Aid? Who Needs Aid? (UPDATE)

UPDATE 12/21: Included link to original article and corrected quote attribution. Thanks to Phi Peters for pointing these out.

Val has already posted on the 10-member U.S. delegation which traveled to Cuba to do business with the Cuban regime. It's safe to say that I'm of the same opinion of Val with regards to the delegation's purpose in Cuba.

I can't help but find this quote by Arizona Republican Rep. Jeff Flake New York Democrat Gregory Meeks incredibly ironic but yet fitting at the same time:

"The Cubans are openly asking for trade. They don't want aid, they want trade," he said in an interview on a seaside patio at the Hotel Nacional. "It would be a surplus for us, they want to buy American goods."

That's right Mr. Meeks. Cubans want goods, at least that's what the big wigs told you from the seaside patio where nary a Cuban citizen could be seen.

Aid? Who needs aid? Perhaps if Mr. Flake would have met with some of these people, he would reconsider that statement.

Of course, meeting with a bunch of political prisoners would have been a bummer for the delegation. That big dose of reality would have put a damper on their business plans.

Are we idealistic? You bet. Right now, and in light of our politicians doing deals with the devil, I wear that badge with pride.