A (Cuban) Cigar For Tom DeLay
Posted on April 28, 2005
Tom DeLay is apparently a big Cuban cigar fan. Time magazine shares an interesting tidbit about our our embattled House Majority Leader, Tom DeLay. When he's not railing against Cuba, Fidel Castro, and the laws of Florida concerning feeding tubes, he's firing up a big fat Cuban stogie.
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. And sometimes, according to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a cigar is an economic prop to a brutal totalitarian regime. Arguing against loosening sanctions against Cuba last year, DeLay warned that Fidel Castro "will take the money. Every dime that finds its way into Cuba first finds its way into Fidel Castro's blood-thirsty hands.... American consumers will get their fine cigars and their cheap sugar, but at the cost of our national honor."What's that you say? Cuban cigars are illegal here in the U.S., and now it's even illegal for an American to smoke a Cuban cigar while abroad? Well, you sniveling freedom-hater, I'll have you know that Mr. DeLay was smoking that Cuban cigar in Israel in 2003, and it wasn't until September, 2004 that the regs were introduced banning Americans from doing anything naughty while they are abroad. Ok, perhaps some might see it as hypocritical to smoke an aromatic Cuban cigar while proclaiming that anyone who does so is "destroying our national honor." But at least he was smoking the cigar. It could have been worse.DeLay has long been one of Congress' most vocal critics of what he calls Castro's "thugocracy," which is why some sharp-eyed Time readers were surprised last week to see a photo of the Majority Leader smoking one of Cuba's best�a Hoyo de Monterrey double corona, which generally costs about $25 when purchased overseas and is not available in this country. The cigar's label clearly states that it was made in "Habana." The photo was taken in Jerusalem on July 28, 2003, during a meeting between DeLay and the Republican Jewish Coalition at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem.