The Hypocrisy At The Center Of The GOP’s Response To New Cuba Policy - ThinkProgress
The Hypocrisy At The Center Of The GOPs Response To New Cuba Policy
BY IGOR VOLSKY - ThinkProgress
POSTED ON DECEMBER 17, 2014 AT 2:26 PM UPDATED: DECEMBER 17, 2014 AT 5:10
Republicans expressed enthusiasm for Gross release but spoke out against the administrations new approach. House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) argued that Americas policy toward the island nation should not be revisited
until the Cuban people enjoy freedom and not a second sooner and characterized the move as another in a long line of mindless concessions to a dictatorship.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) who is of Cuban descent gave interviews to every news organization promising to make every effort to block this dangerous and desperate attempt as the Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committees Western Hemisphere subcommittee. He argued the new policy is based on an illusion, on a lie and sets a dangerous precedent that will only cause other tyrants from Caracas to Tehran to Pyongyang to see that they can take advantage of President Obamas naiveté during his final two years in office. Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), the outgoing Senate Foreign Relations Committee chair, generally echoed Rubios criticism.
But the Republicans outcry against the new policy contradicts their own faith in the power of free market economies. Under the administrations policy, the U.S. will restore full diplomatic relations, ease travel in 12 existing categories, allow the U.S. to import more goods, expand exports to Cuba, among other changes. Opening up trade and investing opportunities will likely push Cuba toward a more American-style economy the kind Republicans argue leads to freedom.
And...
Polls have consistently found that a majority of Americans, Cuban Americans, and even Republicans support normalization of relations with Cuba. According to a survey poll conducted for the Atlantic Council, 56 percent of Americans and 52 percent of Republicans support normalizing relations or engaging more directly with Cuba. More than half of Cuban Americans in Miami agree.
More:
http://thinkprogress.org/world/2014/12/17/3604778/republicans-freak-out-over-obamas-new-cuba-policy/