Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press, Democrat VP contender Rep. Karen Bass tried to walk back her characterization of late Cuban dictator Fidel Castro as “Comandante en Jefe,” or supreme commander.
“I know Castro’s regime has been a brutal regime,” Bass said. “I know there’s no freedom of press and interest of association and when I went in my late teens and early 20s, you know, one of the reasons was to build relations with the Americans that were there… We had the ability to come home and protest against our own government, but the Cuban people most certainly cannot do that…”
Asked about calling Castro “Comandante en Jefe” when he died, Bass replied, “Yeah, let me explain, too, because I think the use of the term Comandante en Jefe, what I meant by that is, clearly in Florida that was a term that is endearing to him. I didn’t see it that way. I was expressing condolences to the Cuban people, to the people in Cuba, not Cubans around the world. I don’t think that’s a toxic expression in California, but let me just say, Chuck, lesson learned.”
Bass can try to sanitize her communist past, but the voters will see how radical she remains.