Positive Press for Nethercutt

The Seattle Times has two favorable news items about George Nethercutt in the last few days:

Sunday: "Profile: Nethercutt's persistence pays off for Cuba trade"

As Republican George Nethercutt campaigns for the U.S. Senate, Democrats frequently mock him as a "rubber stamp" who would blindly follow the orders of the Bush administration...

But Nethercutt also has displayed an independent streak on a major foreign-policy issue — the country's 40-year trade embargo against Cuba.

In 2000, over the objections of top Republicans, Nethercutt shepherded through Congress a historic loosening of the Cuba embargo that has allowed U.S. farmers to sell more than $565 million worth of food to the island nation, including peas and apples from Washington state.

I think that was a smart call for Nethercutt to make. The world is a different place than it was when the embargo was imposed in 1960. It's hard to make the case that a unilateral embargo will accomplish very much other than limiting the opportunities for American producers to sell their products. Relaxing the embargo not only removes an unreasonable restriction from American exporters, but also gives more Cubans a bigger taste of market economics and will therefore only help accelerate the end of Castro's socialist nightmare.

Today: "Senate hopeful Nethercutt promises tax cuts"

Republican U.S. Senate candidate George Nethercutt traversed the state yesterday to promise tax cuts and rap Democratic Sen. Patty Murray for opposing Republican tax-cut plans.
During a quick, four-city tour, Nethercutt held a series of news conferences to tout his tax-cutting philosophy. He released a policy paper outlining tax reductions he favors, including making the Bush administration's tax cuts permanent before they expire next year and pushing for a sales-tax deduction for Washington residents.

Nethercutt said he could think of no other issue on which he and Murray differ more sharply.

Invariably, Democrats who think that your income really belongs to the government won't see this as a positive for Nethercutt, but regular people will see it as a positive.

Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at August 10, 2004 01:01 PM | Email This