"I think the first thing that makes a good judge is independence--not being swayed by political or public pressure - that takes some backbone. That takes some judicial fortitude." (Judge Brett Kavanaugh, Sept. 5, 2018.)
So much for Brett Kavanaugh talking the talk, some might say. But what about walking the walk?
In fact, Brett Kavanaugh has already done more than walk that walk—he strutted it, with head high, banners flying and trumpets blaring. It’s matter of public record. To wit:
“You (Brett Kavanaugh) worked on the Elian Gonzalez case pro-bono against the INS returning him to Cuba…” (Sen. Ted Cruz during confirmation hearing, Sept. 6, 2018.)
“Yes, I was asked to get involved and it was a case of importance for people (Elian’s humble Miami relatives) who needed help.” (Judge Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearing, Sept. 6, 2018.)
Many forget how overwhelming—thanks to the non-stop Fake News Media/Clinton parroting of Castroite propaganda--was the political and public pressure to partner (not with those “deplorable” anti-communist Gonzalez people, heaven forbid!) --but with Fidel Castro and return Elian to his Stalinist clutches:
“Everywhere in America outside the Greater Miami area, the reaction to Janet Reno's dawn raid was not `Oh, my God, how could she do that?' but `What took her so long?” wrote Mark Steyn expressing his own sentiments. “Everyone was sick of Elian's `Miami family': the pert young Marisleysis (Elian’s teenaged cousin) may have the cutest butt on network TV but most of us dearly wish some FBI sharpshooter would fire a tranquilizer dart into it….given that the American people are overwhelmingly opposed to making Elian a political symbol, it's hard to see what Republicans hope to accomplish by signing on with that crazy Miami crowd.(i.e. Cuban-Americans) …taking up the cause of a lawless Hispanic mob (Cuban-Americans) as it trashes Miami seems expressly designed to offend the (Republican) party's core voters.”
(BTW, there was no “trashing of Miami” by Cuban-Americans during the Elian circus. In fact, according to George Gilder in his classic Wealth & Poverty, that “lawless mob!” accomplished quite the opposite.)
At any rate….Yes, amigos. That was the Mark Steyn, conservative pundit extraordinaire and nowadays frequent sitter-in for Rush Limbaugh on his radio show and for Tucker Carlson on FoxNews, writing on April 29, 2000 in the American Spectator.
Sadly, most Americans swallowed Castro’s bait, like Steyn. Polls at the time showed most Americans siding with Fidel Castro on the issue.
But Brett Kavanaugh wasn’t having any of it. He was not swayed. His backbone remained straight and stiff. His fortitude prevailed. Unlike “savants” like Mark Steyn and a majority of Americans Brett Kavanaugh saw right through the Castroite/ Fake News Media/ Democrat scam. Better still, he was so outraged by its vileness that he volunteered to work with and for that “crazy Miami crowd” for that “lawless Hispanic mob!” (as Mark Steyn maligned Cuban-Americans) pro bono!
Granted, the scam that took in Mark Steyn and so many others was a skillful and elaborate one, typical of the Castro regime’s propaganda schemes:
Lest we forget, on Dec. 1st 1999, shortly after Elian’s rescue at sea, the matter seemed settled. The INS asserted that Miami-based uncle Lazaro was indeed Elian’s legal custodian and Florida’s family court indeed the place to arbitrate further issues. In addition Elian’s father Juan Miguel thanked his Miami relatives for rescuing Elian and vowed to soon follow him.
Then on Dec. 5th, 1999, Fidel Castro stepped onto the stage, issued a sharp whistle and his Fake News Media lapdogs rushed around him, their eyes wide, their tongues out and their tails wagging frantically.
“Much more valuable than rural recruits for our Cuban guerrilla force were American media recruits to export our propaganda.” Ernesto “Che” Guevara 1959.)
And those invaluable American “reporters” were still as tail-waggingly eager for Castro/Che commands in April 2000 as they’d been in 1957--and as they remain today for his successors.
Lest we forget, the entire Elian Gonzalez Fake News/Democrat/Castro pageant was built atop the outrageous lie that Elian’s father Juan Miguel was a sincerely grief-stricken, totally free-acting father who simply wanted his son back in Cuba. Any mention that this desire might have been “influenced” in any way by a totalitarian dictator was promptly denounced by liberals (and, as seen above, by some conservatives) as typical “Cuban-American Right-Wing Propaganda!”
On the April 6th 2000 edition of the historic Fake News vehicle "60 Minutes", America saw a bewildered and “heartsick” Juan Miguel Gonzalez “pleading” to be allowed to have his motherless son accompany him back to Cuba, his cherished homeland. Fake News pioneer Dan Rather (who earlier hailed Fidel Castro as “Cuba’s Elvis!”) was the one interviewing Elian’s “bereaved” father.
Here's what America didn't see: "Juan Miguel Gonzalez was surrounded by Castro security agents the entire time he was in the studio with Rather and Gregory Craig." This is an eye-witness account from Pedro Porro, who served as Dan Rather's translator during the famous "60 Minutes" interview. Dan Rather would ask the question in English into Porro's earpiece whereupon Porro would translate it into Spanish for Elian's heavily-guarded and petrified father.
"Juan Miguel was never completely alone," says Pedro Porro. "He never smiled. He was very nervous. It was obvious to me that he was under heavy coercion. He was always surrounded by Cuban security agents. When these agents left him alone for a few seconds, attorney (and Clinton-chum) Gregory Craig would hover over Juan Miguel.
"The questions Dan Rather was asking Elian's father during that 60 Minutes interview were being handed to him by attorney (and Clinton-chum) Gregory Craig," continues Pedro Porro. "It was obvious that Craig and Rather where on very friendly terms. They were joshing and bantering back and forth, as Juan Miguel sat there petrified. Craig was stage managing the whole thing - almost like a movie director."
A reminder: officially (Bill Clinton and Dan Rather crony) Gregory Craig then served as attorney for Elian's father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez. In fact he was working for Fidel Castro.
A week after the advance work by the Castro/Craig/Rather charade, Janet Reno’s INS maced, kicked, stomped, gun-butted and tear-gassed their way into Lazaro Gonzalez's small Miami home, wrenched a bawling 6-year-old child from his family at machine-gun point, and bundled him off to Stalinist Cuba.
“Reno for President!” exulted the New York Time’s Thomas Friedman. “Yup, I gotta confess, that now-famous picture of a U.S. marshal in Miami pointing an automatic weapon toward Donato Dalrymple and ordering him in the name of the U.S. government to turn over Elian Gonzalez warmed my heart.”
Earlier, writing in the Washington Post, Richard Cohen sniffed: "How pathetic. An auto repairman (Elian’s uncle Lazaro) stared down the United States government." The WaPo’s Mary McCrory was equally incensed: "I watched Lázaro González, an auto mechanic, standing up to (Janet Reno) the Attorney General of the United States! …"
Wow! Seems that Cuban-Americans were “deplorable” way before it was cool. And Brett Kavanaugh was shoulder to shoulder with them, partnering with these insufferable “deplorables”--and pro-bono to boot! He was perfectly un-swayed by that overwhelming “political and public pressure” he warned judges against 18 years later.
Now, if people with Mark Steyn’s brainpower and sparkling conservative creds can so easily fall prey to Castroite scams, who’s safe?
Luckily, an entire series of books and columns —accompanied by a rock & ‘rollin lecture series!—wage daily battle against the Fake News/Castroite propaganda juggernaut.
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