Chris Bertram, Castro apologist

From time to time, I'm reminded that there are some people on my side of the political fence who really are the utter and complete assholes that those on the other side of the fence like to caricature us as.

Today, I was reminded by Chris Bertram at Crooked Timber, who wants us to know that Castro wasn't so bad.

So let’s hear it for universal literacy and decent standards of health care. Let’s hear it for the Cubans who help defeat the South Africans and their allies in Angola and thereby prepared the end of apartheid. Let’s hear it for the middle-aged Cuban construction workers who held off the US forces for a while on Grenada. Let’s hear it for Elian Gonzalez. Let’s hear it for 49 years of defiance in the face of the US blockade. Hasta la victoria siempre!

Brad DeLong, whom Bertram takes a side-swipe at in his post, says that Bertram is making "an impressive play for the stupidest man alive crown".

I won't be so gentlemanly in my assessment of Bertram.

Prof. Bertram, you're a pathetic douchebag apologist for a murderous dictator, no better than the pathetic right-wing douchebag apologists for Pinochet that cropped up on the occasion of his death. When Castro joins Pinochet in hell, you can get together with the Pinochet apologists for a "My Favorite Dead Dictator" party. In the meantime, just shut the fuck up.