[link|http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/19/opinion/19BROO.html|Kerry don't like it]

Excerpt:

Then in the mid-1990's, he and other dissidents exploited a loophole
in the Cuban Constitution that allows ordinary citizens to propose
legislation if they can gather 10,000 signatures on a petition. They
began a petition drive to call for a national plebiscite on five basic
human rights: free speech, free elections, freedom to worship, freedom
to start businesses, and the freeing of political prisoners.

This drive, the Varela Project, quickly amassed the 10,000 signatures,
and more. Jimmy Carter lauded the project on Cuban television. The
European Union gave Paya its Sakharov Prize for human rights.

Then came Castro's crackdown. Though it didn't dare touch Paya, the
regime arrested 75 other dissidents and sentenced each of them to up to
28 years in jail. This week Pay? issued a desperate call for
international attention and solidarity because the hunt for dissidents
continues.

John Kerry's view - As he told Oppenheimer, the Varela Project "has
gotten a lot of people in trouble . . . and it brought down the hammer
in a way that I think wound up being counterproductive."

Imagine if you are a Cuban political prisoner rotting in a jail, and you
learn that the leader of the oldest democratic party in the world thinks
you're being counterproductive. Kerry's comment is a harpoon directed at
the morale of Cuba's dissidents.

I say:

So it's Paya's fault that Castro's such a thug?

I wonder how Kerry is gonna nuance this.

By the way, the old gray lady has shown a mean streak toward Democrats
just lately. Their book reviewer [link|http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/20/books/20CLIN.html?ei=5006&en=b1de08dbc243a997&ex=1088308800&partner=ALTAVISTA1&pagewanted=print&position=|tore apart] Clinton's big fat book.
Are they trying to fix their image? If so, it's probably too late.

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