President Bush's Cuban Dream

Readers of this Blog know that as the weekend approaches we tend toward the more whimsical for topics. I also haven't written anything recently to get people to call me a Communist, so here is a post that will take care of both those needs.

Today in a speech before the U.S. Naval War College in Rhode Island President George Bush declared that, "One day the good Lord will take Fidel Castro away." We assume that he meant one day soon, as opposed to one day during his Texas retirement. We should also suppose that this is conjecture as opposed to some intelligence estimate passed along to the President by the actual Good Lord (a.k.a. God).

According to Reuters, when a White House official was later asked if President Bush meant that he wished Castro would die, the official responded, "The president was commenting on an inevitable event."

This would be like, for example, "One day my poll numbers will dive below 20%."

Coincidently, this week the CIA released a trove of declassified reports about agency skullduggery during the Cold War, known affectionately as "the jewels". The papers included a report that in 1960, in the waning days of the Eisenhower administration, the CIA tried to work a deal with a mob family to assassinate Castro. The Godfather involved reportedly offered to do the job pro bono, casino closures in Havana apparently having done little to endear Castro to the U.S. mafia. It would also appear that the deal never went through. Nine U.S. presidents later, neither "the Lord", nor the CIA, nor the Cuban community in Miami has managed to get that particular job done.

Hey, I'm not commenting on Castro, good or evil. But the guy does have staying power.

All of which is really a set up to this joke that I was reminded of as Bush professed his inside knowledge on God's plans. Here goes:

George H.W. Bush, the father, takes ill with a rare illness. In accordance with long-worked out plans he is frozen by the Houston-based Lone Star Cryogenics Inc. and stored to await the discovery of a medical cure for his condition. In May of 2037 he is wakened and cured.

George Bush: Tell me! What news is there? How did things in the world come out since 2007?

Technician: Well, we have good news and bad news Mr. President.

George Bush: Tell me the bad news first.

Technician: Your son, George W. Bush, his whole being the president thing really didn't turn out so good.

George Bush: Yeah, well, we could see that coming. What's the good news?

Technician: Fidel Castro, it looks like he should die any day now.