Florida Robo Calls - The Last of the Lies

Automated calls paid for by Republican John McCain are going out to voters in South Florida, portraying Democrat Barack Obama as an ally of Fidel Castro.

Voters hear: "This just in! I'm calling on behalf of John McCain to tell you that at 1:28 PM today, the independent news agency Reuters reported that Cuban dictator Fidel Castro endorsed Democrat Barack Obama as 'more intelligent' than John McCain. Castro said America will become a country where 'an extremist can legally acquire a sophisticated modern weapon on any street corner.' That's just why a thug like Castro would endorse Barack Obama. Don't given Castro what he wants. Get to the polls now to vote for John McCain and stop Cuban-like policies in America."

What Reuters really reported:

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuban's former communist leader Fidel Castro on Tuesday praised Democrat Barack Obama as "more intelligent" than "old, bellicose" Republican John McCain, but said that he was officially neutral in the U.S. presidential election.

The ailing Castro, 82, said in a column published in state-run media that neither of the candidates running in Tuesday's election was concerned with the world's most pressing problems as they campaigned to lead what he called "a parasitic and plundering empire."

Obama, Castro wrote, is "without doubt more intelligent, cultured and calm than his Republican adversary."

McCain, he said, is "old, bellicose, uncultured, not very intelligent and not healthy."

Quoting from a letter he wrote to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Castro said if McCain wins "the danger of war will increase."

"When this opinion (is published), no one will have time to say that I wrote something that can be used by one of the candidates in favor of his campaign," Castro wrote.

"I had to be and have been neutral in the electoral contest," said Castro,

Castro also said the U.S., which has imposed a trade embargo against Cuba for 46 years, had a long history of racism and that Obama's selection as the Democratic presidential nomination had "astonished" many because he is black.

He warned that Obama "will run growing risks in the country where an extremist can legally acquire a sophisticated modern weapon on any street corner."