MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell’s love affair with former Cuban dictator Fidel Castro reared its ugly head once again on Wednesday, August 13 when she hyped the socialist’s 88th birthday.
Appearing on her daily Andrea Mitchell Reports program, the MSNBC host gushed at how “Cuba is celebrating Fidel Castro's 88th birthday today, starting the party early with a special concert last night. The opening of an exhibition called Fidel is Fidel.”
The NBC News Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent continued to swoon over Castro by promoting how the exhibit was attended by Elian Gonzales and his family:
Gonzalez is now 20 years old. He was only 5 when he was at the center of that bitter custody dispute back in 1999 between his father in Cuba and his Miami relatives after his mother died on a raft. Gonzalez talked about Castro with admiration last night saying he made him the person he is today.
Mitchell continued her celebration of the Cuban dictator by promoting his communist beliefs:
When I first interviewed the Communist revolutionary in Havana 12 years ago, his legacy with this younger generation of Cubans was already very much top of mind. His most important legacy, he says to inspire a new generation of true believers in his socialist system.
The segment ended with an almost campaign-style clip of Fidel Castro from 2002 proclaiming how “there will be no problem if I die tomorrow because we have lots of young people who are well-trained, who know what to do.”
Mitchell’s support for Castro is nothing new as she fawned over him in the wake of the Elian Gonzalez crisis which the Media Research Center [1] documented in 2001:
“Fidel Castro clearly views Elian's return as a political victory over the United States,” Mitchell parroted as she allowed Castro to brag about how his resting pulse rate is like that of a professional athlete. “Approaching his 75th birthday this August, the world's longest surviving leader also believes he is politically strong, partly as a result of that struggle over a seven-year-old boy.”
Mitchell has fawned over Castro before. In a December 15, 1999 piece from Cuba, when Elian was in the U.S., Mitchell oozed, “What's astounding is how much Castro is personally micro-managing the Elian case. He's not just the country's head of state, he's the CEO.” She even described Castro as “old-fashioned, courtly - even paternal.”
See relevant transcript below.
MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Reports
August 13, 2014
ANDREA MITCHELL: And Cuba is celebrating Fidel Castro's 88th birthday today, starting the party early with a special concert last night. The opening of an exhibition called Fidel is Fidel. Attended by Elian Gonzales and his family. That is Elian right there. Gonzalez is now 20 years old. He was only 5 when he was at the center of that bitter custody dispute back in 1999 between his father in Cuba and his Miami relatives after his mother died on a raft. Gonzalez talked about Castro with admiration last night saying he made him the person he is today. When I first interviewed the Communist revolutionary in Havana 12 years ago, his legacy with this younger generation of Cubans was already very much top of mind. His most important legacy, he says to inspire a new generation of true believers in his socialist system.
FIDEL CASTRO: There will be no problem if I die tomorrow because we have lots of young people who are well-trained, who know what to do.
— Jeffrey Meyer is a News Analyst at the Media Research Center. Follow Jeffrey Meyer on Twitter. [2]