Specter seeks meeting with Raul Castro

[Judi Lynn]

Jul 30, 2:59 PM EDT
Specter seeks meeting with Raul Castro

By KIMBERLY HEFLING
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sen. Arlen Specter said Wednesday he hopes to meet with Cuban President Raul Castro and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez during a trip to Latin America in August.

"I'm a firm believer in dialogue," the Pennsylvania Republican told reporters.

His announcement evoked memories of Campaign 2008 arguments earlier this year over when and under what circumstances a president should sit down with adversaries. Hillary Rodman Clinton for a time accused rival Barack Obama of embracing too-lenient a stance on such face-to-face meetings, a charge that Obama, now the nominee in waiting, repeatedly rebuffed. Presumed Republican nominee John McCain also has asserted that Obama would too eagerly embrace one-on-one face-offs with adversaries.

Speaking to reporters on a wide range of subjects Wednesday, Specter said his experience has been that meeting with world leaders leads to change.

"I think President McCain will understand ... an independent senator that has a different point of view," he said when asked about his view vs. McCain's on the matter.

Specter said he met with Fidel Castro during previous stops in Cuba and talked to him about drug interdiction. He said he'd like to follow that up with Raul Castro, as well as to discuss trade and tourism during a visit there. He said he believes the United States is "on the cusp" of re-establishing formal relations with Cuba.

More:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/SPECTER_CUBA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2008-07-30-14-59-46

[Mika]

1. Another example of what a political mixed bag US/Cuba relations is.

Even John Ashcroft sought normalization w/Cuba.

Thanks for posting this tidbit of info.

[Judi Lynn]

2. I remember that, Mika! He favored trade with Cuba when he was the governor of Missouri,

then he continued to favor normalizing relations with Cuba while he was a Missouri senator, and, during a debate he had with Democratic Governor Mel Carnahan, the very weekend before Carnahan was killed in a small airplane only a very short time before the election, they BOTH favored normalizing relations with Cuba, and they BOTH sounded completely confident that was the only right way to go.

Only after he was then zapped immediately to Washington by _Bush to become his Attorney General did he start claiming he was against it. Very ugly, gnarly little political world, isn't it?

[Judi Lynn]

3. He'll see Raul Castro, and raise us a(n) Hugo Chavez!

Posted on Thu, Jul. 31, 2008

Pa.'s Arlen Specter looks beyond cancer to next senate race
By Tom Infield
Inquirer Staff Writer


~snip~
Next month, during the Senate recess, he plans a short trip to Latin America.

He hopes to pay a call on Cuban leader Raul Castro. Independently of White House plans for Cuban-American relations, he hopes to talk about opening up trade and tourism between the United States and the isolated Caribbean island nation.

After that, he hopes to go on to Venezuela. He met Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez in 2005 - "That fellow right there," he says, pointing with his left index finger to a frame on the wall - and he believes he could help soften Chavez's antagonistic views of the United States. "I'm a firm believer in dialogue," he says.

More:
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20080731_Pa__s_Arlen_Specter_looks_beyond_cancer_to_next_senate_race.html