, his forced labor and his detaining citizens for advocating human rights, free and fair elections, and freedom of the press. (Senate Roll Call vote 1989, No. 124; 1999, No. 67)

-- John Kerry joined a bipartisan coalition to oppose the Cuban leader's attempts to export his brand of totalitarianism to the continent of Africa after Castro sent 40,000 mercenaries to Angola. The U.S. Senate voted to condemn the Soviet-Cuban buildup in Angola and the human rights violations which accompanied it. (Senate Roll Call vote 1987, No. 121)

-- In the Senate, John Kerry voted to call on the Cuban government to give serious consideration to the Varela Project, a petition drive that has resulted in more than 10,000 certified signatures in support of a national referendum on civil liberties." (Senate Roll Call vote 2002, No. 146)

-- Voted with Bob Graham to preserve the Cuban Adjustment Act (PL89-732), which facilitates the ability of Cuban refugees to obtain permanent residency, and instead insert language that preserves the Act until there is a certified democratic government in Cuba. (1996-91)

-- Voted to require former Soviet Union to cease all aid to Cuba before it can receive foreign Aid from US. (1991-145)

-- In 1989, voted to restores economic embargo on Cuba as it existed prior to 1975, when it applied to U.S. subsidiaries in foreign countries. (1989-129)

Kerry Supports 'Smart Sanctions' on Cuba to Hurt Castro Regime & Help Cuban People John Kerry supports a tough stance on Fidel Castro and is working to help the Cuban people who are suffering under his regime. John Kerry "supports strategic, smart sanctions to help achieve our goals in Cuba, and has likewise backed efforts to modify the sanctions regime to improve access for the people of Cuba to food and medicines from the United States,' said his spokesman." Kerry later said that his policy is to continue to put pressure on Castro while working to protect the best interests of the Cuban people: "Castro uses his isolation, frankly, to have the most Stalinist, tough secret policein the world. I think the more you can put the pressure and heat on him, the better. I'd like to find ways to do it. And that's my policy, to try to liberate Cuba, not leave it in the hands of a Stalinist police state." (Boston Herald, 4/21/03; NBC Meet the Press, 8/31/03)

John Kerry is Standing Up for Human Rights and a Democratic Cuba -- John Kerry strongly supports human right in Cuba and has voted to hold Fidel Castro accountable for his atrocious record of human rights abuses. Kerry has voted to prove Castro denies the human rights of Cuban people and that the communist party should permit a vote -- by secret ballot with international observers -- on Castro's rule. Additionally, Kerry has voted to hold Castro accountable for his continued human rights abuses, his routine restriction of workers' rights, his forced labor and his detaining citizens for advocating human rights, free and fair elections, and freedom of the press. (Senate Roll Call vote 1989, No. 124; 1999, No. 67)
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=35349

[napi21]

1. UH-OH, if he loses the Cuban/Am vote, he loses Fla!

At least that was the way it was portreyed in 2000! I guess even Jeb's wife can't keep them loyal.

Great! I'm glad to hear it!

[bluedog]

2. from what I have read

living here.the Cubans are so pissed at bush about the vising and not being able to send money to their families.even after the hurricane,,,,,,,,these are the "young" Cubans who are tired of the old ways.

My future daughter-in-law is Cubans..and some of her family still lives there......she thinks this is unfair to the family unit as a whole.....the families here try to help their family in Cuba.to try and make a better life for them.....now bush has taken even the joy of visiting them off the table.....thats why they are pissed...........