It’s hard to argue with Castro on GOP race: ‘greatest competition of idiocy ever’

You don’t have to know much about Cuban politics to know Fidel Castro has made some serious mistakes. From severe poverty to persecution of gays in the ’60s (which even Castro himself called “unjust” in 2010), Cuba’s autocratic ruler has clearly done plenty of wrong by his own people. And that’s not to mention his fashion offenses.

But it’s hard to argue with Castro’s assessment of the US GOP race, offered in an Op-Ed in yesterday’s state-run newspaper. “The selection of a Republican candidate for the presidency of this globalized and expansive empire is — and I mean this seriously — the greatest competition of idiocy and ignorance that has ever been,” he wrote, according to the New York Times.

Even ignoring the subjectively idiotic moments surrounding the Republican race this year (like the multiple times audiences and candidates have cheered for people to die, including Castro himself and a sick, uninsured man), the GOP race has been a greater display of factual idiocy than we’ve seen in a primary race, probably ever.

There was Rick Perry’s “Oops” moment and his momentarily thinking the US voting age is 21 instead of 18. There was Michele Bachmann mindlessly repeating some random woman’s assertion that HPV vaccinations cause “retardation.” There was Rick Santorum’s wildly incorrect math on the economy. There was Herman Cain quoting Pokemon. There was Mitt Romney calling himself “unemployed,” which is more obnoxiously idiotic than just factually incorrect. There was Newt Gingrich saying that he cheated on his wife because he loved his country so much.

Perhaps the only Republican candidates who haven’t offered up some form of cringe-inducing idiocy were Jon Huntsman, who’s no longer running, and Ron Paul—and even he has those pesky 80s-era newsletters that include wild conspiracy theories about government mind control through a special new currency.

Say what you want about Castro himself, but on this point it’s hard to argue with him: When it comes to US presidential races, the 2012 race may be the biggest display of bone-headed idiocy we’ve ever seen.