"WE'RE FROM THE GOVERNMENT, AND WE'RE HERE TO HELP YOU":

15 Cubans Who Got to Fla. Bridge Sent Home (Laura Wides-Munoz, Jan 9, 2006, Associated Press)

Fifteen Cubans who fled their homeland and landed on an abandoned bridge piling in the Florida Keys were returned to their homeland Monday after U.S. officials concluded that the structure did not constitute dry land. Under the U.S. government's "wet-foot, dry-foot" policy, Cubans who reach dry land in the United States are usually allowed to remain in this country, while those caught at sea are sent back.

The Cubans — including a 2-year-old boy and a 13-year-old boy — were sent back around midday, said a Coast Guard spokesman, Officer Dana Warr. They were rescued last week and were held aboard a Coast Guard cutter while they awaited a final decision on their status. [...]

The Cubans thought they were safe Wednesday when they reached the Old Seven Mile Bridge. But the historic bridge, which runs side by side with a newer bridge, is missing several chunks, and the Cubans had the misfortune of reaching pilings from a section that no longer touches land. [...]

The Cubans had left Matanzas Province in Cuba late on the night of Jan. 2 aboard a small, homemade boat. They were rescued by the Coast Guard from the base of the bridge just south of Marathon Key.

It's times like these that make even conservatives briefly sympathetic to the argument that party differences don't matter. One is tempted to ask: If a Republican president is unwilling to help out victims of tyranny and simultaneously thrust an icepick into Castro's back when the opportunity presents itself, what's the point?