Oh Mitt, what have you gotten yourself into
this time:
People chuckled when presidential candidate Mitt Romney, a Mormon raised in Michigan and elected in Massachusetts, bungled the names of Cuban-American politicians during a recent speech in Miami. But when he mistakenly associated Fidel Castro's trademark speech-ending slogan -- Patria o muerte, venceremos! -- with a free Cuba, listeners didn't laugh. They winced.
Castro has closed his speeches with the phrase -- in English, ''Fatherland or death, we shall overcome'' -- for decades. ''Clearly, that's something he was ill-advised on or didn't do his homework on,'' said Hialeah City Council President Esteban Bovo. ``When you get cute with slogans, you get yourself into a trap.''
Romney's fumble demonstrates the potential snags for state and national politicians trying to navigate the Cuban-American community of South Florida. Ever since Ronald Reagan enthralled exiles by crying, ''Cuba sí, Castro no,'' in a landmark 1983 visit to Little Havana, politicians have clamored, with mixed success, for the Spanish-speaking vote.
1 comment:
I think that people love to support "one of their own" and the money coming to Romney from Utah isn't surprising. As well, as he actually does have a decent shot at taking the primary--I think people are getting behind a winner. However, in the end, I really believe that most Americans will vote for who they believe will be the best commander in chief, regardless of their religious affiliation. That is as long as he/she has a somewhat "mainstream" judeo-christian religious affiliation.
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