Strident Anti-Communist, Cuban-American picked to head Foreign Affairs

"I think the common denominator is advancing America's interest, keeping America safe, being non-apologetic about being a superpower, being proud of who we are, advancing human rights" -- Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen

From Eric Dondero:

Elections matter. The United States Congress is about to shift a major post from an ultra-liberal foreign policy dove to a hardline uncompromising hawk.

U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen has been chosen by Speaker-in-waiting Rep. John Boehner and the House Republican leadership to head the powerful Foreign Affairs Committee in the House. The Congresswoman becomes the first Cuban American to hold the distinguished post. She replaces leftist antiwar Democrat Rep. Howard Berman of California.

Rep. Ros-Lehtinen is well-known to Florida Republicans, though her profile is less well-known nationwide. She was first elected to Congress in 1989. She became a heroine of sorts to Florida Young Republicans in the 1990s serving as a role model for other Hispanics winning on the GOP ticket. Florida YR Marco Rubio served a brief stint as a congressional intern for the Congresswoman.

A passionate Americanist, and diehard foreign policy hawk

Fox News outlines some of her stances this morning.

Under her watch, the committee is expected to push for stepped-up sanctions against North Korea and Iran, more oversight of the U.N. and a block on any dialogue with Cuba.

Ros-Lehtinen is outraged by Cuba's membership on the United Nation's Human Rights Council along with China and Saudi Arabia and would like U.S. contributions to the U.N. to be voluntary until the U.S. creates an office to audit U.N. activities for transparency and eliminate waste.

Ros-Lehtinen is tired of groups that complain the U.S. is not doing enough abroad and is among those who have criticized Obama for publicly acknowledging the nation's past support of friendly but undemocratic regimes.

She once made a very controversial statement regarding the Cuban dictator. Continuing:

"I welcome the opportunity of having anyone assassinate Fidel Castro," she told an interviewer in a 2006 British documentary.

Leading opponent of the Mosque at Ground Zero

Pro-Defense libertarians will be most heartened by her tough stance against Radical Islam. Along with her close friend and ally Rep. Peter King of New York, Ros-Lehtinen was one of the most outspoken critics of the Ground Zero Mosque.

From The National:

This year, she attacked Feisal Abdul Rauf, the moderate Sufi imam behind the Park51 Islamic centre (sic) that might be built near the site of the September 11 attack in New York and who has conducted outreach in the Middle East on behalf of the US, saying: "This radical is a terrible choice to be one of the faces of our country overseas."

Jose Cardenas, an expert on Latin American affairs, opined on her anti-Dictator stance at Foreign Policy:

Left-wing radical populists have for too long been allowed to evade international scrutiny of their actions by their claims to represent the will of formally marginalized sectors of their societies. But that should hardly offer any protection for their anti-democratic actions and alliances with international rogues. Ros-Lehtinen will no doubt bring a single standard in promoting democracy and security in our neighborhood, and the peoples of the region will be better off for it.

Economic Liberties

The Congressoman has a generally pro-free enterprise voting record, though somewhat mixed particularly in areas of health care reform, and minimum wage. Her lifetime ACU score is 73 (Project Vote Smart). She has a generally anti-bailout record having voted against the $15 billion spending bill for GM and Chrysler. Like other Republicans she voted against the Obama stimulus bill. She also voted in favor greater oversight of the sub-prime mortgage industruy. She has a consistently Pro-Free Trade voting record for Latin America and other regions of the World.

On two critical issues for libertarians she took the right stance. The first, Rep. Ros-Lehtinen voted No on a bill that would restrict Americans access to overseas Tax Havens. Secondly, she was a co-sponsor of Texas Rep. Ron Paul's bill to Audit the Federal Reserve. (Source: RonPaul.com)

A libertarian streak on social issues

The South Florida Rep. has an atypical voting record for a conservative on social matters. She's uncompromisingly pro-life. However, on other social issues she takes a more moderate, almost libertarian-leaning stance. She is tough on illegal immigration, but as a daughter of Cuban immigrants, she favors less stringent restrictions on legal immigration.

She's also a longtime friend and ally of the Gay GOP group Log Cabin Republicans. See Miami Herald "Log Cabin Republicans celebrate election victories, including U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Miami."

Photos - Rep. Ros-Lehtinen holding a copy of the US Constitution in Spanish. Posing for a photo with (That 70's Show) Actor Wilmer Valderrama at Miami-Dade College.