April 15, 2013

Oh that master journalist David Gregory. He always has his finger on the pulse of what matters to Americans. The critical issues. The discussion around the kitchen table. The items debate in the halls of government everywhere.

You know, important things like how Marco Rubio feels about Jay-Z and Beyonce taking a vacation to Cuba.

DAVID GREGORY: You were critical of the administration this week after a trip down to Cuba by Beyonce and Jay-Z. They were seen, you know, vacationing there, walking through the streets. It was sanctioned by The Treasury Department. Isn't the broader issue here, Senator, what, if anything will it take to get more normal relations with Cuba and the United States?

MARCO RUBIO: Well, that's up to Cuba. If Cuba wants normal relations, there's certain things they need to do like become a normal country that respects the rights of their citizens. I thought it was hypocritical for Jay-Z and Beyonce to go down to Cuba. There is, in fact, a rapper right now in Cuba who's and a hunger strike and has been persecuted because of his lyrics.

You know, Jay-Z's a guy that wears the Che Guevara t-shirt and he doesn't realize Che Guevara was a racist. Che Guevara was a murderer and a killer. So look, he's an entertainer, obviously. He's not in the middle of any public discourse here. But I think it's important to point out when people take stances like this that are absurd.

Beyond that, I would say that the fundamental problem is not Jay-Z and Beyonce. The fundamental problem is that these trips to Cuba are being abused. They are not people to people trips. They are tourist trips that are providing hard currency for a dictatorial, tyrannical regime to get hard currency that it uses to oppress its people. And that's why these trips need to be carefully scrutinized.

Whew! That's some hard-hitting journalism there. I'm curious why Gregory thought it appropriate to ask Rubio about this. Could it be because Rubio is of Cuban descent, although he was born here? Gosh, does that mean that if I got on the MTP panel, I could expect to have to answer for President Obama's meeting with Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, a (gasp!) socialist democracy with a high top marginal tax rate? Quelle horreur! I hope that neither makes the mistake of wearing a highly iconic tshirt that would indicate radical tendencies, because you know that an expert journalist like David Gregory wouldn't miss such critical information for the American zeitgeist.

Sigh. Reason #134,298,234 of how the media is continually failing us.

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