Some noted conservatives have endorsed the Clinton Administration's desire to see the 6-year-old Cuban boy, Elian Gonzalez, sent back to the Communist island where his father is a prisoner. Tony Snow condemned a family court judge who ruled that the boy could stay temporarily with his family here. Snow wrote, "The judge effectively said: 'It doesn't matter whether your father is a fit parent who loves you and will devote himself wholly to your welfare. I don't like where you live. So you must stay where I say."

Tony Snow has egg on his face these days because this supposedly devoted and committed father gave an interview to ABC's Nightline in which he threatened to come to Miami and shoot people. The remarks were so inflammatory that the host, Chris Wallace, who was sitting in for Ted Koppel, asked, "Are you serious about that, sir?" Wallace recognized the incendiary nature of the remarks and how they could hurt the cause of sending the boy back to communism.

This was an opportunity for Elian's father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, to speak for himself. It's true that he was speaking from Havana, but it was clearly an opportunity for him to come across as compassionate and caring for his son. Instead, he came across as mentally unstable and a danger.

Asked about the belief that he would defect if he were allowed to travel to Miami to meet with his son, he replied, "People think or some people think that I am under pressure here. I have always said I haven't lost anything in Miami. And sometimes what I would like to do is go down there with a rifle. I don't know to get rid of how many people." At that point, Chris Wallace says, "Are you serious about that, sir? That's obviously a very inflammatory remark."

Given a chance to retract his comments, he proceeded to refer to the treatment of his son in Miami as inflammatory. Wallace granted that point, saying, "I understand. But when you talk about bringing a rifle, you have to understand that's going to be viewed very carefully in Miami and the United States." Later, when Gonzalez once again refused to take back the comments, Wallace said, "...when you talk about the rifle, and I assume you meant it as a figure of speech, it does speak to the tremendous pressure this must have created for you." Wallace did his best to try to mute the damage that had been done, but he wasn't able to get Gonzalez to take back his extreme comments about shooting people in Miami.

ABC News had a bombshell, but the ABC World News Tonight evening news broadcast on the following night made no mention of the father's extraordinary outburst. Instead, one correspondent covered a group of state-sponsored protesters in Havana who chanted the slogan "Return our son." Another correspondent, Ron Claiborne, covered Cuban-Americans in Miami. He reported that many believe the child's father has to come to the U.S. to freely speak his mind. But he made no mention of the Nightline comments in order to reinforce that point.

 

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