By ann summers

Dear GOP POTUS candidates in the 15 December debate on CNN: 

In the fervor to deny refugee status to Syrians because TERROR, what of the possibly 70,000 Cubans now trying to gain egress past the as yet completely unwalled US Southern border with Mexico. There are undoubtedly members of the Communist Party among those refugees stuck in a number of Latin American countries…. what about them. Are Cuban doctors fleeing the salaries of a socialist medical care system any less important for rural medical care in the US. Will they be innoculated from the scourge of Single-Payer cooties.

 

In one of the largest waves of Cuban migration in decades, more than 70,000 have fled the island this year, rushing to the U.S. out of fear that its preferential policy toward those escaping the Castro regime might change. This time though, the majority aren’t braving the Florida Straits in rickety rafts, as in 1980 — they’re flying to South America, then taking a treacherous land journey all the way to the southern U.S. border…

Since the 1960s nearly all Cubans who make it to U.S. soil are granted residency, but many fear — despite denials from American officials— that the recent thaw in U.S.-Cuban relations could close those doors.

Fernando Pacheco, an orthopedic surgeon, was paid $65 a month in Cuba, one of the highest salaries on the island, but he says it wasn’t enough to support his family.

Last week, Cuba reinstated rules prohibiting doctors from leaving the island without permission.

www.npr.org/…

So the GOP candidates left standing for the Next GOP Debates could be Rose Red Ink and Seven no-so-dwarfs, one of whom is really Doc… Can they get past the fear mongering and personal attacks to actually address some policy issues?

CNN’s criteria for the next GOP debate one week from today give candidates three ways to get into the prime-time debate: “Candidates must meet one of three criteria in polls conducted between October 29 and December 13 and recognized by CNN: An average of at least 3.5% nationally; at least 4% in Iowa; or at least 4% in New Hampshire.”

We do not know which polls CNN recognizes, but if we use the RealClearPolitics average, the main stage with feature Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Jeb Bush and (based on their New Hampshire performance) New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Carly Fiorina. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), as of this moment, is at exactly 4 percent in both Iowa and New Hampshire, so polls in the next week are critical (depending on CNN’s poll selection).