This week’s Mainstream Media Scream features MSNBC host Ed Schultz comparing President Obama’s decision to open relations with Cuba with former President Reagan’s demand to Moscow that it tear down the Berlin Wall.
On Dec. 17, Schultz reacted to Obama’s decision to open relations with socialist Cuba, saying, “Isn’t this Barack Obama’s ‘Tear down this wall, Mr. Castro’ — that kind of a moment?”
At the time of Reagan’s comment, the U.S. was still in the Cold War, which Reagan won when the Soviet Union crumbled under the weight of pro-democracy efforts. Cuba has shown no policy change leading to Obama’s decision.
Said Schultz: “Isn’t this Barack Obama’s ‘Tear down this wall, Mr. Castro’ — that kind of a moment? I mean, if change can take place with the Soviet Union, why can’t it take place with the Cuban people here? And so, there’s going to be American influence — there’s going to be American influence which is the best highway to convincing people, as I think — totally different from what we’ve had over the last 54 years.”
Media Research Center Vice President of Research Brent Baker explains our pick: “Yeah, it’s just like Reagan at the Berlin Wall demanding the communists allow their people to escape — if you define the same as the opposite. Obama’s new approach to Cuba will help the ruling Castros and their cronies without any promise of more freedoms for the Cuban people. It’s as if Reagan called for Erich Honecker to install a door in the wall through which he would decide who could pass.”
Rating: Four out of five screams.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
