Ta-Nehisi Coates is right on Cuba

Read his take here. He says almost exactly what I think on the issue. If you're going to criticize tyrants on the other side of the political spectrum, you better be willing to do the same when they're on your side (though I'm not a communist, of course). I have zero affection for Fidel Castro, none, and that flows just as inextricably from the same principles that lead me to believe that the Netanyahu non-plan for Palestinian self-determination is wrong, or that the Bush torture regime was a grave injustice, and probably our greatest national sin since slavery (though some acts of Cold War realpolitik certainly qualify). Castro, though, makes Bush look like a saint by comparison. Any liberal who believes that individuals fundamentally possess rights to free speech, an honest system of justice, freedom of expression, and self-determination shouldn't find much to like in Castro's Cuba, excellent healthcare and education aside. Fundamental human rights must trump the welfare state. I could never get behind illiberal leftism, and I really don't understand people who could. I suspect it's because these people haven't thought things through.

And, by the way, Bobby Rush's comment about how meeting Fidel was just like meeting an old friend, coupled with his obnoxious Roland Burris race baiting, now makes him my Least Favorite Democrat (LFD). He's right up there with many prestigious figures:

• Dan Boren, whose name in a story always is due to his opposing some good Democratic idea;
• Evan Bayh, a simpleton whose only priorities in life are to get reelected and to prove how centrist he is, when in reality he just proves how hollow his centrism is;
• Virtually everyone on Air America, who can't produce a halfway entertaining radio show, or seemingly get through a single hour without more earnest calls for Bush's impeachment (I presume it's different now, but I'm scared to find out);
• Dick Gephardt, whose valiant efforts to coerce House Dems to vote for the Iraq War Resolution made it that much more of a certainty (and he had never really cared about foreign affairs before!);
• Actually, toss in most of the Dem leadership during the early Bush years.

Actually, that's pretty much about it. Max Baucus used to be up there, but he's become good on healthcare, so he's out. Joe Lieberman has also become much less irritating recently. But Bobby Rush is now my least-liked Democrat. Interesting symmetry of obnoxious Rushes on both the left and right. Why couldn't Obama have beaten good ol' Bobby in 2000?