Salazar’s hypocrisy reminds us how harmful ‘socialista’ hysteria is
Maria Elvira Salazar apparently has a short memory.
Just two years ago, the former TV journalist faced sleazy accusations during her Republican primary bid for Florida’ s 27 th Congressional District. A rival called Salazar, who is Cuban-American, a fan of Cuba’s late communist dictator Fidel Castro simply because she’ d interviewed Castro in 1995. One especially under handed attack ad edited the interview to make it look and sound as if she’ d fallen in love with el com and ante. The spot asked: “Whose side are you on, Maria ?”
I wrote a commentary defending Salazar—and called her win in that primary an encouraging sign that Miami politics was shed ding its sinister McCarthyism.
But boy do I look stupid and naïve now, folks. This year’ selection not only confirmed malicious McCarthyism is alive and smearing in South Florida, it showcased Salazar as one of its most enthusiastic practitioners.
On Tuesday, Salazar unseated the 27 th District’ s Democratic congress woman, Donna Sh al ala, in no small part by same slur tactics Salazar faced in that 2018 primary. She branded Sh al ala— as false ly and poisonously as Salazar was labeled two years ago—a“socialist” in the mold of all the left-wing Latin American dictators so many Latino sin South Florida have fled. She hurled that same bogus epithet at the Black Lives Matter racial justice movement and claimed Sh al ala, Joe Bid en and the Democrats get their orders from its leaders. I have no partisan objection to Salazar going to Congress. I reside in the 27 th District, as wing swath that’ s getting used to being represented by Democrats and Republicans alike. As a registered independent, I’ ve voted for congressional candidates frombothparties.
So it’ s not Salazar’ selection that bot hers me. It’ s how she got elected. The sheer hypocrisyofit, ofcourse, butalsotheway it’ s contributed to the unhinged orgy of¡ tú
erescomunista! hysteria that defined this election cycle in South Florida, and which promises to further dark en civic discourse and practices here for years to come precisely because it wassosuccessful.
South Florida’ s red-baiting resurrectionis mostly due to President Trump. He helped make Miami McCarthyism acceptable again —the idea that it’ s OK t ode monize political opponents as radical
socialistas, evenifit’sabald-faced lie, because anti-communism’ s heroic ends justify any slanderous means.
Shell game
That’ s helped open the door in recent years to destructive social-media witch hunt sin the Venezuelan community; to the rise of coarse web bullies like Alexander OtaolaintheCuban-Americansphere; to frighteningly racist and out right threatening rhetoric on local Spanish-language outlets like Actual id ad Radio and Radio Ma mbí and in publications like LIB RE.
What’ s just as civic ally harmful as the reckless bi le is the shameless double standards, which Salazar paraded in ways that would have made even a two-faced politico like Fidel Castro blush. She had the unmitigated brass to call Sh al ala and Democrats socialist as because of policies like Obamacare; then she turned around and told voters O ba mac are was OK because she knew damn well how popular it is with South Floridians—especially with the Cuban sand other Latino sin her district to whom she was most loud ly preaching the
¡Demócratas-son-socialistas! propaganda. Did you follow that shell game? Salazar bet most voters here wouldn’ t, and she bet right. South Florida needs a bigger version of Maria Elvira Salazar. Bigger in character, anyway, than the one she showed us in her campaign.