America 1982-Chapter 536 - 106: One VS Three_3
"Ms. Pepper has always said that she would run for office in the same spirit as her uncle, Mr. Claude Pepper, in his approach to our district," he began. "So I want to ask if you are also planning to maintain the same hostility to Cuba during your term as a member of the House for our district. I still remember his statements about stability in the United States, calling on the United States Government in Congress to fund Cuban anti-government forces, sabotaging Cuba in every way possible, including but not limited to undermining the infrastructure, causing panic among the Cuban people due to power and water outages, and putting pressure on the government. If you really..."
Joanna Pepper listened calmly to Rosario Kennedy’s questioning. Such attacks were normal during a debate; aside from outright profanity, which was not permitted, all manner of sarcasm and ridicule were part of the routine. She didn’t rush to interrupt, rather she looked for a better moment to break in, then segue into her own lengthy speech, ensuring she caught the audience’s attention.
After all, during the response stage, Jeff Raven had already stolen the show, and whether voters supported him or not, they had to admit that tonight, it was this plumber who had made the most lasting impression. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺
Therefore, in the free discussion stage, she needed to seize the opportunity. Even if she couldn’t be the most memorable, she at least had to be second.
Just as she was certain that Rosario was going to attack her based on her uncle’s hostile attitude towards Cuba and she had chosen her angle of counterattack, preparing to speak up, Jeff suddenly raised his voice:
"If Ms. Joanna Pepper’s statements are unbelievable to Ms. Kennedy, then the righteous indignation in Ms. Kennedy’s questions now shocks me even more. Ms. Rosario Kennedy bears the Cuban surname Aquiles, a name in Cuba comparable to Kennedy. Ms. Rosario Kennedy’s grandfather, Elicio Aquiles, was President of the Senate in Cuba; her parents were both senators; and her great uncle’s name was Mario Garcia Aquiles, who served as President of Cuba before Castro’s revolution. She also has three uncles who held important positions such as the mayor of Havana," he continued.
Hearing Jeff questioning Rosario to defend her, Joanna Pepper was far from tearfully grateful; on the contrary, she almost cursed on the spot!
These were the carefully prepared lines she had planned to use to rebut Rosario! How did this guy judge the situation with such precision to drown out the other side by shouting just after Rosario finished saying Pepper was hostile to Cuba and prepared to question her?
After he finished with this spiel, what could she say?
"Family has nothing to do with me, I came to the United States when I was fifteen. I..." Rosario Kennedy was caught off guard by Jeff’s initial attack. She hurried to speak, trying to interrupt Jeff, but Jeff raised his voice without a break in his speech. He didn’t consider it necessary to show deference to a woman and continued, voice constricted as if holding back anger:
"How much aid did the United States Government give Rosario Kennedy’s family and Cuba? Billions. And then what? Not long after her family received the money, Castro led the revolution and ousted them, and all that American aid money went down the drain. Ms. Rosario Kennedy, do you remember the Aquiles family’s promise to the United States Government that Cuba would not fall under the sway of the Soviet Union, and that they would resolve any such occurrence immediately to ensure that it never affected the United States?" he demanded.
"I’m not aware of the situation in Cuba at that time. As I said, I was only fifteen and I would like to add, that period in history is not..." Rosario Kennedy’s face couldn’t feign calmness at this point. Her voice became more rapid as she increased her volume, attempting to break into Jeff’s speech. However, Jeff’s voice was obviously louder and faster. He forcefully pressed down on the lectern, his tone as if he were striving to suppress his rage:
"If I’m not mistaken, that aid money was sent by President Kennedy to Cuba in 1960. Then, less than six months after those taxpayer funds from American citizens were sent to Cuba, you and your grandfather, maternal grandfather, father, mother, and those uncles of yours flew to Miami in a private plane, leaving Cuba entirely to Castro, and your entire family became American," he articulated.
"Furthermore, years later, you managed to marry Mr. David Kennedy in Miami, blissfully, as if your family and the Kennedy Family had never caused the American people to waste a huge sum of aid money or deprived the Cuban people of their freedom," he added.
"If you question Ms. Pepper’s ability to drive legislation forward, am I not also entitled to question your ability? I worry that if a revolution breaks out in Miami one day, you might not only take your family and flee but you might also take the Kennedy Family with you. Of course, taking the Kennedy Family might be a good thing for the American people so that if they continued to make mistakes, the people would want to get rid of them too. You have two ex-husbands, the first was Cuban-American and the second was of Irish descent. If you love Cuba so much, why didn’t you keep your Cuban ex-husband’s surname after the divorce, insisting instead on the Kennedy name? Can you answer me that?" he queried.
Rosario Kennedy was momentarily floored by the question!
Jeff, or rather Tommy, used those grand historical assertions as a decoy, as a way to bewilder Rosario’s thoughts. Just as she found herself ensnared by the rhetoric that Jeff had expressed, thinking he would strike with that issue, he unexpectedly cut in from a completely unexpected angle!
