Ag Commissioner Sparks: No to CAFTA, Yes to Cuba

While Alabama Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks is busy badmouthing the proposed trade agreement with America's friends in the Dominican Republic and Central America, he has nothing but kind words for Castro's Cuba.

Sparks says that "Cuba has lived up to every agreement they signed. President Fidel Castro has never tried to put me on the spot. He's been very respectful of the administration."

Respectful? Now that's an interesting description of Mr. Castro if I've ever heard one. I'm not sure what Commissioner Sparks is thinking of - maybe I'm missing something. Lets see here...

Following President Bush's election in 2001, Castro said that "someone very strange, with very little promise, has taken charge of the leadership of the great empire that we have as a neighbor...That gentleman has arrived there, and hopefully he is not as stupid as he seems, nor as mafia-like as his background makes him appear."

"The power and prerogatives of that country's president are so extensive, and the economic and technological and military power network in that nation is so pervasive, that due to circumstances that fully escape the will of the American people, the world is coming under the rule of Nazi concepts and methods." - Castro in June 2002.

''We know that Mr. Bush has committed himself to the mafia ... to assassinate me.'' - Castro in January 2004.

"Bush couldn't debate a Cuban ninth grader." - Castro in February 2004.

Castro: Bush is "sinister" and could be having a difficult time “distinguishing between relevant and inconsequential information.” - July 2004.

In November of 2004, Castro said that the bin Laden video that surfaced prior to the election was likely "arranged" by President Bush: “We have seen too much ... trickery and shamelessness to sustain the belief that this wasn’t something arranged.”

In February of this year, Castro commented that President Bush had "the face of a deranged person."

In April, Castro said that Bush's trip to the pope's funeral was "an outrage to the memory of John Paul II."