Fidel ’n’ Michele
You can tell a lot about a person by the company he keeps—and the company he repels.
It seems likely that the latter explains why the website of the daily rag Granma—the “official organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba”—re-ran a BBC Mundo piece on Michele Bachmann, specifically addressing whether she is “the other Sarah Palin.”
The article (available only in Spanish, far as I can tell) discusses Bachmann’s rising star in Iowa and within the Tea Party, the challenge she poses to Mitt Romney, and some basic biographical data points. It then says (translation mine):
The ties between [Bachmann’s] political career and her evangelical beliefs, as well as her strong opinions against abortion and gay marriage, project a strong similarity to Sarah Palin, who, since her failed attempt at the vice presidency in 2008, has become a point of inspiration for the conservative wing of the Republican Party.
Still, Palin has not signaled that she wishes to join the fray, and it is natural that voters would identify Bachmann as a good substitute.
The article goes on to quote AEI’s Karlyn Bowman waxing optimistic about Bachmann’s prospects (one of the few times, surely, that AEI has served as a source in the columns of Granma). Bachmann is also described as prone to making gaffes (like Palin), the subject of intense media scrutiny (like Palin), and a good fund-raiser (better than Palin, we are told). The article concludes with an analyst’s explanation that Bachmann, like Palin, appeals to the most conservative part of the Republican party, without the support of which a GOP candidate does not win the nomination. But she then explains that, because of the segments of the general electorate Bachmann alienates, “if her candidacy takes flight and she wins the nomination, the Republican leadership will become very nervous.”
The analysis isn’t all that surprising, but the source is: Why Granma? Why do the stooges at Fidel’s “official” propaganda factory think that dutifully revolutionary Cubans should be aware of the commonalities between Bachmann and Palin in the run-up to the Republican nomination contest in the United States?
Granma loves publishing hits on U.S. politicians who play into the communists’ half-century-old fiction: that America is full of (and often led by) unstable, extreme-right-wing, trigger-happy imperialist cowboy warmongers. In part because of the way Palin has been presented by the American media, she fits into their stereotype perfectly—and, I suspect, lends herself easily to caricature abroad. Linking Bachmann to her—running an article that presents her as a Palin mini-me—allows the guys at the Central Committee to say, “Hey, look here—they nominated a reactionary kook in 2008, and they might do it again in 2012—those Americans are still crazy!” The popularity of candidates like Palin and Bachmann, in other words, confirms what Fidel, Raul, & Co. have been saying for years.
Which brings up another question: To what degree should a candidate’s perception abroad influence voters at home? John Kerry was (rightly) ridiculed in 2004 for claiming that foreign leaders wanted him to win the election. But it doesn’t seem that the opinion of foreign leaders should be wholly irrelevant. Personally, I want a president who inspires strong opinions among the leaders of other countries—who is feared by thugs like Castro, and respected and trusted by our allies. The Obama years have offered plenty of examples of what happens when the world’s bullies don’t think much of America’s president (and he does nothing to disabuse them of their notions).
In other words, if Castro hates Bachmann—well, that makes me inclined to like her more.
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Comments:
Dec '10
Re: Fidel ’n’ Michele
Well, as you point out, the original source was the BBC and Granma just took it from there. I moved into the house of a Heraldo editor and have shelves of the print editions and, it's an unreadable rag. But insightful, when they don't devote pages to attacking Romney. I imagine, now, Romney scurrying to get negative coverage on the BBC or in Granma.
Aug '10
Re: Fidel ’n’ Michele
It's a Latin American thing. Latin Americans are fascinated by the U.S.A., though at the same time profoundly uninformed about it. I'd say Granma is functioning, uh, normally, and doing pretty well. (I'd also say anyone who can survive reading a Granma piece is one tough chica.) If a Brazilian journalist quotes the New York Times once, he then puts up his feet for the rest of the month. He is done. Where Latin Americans are knowledgeable, it's in strange and isolated dimensions - consider Dominican coverage of baseball.
In the non-Latin-American countries I know best, the U.S.A. stimulates no curiosity whatsoever. I wonder if Claire will confirm my observation that many Turks think America's language is German. As for Slovenes and Portuguese, well, they want euros, and when a fresh shipment arrives, it makes the news; but euros aren't printed in America, are they now?
Apr '11
Re: Fidel ’n’ Michele
On the Breitbart Question, i.e., why don't conservatives have a cultural influence comparable to the left, I propose that a large number of religious voters who identify as conservative are profoundly uncomfortable with anything "edgy," be it comedy or music or film. I grew up in a fundamentalist, homeschooling family and so I know from personal experience that there have been for a long time organizations which count the number of times the f-bomb is used, or if a child is being "disrespectful," or if a lyric endorses drug use --as if these criteria alone were what determined whether a work of art was fundamentally good or bad. Many conservatives are rightly concerned with the "message we're sending the childen," but I think the result is a generation of adults who have adopted the position that if they can't watch a show with their kids, it must be condemned. Let's loosen up and laugh, friends! The best way to change minds and hearts is not with messages or agendas or minute accounting of profanity.
Jan '11
Re: Fidel ’n’ Michele
So she's earned the much-coveted Castro Family Seal of Disapproval; somebody should mock one up and put it on her website.
Dec '10
Re: Fidel ’n’ Michele
On part of this subject, I ask the powers that be: Wouldn't Humerto Fontova make an interesting Guest Contributor, as well?
As an American citizen by birth, but born and raised in Latin America, I think it would be fun to have an avowed anti-communist Latino Guest Contributor. I know he gets occasional postings on the Bigs, but his writing would benefit from wider exposure and I think the feedback from this site would be more interesting than most of what I see on the Bigs.
I was there, in the sense of his writing about Cuba, but in other countries, years later, after their influence took hold. Most of America still needs to learn about things like Granma. It is still on the bookshelves of people that write for American newspapers. Humberto Fontova has a better voice than mine, for describing what it is like to see a fellow American wearing a t-shirt with Che on it.
Dec '10
Re: Fidel ’n’ Michele
Meghan Clyne, Guest Contributor:
Which brings up another question: To what degree should a candidate’s perception abroad influence voters at home? John Kerry was (rightly) ridiculed in 2004 for claiming that foreign leaders wanted him to win the election. But it doesn’t seem that the opinion of foreign leaders should be wholly irrelevant. Personally, I want a president who inspires strong opinions among the leaders of other countries—who is feared by thugs like Castro, and respected and trusted by our allies.
You mean, like the "international" community which shrugs at North Korea having the lead at the UN's disarmament committee? If I knew nothing else about a candidate other than he or she was beloved by the people of former communist countries, like, say, Poland, was loathed by current thugocracies, like Iran, Syria and Cuba, and was grudgingly respected by the Euroweenie pantywaists, that person would be my pick. So, yeah, I guess a candidate's perception abroad can influence voters.
Re: Fidel ’n’ Michele
Terrific post, Meghan. Here's a small anecdote, not to be confused with real data, but suggestive. I like to play clips of various 2012 candidates for my Turkish friends, just to see how they react--they've never heard of most of them. Palin has never generated a positive reaction. But Bachman (only one friend, only one clip--like I say, not data) generated a reaction of, "She's impressive."