By Ben Domenech, NRO Contributing Editor, btdome@wm.edu. National Review Online, 4/10/00 11:20 a.m.
I must admit, after this morning’s focus on poor young castaway Elián Gonzalez, I’m becoming increasingly convinced that we should just pack the little bugger off to Havana in a cardboard box with a nice big red bow on top and have done with it. Yes, I know it’s a
misanthropic, selfish, and morally questionable proposition — but at least it’ll get Janet Reno off the airwaves, and Bob Schieffer won’t have to keep pretending he knows jack about Hispanic politics.
Meet the Press’s Tim Russert led off the morning with Gregory B. Craig, attorney for Juan Miguel Gonzalez, Elian’s father. "There seems to be no question that if the rule of law prevails and is respected, Elian is going to be reunited with his father, we hope by Tuesday or
Wednesday of this week," Craig said. "The real question right now is whether . . . the relatives in Miami will assist in making that transfer a peaceful and voluntary and good transfer rather than forcing some kind of use of force."
Craig said his client had met with the two fishermen who rescued the boy from the waters off the Florida coast (who, by the way, want the boy to stay in the United States). At the request of the Justice Department, Gonzalez will also meet with a group of psychiatrists to emotionally prepare for
a reunion with his son.
Linda Osberg, an attorney for the family, told Russert that Juan Gonzalez should go to Miami to meet with Elián and the relatives. "[The reunion] should be at the house, because that’s where Elián feels comfortable . . . speed is not healthy for Elian at this time. He
needs stability and he needs easy transition, not fast transition."
Osberg also voiced concerns that Juan Gonzalez is under pressure from the Cuban government and does not have the ability to freely express his real wishes — which Craig denied.
When Russert pursued the allegations that the Cuban government was paying Gonzalez’s legal bills, Craig said voluntary contributions from the United Methodist Church were compensating his legal expenses.
"[The Justice Department] does not plan to whip him out of the house in the middle of the night," said Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder when questioned about details of the transfer. "But . . . we don’t want to march him through a crowd around that house and have him
subjected to who knows what."
Holder said that the Justice Department had not offered Elian’s father political asylum in the States. He added that Juan Gonzalez had opened the meeting last week by saying, "some people think that I want to come to the United States. It is totally the opposite — what I want to
do is get my boy and return to Cuba."
On Fox News, Florida Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart accused President Clinton of working with Castro to pressure the boy’s father, and charged that the two administrations have staged Juan Gonzalez’s visit to boost the likelihood that the six-year-old will be repatriated.
"Everything has been minutely controlled by the Castro regime . . . in coordination with the Clinton administration," Diaz-Balart said. "Clinton has been acquiescing to every request from Castro to make Castro look good, with the view of isolating the Cuban-American community."
"Clinton would like, as part of what he views as his, quote, legacy, to normalize relations with Castro," the Republican said, adding that the Elian controversy has provided Clinton the means to isolate those who believe that sanctions should remain in place, including staunch
anti-Castro Cuban-Americans.
Thank heaven for Face the Nation and the aged pea, Bob Schieffer, who asked Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott about something other than Elián — the gas tax. Lott promised to push forward his proposal to roll back federal gasoline taxes sometime this week, despite the fact that
lawmakers signaled last week that they opposed the measure.
"The battle is not over," Lott said, referring to his plan to suspend 4.3 cents of the 18.4-cent-a-gallon tax through the end of the year. He added that Senators who opposed the cut probably were nervous about losing highway revenue provided by the tax. "I want to emphasize that
my proposal says that it would not come out of the highway trust fund, it would be a temporary gas-tax holiday, and it would come out of the [budget] surplus," Lott said.
As for the Elian crisis, Lott called on Vice President Gore to intervene on the boy’s behalf. "He could help," Lott said. "He was fifty miles from Miami yesterday and didn't have a thing to say about it."
On ABC’s This Week, it was time for Janet Reno to sound responsible and principled about putting a six year old boy into the hands of a dirty-bearded old toad-eating Commie. Reno repeated her opinion that allowing Elián to stay with his Miami relatives permanently "would destroy
the bond he has with his father," and that Juan Gonzalez should be able to decide where the boy should reside, even if it went against Elián’s own wishes.
"If we let 6-year-olds decide their own fate, I don’t think it would be in their best interests," Reno said. "I don’t think anybody thinks Juan Miguel Gonzalez has been a bad father."
In response, Spencer Eig, a surprisingly eloquent attorney for Elian’s extended family, called the Administration’s plans to repatriate the boy a "sad and tragic thing."
George Will, magisterial as always, asked Eig whether he could confirm or deny the story that, speaking to his son by telephone, Juan Gonzalez has told his son that his mother is waiting for him in Havana. "That is what family members have overheard and in my personal view, that is not Juan
Miguel speaking," Eig said. "That is Juan Miguel’s lips moving, but the master of Cuba, the pharaoh of Cuba’s words coming out."
"What a horrible way to start the new century . . . this type of dictatorship, this type of evil running rampant in the world was almost entirely beaten down by the courage of the free people of this country and other countries in the last century," Eig said. "And now to send a
boy over under these circumstances, it’s so sad."
"You know what it’s like, it’s like when somebody is the last victim shot in a war after the war is over." |