Biden VP contender Karen Bass walks back controversial praise of Fidel Castro: 'I learned a lesson'
Karen Bass, who now finds herself being mentioned as a possible running mate for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, has walked back on her previous comments praising late Cuban Communist dictator Fidel Castro. Bass, 66, the US Representative for California's 37th congressional district, distanced herself from comments she had made about Castro in 2016 by claiming she was not aware he was despised by the people of his country.
The Democrat made her current stance on Castro apparent after she was questioned about her several visits to Cuba in the 1970s and a statement she released after his death four years ago where she said that "the passing of the Comandante en Jefe is a great loss to the people of Cuba," according to Politico.
Now, Bass has told Fox News host Chris Wallace that her perspective has "developed over time" and that she understood now that Castro's government was a "brutal regime." She shared that she had spoken to colleagues from Florida who had raised concerns about her past comments and insisted she "would not do that again, for sure". "I absolutely would have not put that statement out," she said. "Lesson learned, would not do that again, for sure."
The 66-year-old, a five-term Congresswoman who is also the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, has found her self in the spotlight in recent weeks after it emerged that she was a top contender for Biden's ticket for the upcoming presidential elections.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) called Bass, who was a part of a delegation that traveled to Cuba in 2015 for the opening of a US embassy in Havana, a "Castro sympathizer." "She will be the highest-ranking Castro sympathizer in the history of the United States government," he said during a conference call this past week. "This is something that she will now want to deflect from, but I don’t believe in the last six decades that there has ever been anyone considered for the vice presidency… with this level of sympathy towards a Marxist regime."
Speaking on NBC's 'Meet the Press,' Bass said she didn't think much of Rubio's comments because the Republicans "have decided to brand the entire Democratic Party as Socialists and Communists." She said she was open to strengthening ties between the US and Cuba just like former President Barack Obama and that it had nothing to do with how she felt about Castro. "It is just very important, the way the Obama administration had opened up relations with Cuba," she stressed. "The best way to bring about change on the island is for us to have closer relations with the country that is 90 miles away… I don't consider myself a Castro sympathizer."
But it's not just her opinion about Castro that have landed Bass in hot water. A video posted by the Daily Caller showed the 66-year-old praising the Church of Scientology during a ribbon-cutting ceremony in Los Angeles in 2010. "This day and this new Church of Scientology is an exciting moment because I know your goal and your commitment is truly to make a difference." Bass said this in front of a crowd of around 6,000 attendees at the ceremony, which was led by Scientology president David Miscavige.
She had also praised Scientology's controversial founder L Ron Hubbard and said, "The words are exciting of your founder, L Ron Hubbard, in The Creed of the Church of Scientology: that all people of whatever race, color or creed are created with equal rights." The Congresswoman has since distanced herself from those comments as well, claiming she wasn't aware of the widespread allegations of abuse that had been leveled at the church at the time.