That's Rich

Fidel's being obtuse again.

HAVANA - Cuban President Fidel Castro criticized President Bush's attendance at Pope John Paul II's funeral Friday as "hypocrisy" because of the pontiff's opposition to the war in Iraq, and he downplayed the pope's role in toppling communism in the former Soviet bloc.

U.S. officials "went to cry in the presence of John Paul II, who was so against war, who so condemned the world order imposed by that empire (the United States), who so condemned consumerism," Castro said in his speech Thursday. "How far will hypocrisy go in this world? In my opinion it's an insult to John Paul II's memory." {...}

But wait, it gets better. Fidel tries to hitch his star to John Paul II's.

{...} Praising the pope for his compassion for the poor, his anti-war politics and his rejection of a long-standing trade embargo against Cuba by the United States, Castro said he shared more similarities than differences with John Paul, and that it was religion, not politics, that shaped the pope's stand against communism.{...}

{Emphasis mine}

So basically, the way good ol' Fidel sees it, if the Pope hadn't been Catholic, he would have been a Communist.

{...}"It's true that the pope was very critical of communism," Castro said. "But he also became very critical of the capitalist system."

An impassioned Castro spoke at length about the pope's historic 1998 visit to the island, saying, "He did not come with the intention of destroying the (Cuban) revolution."

The Cuban leader downplayed John Paul's role in helping end communism in his native Poland and Eastern Europe, saying one man could not be credited with ending a political and economic system.

"If one day Cuban socialism comes crumbling down, no one is to blame except ourselves," he said.{...}

Finally! He speaketh some sense! But he must have been drunk when he said this, so it probably doesn't count.

Posted by Kathy at April 13, 2005 02:28 PM