grumpy old man castro
by Edward Savoy
Published: February 12, 2008
We all have old crotchety relatives who, at a certain point, begin to feel under-appreciated by their loved ones. When they start to feel this sense of neglect, they often have one of two reactions. One way is to give away gifts like a drunken Santa Claus. The other is to pick niggling fights. It is the latter method that Fidel Castro seems to be utilizing in order to deal with his old age and increasing irrelevance.
It used to be that Castro would pick fights with U.S. Presidents. In a sign of how far he has fallen, he’s now resorting to picking fights with presumptive presidential nominees. According to the Reuters news service, Castro has taken issue with Senator McCain’s assertions that American POWs were tortured by Cubans during the Vietnam War. The best Castro could muster in response was an attack on McCain’s Christianity, saying, “The commandments of the religion you practice prohibit lying.”
One cannot help but be disappointed in Castro for these remarks; if he’s going to spout off, one might at least hope he’d spout off colorfully. Heaven knows that he has it in him. On the other hand, at the rate the conservatives are bolting from McCain for his lack of true conservatism, you can almost see this line being featured in the next Huckabee ad.
It’s increasingly apparent that Castro is a trifle irritated that terrorists, the North Koreans and the Iranians have shoved him so far down the list of world evil-doers that he isn’t even worthy of an invite to the “Ne’er-Do-Wells Ball” anymore. To paraphrase the townspeople of the Mel Brooks movie Blazing Saddles, it doesn’t matter if Castro’s words are the last act of a desperate man or the first act of Henry V; we’re bored with Fidel now and we’re not really paying attention anymore. We’re a trifle more worried about a hole in New York City that still hasn’t healed than the ravings of a Cuban that doesn’t have the grace to age as well as a cigar.
There once was a time when Castro was a thorn in the side of the American president. Perhaps it’s a sign for the better that Castro isn’t even a pinprick in our side anymore. However, given the challenges that face us other than him, perhaps that isn’t as comforting as we might like it to be.
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