Considering that Edward Klein — the author of a Hillary Clinton biography that got virtually the same reception on the right as Supreme Court nominee Hariett Miers — is the author of Parade Magazine‘s “Walter Scott’s Personality Parade,” it’s no real surprise to find conservative droppings laced in his answers to questions that veer from the world of celebrities to that of politics. The 9 October issue is no exception (emphasis added):
Q: I’m interested in where Fidel Castro gets the dough to shore up his bankrupt regime. Can you illuminate? —Robert Henry, Los Angeles, Calif.
A: In the wake of the collapse of the USSR, which bankrolled him to the tune of $4 billion a year, Castro has turned to Hugo Chavez, Marxist president of Venezuela, the world’s fifth-largest oil-exporter. In addition to shoring up Castro, he’s funding revolutionaries and terrorists throughout Latin America.
The first question this raises is: Is “Scott” hearing about Venezuelan support for terrorists from the same sources as he heard about Hillary Clinton’s lesbian affairs? While any number of people have claimed that Venezuela is funding terrorists, not even the Chavez-unfriendly US Department of State includes the country on its list of “State Sponsors of Terrorism.” Send a letter to the editors at Parade, if you like.
The second question: $4 billion a year? We’re spending that much on Iraq every month, and it’s a desert hellhole thousands of miles away full of people who want to kill us! Cuba’s an island paradise 90 miles off the coast of Florida that offered to send doctors to help out after Hurricane Katrina! Someone’s getting seriously ripped.