Possible Biden VP Pick Karen Bass Flaming Out Over Past Comments on Castro and Scientology
“I absolutely would have not put that statement out and I will tell you that, after talking to my colleagues who represent the state of Florida [and] raised those concerns with me, lesson learned”
Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA) is on the short list of possible running mates for Joe Biden but her chances are fading fast. In the recent past, Bass has made controversial statements about the Castro regime in Cuba, which she tried to reverse on Sunday.
She was asked about her statements on Meet the Press.
Transcript via NBC News:
CHUCK TODD:
Let me turn to the issue of Cuba. A lot of people have turned to this issue with you as they’ve dug in. You spent some time there in the ’70s as a young activist, I believe working with a group called the Venceremos Brigade, building houses in Cuba. You have rejected the idea that you were somehow celebrating the Castro regime. But looking back — do you look back on that and think you were a big naïve?
REP. KAREN BASS:
Oh, I think as any 19 year old would be, sure. In my early twenties, I went to Cuba to help the Cuban people, to build houses. But over the last 20 years, Chuck, I have been working — one, I’ve always believed in bridging the divide between our two countries. Cuba’s 90 miles away. But for the last 20 years, I’ve actually been working on health care related issues in Cuba. You know, the Cubans train U.S. doctors. And I’ve been recruiting those doctors to work in the inner city because they come in tuition free. The Cubans also have two medicines, one for diabetes, of which my mother died for, lung cancer, which my father died for, and I would like to have those drugs tested in the United States.
Now, that doesn’t excuse the fact that I know the Castro regime has been a brutal regime to its people. I know that there is not freedom of press, freedom of association. And interestingly, when I went in my late teens and early twenties, you know, one of the things that — one of the reasons was to build relations with the Americans that were there, because there were over 100 young people that were there. And all of us worked on different issues. Well, what’s interesting is that we had the ability to come home and protest against our own government. But the Cuban people most certainly cannot do that. They couldn’t do it then and they can’t do it now.
See the video below:
WATCH: Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.) says "lesson learned" about how she described the Castro regime. #IfItsSunday #MTP
Bass: I 'don’t consider myself a Castro sympathizer' pic.twitter.com/Lnpg5WfgRs
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) August 2, 2020
She was asked again on FOX News Sunday.
Via Ronn Blitzer of FOX News:
Bass was at the center of a recent controversy over flattering words that she offered for Fidel Castro upon the former Cuban leader’s passing in 2016.
“The passing of the Comandante en Jefe is a great loss to the people of Cuba,” Bass said in a statement at the time. Now, however, she regrets those words, and said that she learned from speaking to Floridians who have a closer connection to Cuba.
“I absolutely would have not put that statement out and I will tell you that, after talking to my colleagues who represent the state of Florida [and] raised those concerns with me, lesson learned; would not do that again for sure.
Here’s the video:
Potential Biden VP pick Karen Bass asked about her past remarks about Castro.
— Benny (@bennyjohnson) August 2, 2020
In 2010, Karen Bass appeared at an event for the Church of Scientology, an organization which has been accused of human rights violations, and of being a cult.
The actress Leah Remini, who is a former Scientologist and outspoken critic of the organization, chastised Bass.
Joseph A. Wulfsohn of FOX News reports:
Leah Remini calls out Karen Bass for past praise of Scientology: Victims ‘deserve better from you’
Actress Leah Remini called out Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., for her past praise of Scientology.
Bass, who is on Joe Biden’s VP short list, faced backlash after a 2010 video surfaced featuring the congresswoman speaking at the Church of Scientology, an organization that’s been accused by some former members of behaving like a cult.
“The Church of Scientology I know has made a difference, because your creed is a universal creed and one that speaks to all people everywhere,” Bass said in the video obtained by the Daily Caller.
“The words are exciting of your founder, L. Ron Hubbard, in The Creed of the Church of Scientology: that all people of whatever race, color or creed, are created with equal rights,” she said.
Remini, a former Scientologist who has been an outspoken critic of the organization, ripped the congresswoman on Instagram.
“’My views have not changed’ says @repkaren bass- I too supported this criminal cult of Scientology at one time,” Remini began on Sunday. “But most of us believed we had no option to do our research for fear of being punished for looking — just as it is in Scientology today. I was raised in it from childhood. What is the excuse for those never in who lend their voice to this criminal cult? Are you denouncing Scientology or are you saying you still think this cult deserves your support? Great that you attempted to distance yourself from this cult now, but is your current stance on Scientology that it is a religion?”
Here’s the video of her 2010 remarks:
Karen Bass in 2010 at a ribbon-cutting for a Scientology church:
"That is why the words are exciting of your Founder L. Rob Hubbard…The Church of Scientology I know has made a difference, because your creed is a universal creed and one that speaks to all people everywhere" pic.twitter.com/EghkCwqHi6— Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) July 31, 2020
It’s probably safe to assume at this point that Bass is not going to be the one.
UPDATE: This certainly doesn’t help:
Video: Potential Biden Vice Presidential pick @RepKarenBass bashes the founding fathers.
“I have a hard time when I go to the nation’s Capital and people want to talk about the founding fathers, I’m sorry but that’s not how I view those guys.” pic.twitter.com/47QhFmDY79
— Reagan Battalion (@ReaganBattalion) August 4, 2020
Featured image via YouTube.
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Comments
I read that her support of Scientology was the last straw, and that was from leftists. She’s out.
The fact that she seems to have made the list leaves me wondering about their vetting process.
The first step in a vetting process is having someone to apply it to. They have already scraped the bottom of the barrel and they are now looking under the barrel for anything that moves. Remember, Biden is the best they have. They can only go lower.
Criteria? Start with skin color…repeat.
Or, call it what it is: race. She also qualifies because she has indoor plumbing.
Notice how she doesn’t say she was wrong, just that she wished she hadn’t made her worship of Castro and communism public. How sickening!
She is an unknown to most people. I can understand people growing to new positions and ideas, but she is likely not one of them. Her walking back her past comments is only to try to keep in the running to be the defacto President should Biden win, but I doubt she would be bringing in voters. The limits Dementia Joe put on himself has him looking to choose between lousy and poor candidates, though being that Kamala was Obama’s choice before she crashed and burned, I don’t see it likely any of these others are going to be chosen over her.
Obama still runs the show, and with Dementia Joe barely able to put one sentence together without a flub, it is really going to be Bathhouse Barry who makes the pick. It may be Kamala turning herself into a parody of the Joker with her plastic surgery might have put Obama off her, as she is frightening to look at, and she lightened her skin color which won’t help with the Black vote.
Pretty sad when a candidate for President is more interesting for who he is running with. The DNC chose poorly with inserting Dementia Joe into the top slot. They probably thought he would hold it together better than this.
Remember how quickly Kamala and Michelle Obama both came out supporting the gay French actor juicy Smollette?
BTW bathhouse Barry does not know his end from a hole in the ground.
TrollasaurusRx
@
Weird, all the same people cheering on authoritarian Governors to destroy working people’s livelihoods are suddenly concerned about Tyranny.
You spent the last few days cheering on violence and destruction, now you’re scared because we won’t lay down and take it. Interesting
The VP candidate will NOT be from CA. Bass adds nothing to the ticket even without her communist and Scientology past. Lousy campaigner and CA is going Democrat anyway. The past is all we have to judge by and hers is a non-starter. Candidates will say ANYTHING during a campaign.
I think “the babysitters” will select Tammy Duckworth. Not black but a woman of “color”. Being an Illinois senator, she still adds nothing to the ticket since IL is in the bag already. But unlike everyone else in the mix, her past won’t bog down the campaign. Just a typical Dem leftist.
And as an added benefit, at campaign events Gropey Joe can say “Tammy! Stand up! Stand up Tammy!”
“I absolutely would have not put that statement out and I will tell you that, after talking to my colleagues who represent the state of Florida [and] raised those concerns with me, lesson learned.”
AKA, next time, I’ll keep my yapping trap shut.
She hasn’t learned any lesson. Castro was in power for generations; for anyone to pretend that they didn’t know exactly what he was and what he did is either a sign of astounding ignorance or a flat-out lie. In her case, I’m going with “lie.” She knew that he was a murdering dictator… she was just fine with it, because he was a COMMUNIST murdering dictator.
As Lyndon Johnson would say, “You can’t polish a turd”.
But that is all the Democrats have………
She’s not sorry she’s a Communist, she’s just sorry she’s being caught out being a Communist.
It’s amazing how often these Dhimmi-crat idiots trot out the “Cuban doctor” prop, as a means of saying something nice about the Castro regime. So, Cuba sent doctors to the U.S. inner cities, as an obvious propaganda ploy. So what? How dumb do you have to be to be duped by this move, into praising it.
The scrutiny on this Bass twit should also focus renewed attention and criticism regarding the vile Obama’s indefensible visit to Cuba, to yuck it up with Raul Castro at a baseball game. The President of the U.S., serenading a brutal, bloodstained dictator like some star-struck, neo-communist fanboy. Such a disgusting display of preening vanity, coupled with callous indifference towards the hundreds of thousands of victims of the Castro regime. With zero opprobrium from the Obama-worshiping media lemmings, naturally.
I always thought that this single incident perfectly encapsulated Obama’s pathological narcissism, his moral bankruptcy and his indefensible romanticization/whitewashing of totalitarian regimes, better than any other.
Great points, and well said.
Thanks. I mean, at the time, I thought, “Who the hell in their right mind, possessing a modicum of moral probity and integrity, thinks that it’s appropriate for a President to give deference to a dictator via a personal visit and chummy appearance at a baseball game, without extracting any concessions or changes in behavior?”
With this stunt, Obama displayed the same odious traits that facilitated and enabled the vile Iran capitulation, laughably termed a “deal” — a farcical stunt of naivete and vanity, masquerading as alleged grand and sagacious statecraft.
It’s also revealing that, in his own mind, Obama saw nothing inappropriate about palling around with Castro, because, in the environment in which he grew up and matured as a politician/radical, dictators and murderous thugs such as Castro and Che are not criminals to be condemned, but, rather, alleged folk heroes, to be romanticized and idolized.
Reminds me of when the Obama Admin allowed US tourists to fly directly to Cuba from the US: how fast US-based airlines added flights to Havana, how much glowing media attention was paid, etc. Guy Fieri even went there and filmed a few episodes of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives (obviously at places in the tourist areas).
It didn’t take long before the reports started coming back from the tourists themselves that oh, I can’t get wifi, my Airbnb doesn’t exist, the medical care is poor even at the “good” places, this place is a third-world country. As a result the glowing media attention went away and it didn’t take long before the airlines started cutting service.
Yeah, Canadians and Europeans have gone there for years (I personally know someone who loves to go there). But they stay in the tourist-only areas, which is why so many of them think it’s great. Get out in the real part of Cuba and you realize it’s a sham.
Obama and the rest of the progressive fascists admire Castro and Cuba because that’s the utopia they want to impose on the USA.
Agree 100%. While not as substantively damaging as Obamacare or the Iran deal visiting Cuba to willfully lick the Castros’ boots was a really sickening low point for the Obama administration. And there was lots of competition.
First, she will not be “VP pick” and there has never been the slightest intention to make her VP candidate.
That “short list” is smoke and mirrors.
Joe will not be the “P” pick either. This is all bread and circuses leading up to the democrat convention. The convention where the democrat leadership will pull out a surprise nominee for the “P” candidate that doesn’t have all the baggage that Biden has that they know they can control and they’ll find some schlub, nobody from East Bumfuck nowhere to be the “VP” candidate. And then the democrat voter base will be told to STFU and vote for them and like lemmings over a cliff they’ll vote for who their told to vote for.
Second, she is not sorry and she did not learn anything. She knew very darn well what she was doing and who Castro was.
Third, the “Venceremos Brigade” did nothing to help the Cuban people, and helping the people or building houses was never its purpose. They were a propaganda operation to increase support towards the brutal Castro dictatorship.
That program that trains “tuition free” doctors? Another propaganda operation. She should be required to register as a foreign government agent.
This is the perfect year to be running a “Karen” for high office. It won’t be long before Bass’s “inner Karen” emerges.
ISWYDT!!!
/5
I’m expecting a lot of stompy-footed “racist!” episodes.
If Bass is on the “ass” ticket, it would be Biden 2020 / Bass 2021
maybe she could pick a #neverTrumper to be her VP when Gropin’ Joe gets “retired”
Bass/Sasse 2024
The Democrat party has such a shallow slate of candidates due to the “leadership” of Barack Hussein Obama. Practically single handedly lost hundreds of state and local elected offices. Thanks, Barry!
Nah fuck it, Democrats will fully deserve this car crash should she be selected.
In fact it really doesnt matter who they choose as who ever that is will be a car crash that Democrats will absolutely and utterly deserve.
Having said all that…surely these clowns are starting to get desperate? The question is, are they desperate to run Mr Moooochelle Obama as either Joe’s replacement or as VP???
One thing that stands ot for me is that smug little smile on her face.
DailyCaller is reporting that Bass has links to Nation of Israel too.
I think you mean Nation of Islam, no?
Democrats most certainly wouldnt have any issues with Nation if Islam but they sure as fuck would if it was Nation of Israel.
I am of two minds on this:
(1) Bass is a shiny object meant to distract opponents of the Communist Party and to make the real nominee look “moderate” by comparison.
(2) Bass is the nominee since the Communist Party has decided to go for broke and rip off what is left of the moderate mask.
I am personally thinking (1), but (2) is not out of the question.
Susan Rice would be his best pick. She is a known liar but at least she can lie in complete sentences. It looks like Obama is trying to get his shadow government out of the shadows.
I imagine Rice is desperate to get on the ticket; otherwise she’s likely to be indicted soon.
I think that is the first Susan Rice compliment (well, sort of) I have heard that is true. Complete sentences are a challenge for Democrats because complete thoughts are a challenge.
On NBC she portrays herself as having a great deal of knowledge about what happens in Cuba then goes on Fox and claims she knows nothing
all those years in the propaganda training program have paid off
Which is why I hope Biden picks her. She’s nearly as incoherent as he is.
This is great! Each of the dem VP ladies is the ugliest girl at the school waiting for the dumbest boy to ask her to the prom!
Black, stupid, and communist is no way to go through life.
A Fiction
Overheard recently in Dem power circles:
“It’s that Bass thing, huh? I knew it wouldn’t fly. Damn it.
Well forget the promise Joe made about picking a black woman. We’re outta options.
“Better call Bernie.”