During the August 29 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, during a segment discussing an August 28 column by Cuban dictator Fidel Castro in the Cuban newspaper Granma, on-screen text falsely asserted, “CASTRO'S DREAM TEAM: WANTS CLINTON AND OBAMA IN '08,” referring to Democratic presidential candidates Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (NY) and Barack Obama (IL). Also during the segment, an on-screen graphic depicted Castro, Clinton, and Obama enclosed in a red heart. In addition, during the August 28 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, guest host Michelle Malkin previewed an upcoming segment by falsely claiming that “Fidel Castro, of all people, endorses a Hillary Clinton-Barack Obama presidential ticket.” Malkin went on to ask, “What is that all about?” In fact, at no point in his column did Castro endorse Clinton or Obama. Indeed, he attributed to Clinton and Obama a pro-democratic view that he called an “error,” and he said of Clinton and Obama, “They are not making politics: they are playing a game of cards on a Sunday afternoon.”

From Castro's column:

Today, talk is about the seemingly invincible ticket that might be created with Hillary for President and Obama for Vice President. Both of them feel the sacred duty of demanding “a democratic government in Cuba”. They are not making politics: they are playing a game of cards on a Sunday afternoon.

The media declares that this would be essential, unless Gore decides to run. I don't think he will do so; better than anyone, he knows about the kind of catastrophe that awaits humanity if it continues along its current course. When he was a candidate, he of course committed the error of yearning for “a democratic Cuba”.

Enough of tales and nostalgia. This is written simply to increase the conscience of the Cuban people.

In an August 21 column in The Miami Herald, Obama stated that "[a] democratic opening in Cuba is, and should be, the foremost objective of our policy," and that "[i]f a post-Fidel government begins opening Cuba to democratic change, the United States (the president working with Congress) is prepared to take steps to normalize relations and ease the embargo that has governed relations between our countries for the last five decades." He added: “Cuban-American connections to family in Cuba are not only a basic right in humanitarian terms, but also our best tool for helping to foster the beginnings of grass-roots democracy on the island. Accordingly, I will grant Cuban Americans unrestricted rights to visit family and send remittances to the island.” Further, the Herald reported in an August 22 article that “Clinton's campaign said she agrees with Obama that exiles should be able to freely send money to their relatives in Cuba but said she does not favor 'any wholesale, broad changes' to the travel restrictions until Fidel Castro falls.” The Herald added that according to Clinton spokesman Mo Elleithee, Clinton " 'supports the embargo and our current policy toward Cuba, and until it is clear what type of political winds may come with a new government -- if there is a new government -- we cannot talk about changes to U.S. policy.' "

From the August 29 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends:

BRIAN KILMEADE (co-host): Fidel Castro, a dictator.

STEVE DOOCY (co-host): Sure.

KILMEADE: Hasn't lost an election in a long time.

DOOCY: Sure.

KILMEADE: And now he's holding on to life. But before he does that, he's a student of our electoral process, and he thinks he knows who the unbeatable, impenetrable team is.

DOOCY: Impenetrable?

GRETCHEN CARLSON (co-host): I'm surprised he did not only just pick Obama, because it was Obama, recently, who said that, yeah, he would start up any conversation with any dictators around the world, while Hillary Clinton, during that debate, said, “Hmm? Not so fast, I might have to do a little more research before I would do that.”

DOOCY: Yeah, and of course anybody running for president of course needs to win Florida. And to win Florida and the very influential, powerful Cuban exile community, you gotta say stuff like, “Well, there should be democracy in Cuba.” Anyway, Castro said, quote, “Today, talk is about the seemingly invincible ticket that might be created with Hillary for president and Obama for vice president. Both of them feel the sacred duty of demanding a democratic government in Cuba.” All right. Also, let's tell you a little about this, kids.

From the August 28 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor:

MALKIN: And Fidel Castro, of all people, endorses a Hillary Clinton-Barack Obama presidential ticket. What is that all about? We hope you stay tuned for those reports.

[...]

MALKIN: Very quickly, Laura [Schwartz, Democratic strategist].

SCHWARTZ: Minimum wage, raising it. Energy legislation --

[crosstalk]

SCHWARTZ: I wouldn't discount the working class in this country, Karen [Hanretty, Republican strategist]. That's the problem with the Republican Party today. I know that's another situation, but they've ignored the working class, and that's -

[crosstalk]

SCHWARTZ: Hey, what about those working poor, those families in the inner city that can't even make enough to live -

[crosstalk]

MALKIN: Well, Fidel Castro agrees with you, and he's endorsed the Hillary-Obama ticket, so there you go. Ladies, thank you.