by Jill Zuckman
Miami, Fla. - With a trio of Cuban American congressmen flanking him,
Sen. John McCain held himself out Monday as a warrior of the Cold War,
who understands the importance of keeping up the fight against Communism
in nearby Cuba.
Surrounded by a mob of press and voters of epic proportions, McCain
visited the Versailles restaurant, a signature spot in the Cuban
American community here, throwing back a cortadito (Cuban espresso) to
the cheers of the crowd.
"I understand Cuba," said McCain. "I am proud to have sat on a flight
deck of a United States Navy aircraft during the Cuban missile crisis."
McCain served on the USS Enterprise, which was the first aircraft
carrier sent to Cuba to circle the island, because it was nuclear capable.
"I'm proud to have fought for and defended freedom for the people of
Cuba, consistently calling for continuing the embargo until there are
free elections, human right organizations and a free and independent
media," he said. "Then and only then will the United States of America
extend the aid and assistance because we don't want American tax dollars
to go to a corrupt government headed either by Fidel or Raul Castro or
anyone else who has denied freedom from the Cuban people."
Fresh off his victory in South Carolina, McCain campaign officials were
buoyed by two New York polls showing the senator leading by 12 and 15
points over former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Charles R. Black Jr.,
McCain's senior adviser, impishly suggested that Giuliani just might
need to leave Florida to go home and defend his turf against McCain.
McCain was accompanied to the restaurant by each of South Florida's
Cuban American members of Congress: Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Lincoln
Diaz-Balart, and Mario Diaz-Balart. Also by his side was Roberto Martin
Perez, the president in exile of Cuba's political prisoners, who was
imprisoned for 28 years by Fidel Castro.
Ros-Lehtinen said many Cuban Americans could relate to McCain, who spent
five and a half years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam after being
shot down over Hanoi.
"John has that kinship with so many of Castro's political prisoners,"
Ros-Lehtinen said.
In addition, McCain's communist captors tortured him and the other
American prisoners of war, just as Castro's antagonists were tortured in
his prisons.
"We had a couple Cubans come from Cuba to our prison camps to torture
American prisoners," McCain noted. "Not me, not me, thank God."
Asked whether he would curtail funds for Radio Marti, the uncensored
Spanish broadcast aimed at Cuba, McCain was adamant: "I'll spend
anything necessary to win the cause of freedom."
McCain said he would rely on the three members of Congress to advise him
on all matters related to Cuba, and they in turn offered enthusiastic
praise for the Arizona senator.
"Some people erroneously call him Washington's inside man," said
Ros-Lehtinen, referring to criticisms leveled by former Massachusetts
governor Mitt Romney. "If there's ever been a Washington outsider it's
the maverick John McCain."
Speaking in Spanish, Lincoln Diaz Balart called McCain "the most
prepared to be the leader of the free world."
As he took questions from an aggressive pack of press, McCain took pains
to stress his roots in the state. After graduating from the Naval
Academy, McCain went to flight training school in Pensacola for one
year. (It was there that he crashed his fighter jet into Pensacola Bay,
surviving the first of several crashes during his career as a Navy
fighter pilot.)
And when the North Vietnamese released him from prison after five and a
half years, he returned to his family, living in Jacksonville and
serving as the commanding officer of his squadron at Cecil Field.
"We come into Florida with some wind at our back and recognize we've got
some hard campaigning to do in the next eight days or so," said McCain,
who also made stops in Jacksonville and Pensacola, which are home to a
heavy contingent of active military and retired veterans.
Posted by Jill Zuckman on January 21, 2008 2:26 PM
http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/politics/blog/2008/01/communist_fighter_mccain_i_und.html
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