NotiPR :: That's All Folks! :: Neil Cavuto's Short, But Excellent Adventure

2.25.05

Neil Cavuto's Short, But Excellent Adventure

By Keith W. Tyras Romanello 2004: 10.22 10.29 11.5 11.12 11.19 11.26 12.3 12.10 12.17 12.24 12.31

2005: 1.7 1.14 1.21 1.28 2.4 2.11 2.18 3.4 3.11 3.18 3.25 4.1 4.8 4.15 4.22 4.29 5.6 5.13 5.20 5.27 6.3 6.10 6.17 6.24 7.1 7.8 7.15 7.22 7.29 8.5 8.12 8.19 8.26 9.2

This past Monday, Fox News Channel's Neil Cavuto spoke about Puerto Rico possibly becoming the 51st state of the United States of America in his daily end-of-program commentary. Neil Cavuto hosts "Your World," and his commentary Monday was entitled "Room for One More?" He had been in Puerto Rico over the weekend for a business conference. In his commentary, he didn't mention the beautiful weather he enjoyed. He didn't mention the beautiful hotels and casinos. He didn't mention the great restaurants. He didn't mention the great people. He didn't mention the incredible cultural sights or the pristine beaches.

If he didn't mention these things because he was here for only a few days and was mainly occupied with business, then how the heck could he mention something as complex as the issue of status?

Here is the entire commentary:

«Room For One More?
Monday, February 21, 2005
By Neil Cavuto

I was in Puerto Rico at a business conference this past weekend and off-hand, one of the attendees mentioned how Puerto Rico is at a crossroads.

It's got to decide: Either become a state of this country, or a self-sustaining republic. Nothing in-between, which is kind of what this commonwealth enjoys now -- all the benefits of statehood, without the taxes.

But I started thinking that might be a lot easier said than done. For one thing, there's the issue of the star.

Let's say Puerto Rico becomes our 51st state. Where do we put that 51st star on our flag? Go ahead, figure that out.

Then there's the other issue of representation in Washington. With four million-plus residents, by my math, Puerto Rico would not only have the two obligatory senators -- there goes you're nice, round 100 -- but at least eight representatives in Congress. It would leapfrog right past states like Delaware, Rhode Island, North Dakota, South Dakota, and several others.

I imagine they might not be too pleased.

And could you imagine how residents of the District of Columbia would feel? They're already out in our national body, save a non-voting member. How would they feel about this island nation just coming into the Capitol, wham-bam-thank-you-ma’m?

Which raises the issue of those 10 extra seats: Do we physically have them in Congress, or would we squeeze everybody in for one of those State of the Union addresses? I've been there -- ain't too much room to spare there. It’s sort of like my family reunions. Someone's going to have to sit at the kids' table. But who?!

I began thinking Puerto Rico might very well want to become a state. And I think they'd make a great state. The Puerto Ricans I talked to sure thought so. I'm just not sure everyone here would feel the same way.

So Puerto Rico, keep debating the battle for statehood there. It's nothing compared to the battle you'll likely face ... here.

Watch Neil Cavuto weekdays at 5 p.m. PR / 4 p.m. ET on "Your World with Cavuto" and send your comments to cavuto@foxnews.com»

In Neil's commentary, he clearly states that HE thinks Puerto Rico would make a great state, but isn't too sure everyone else might think it was a great idea. As far as I have always been concerned, whether Puerto Rico becomes a state, an independent country or remains a commonwealth -- it wouldn't change what Puerto Rico is all about. It would still be the best place in the United States for too many reasons to mention.

I can say this with a little more conviction, since I have spent a little more than a weekend observing things and talking with people.

Besides, if Puerto Rico does in fact become a state one day, it may actually become the 52nd state as a group of "GOP senators want eastern Washington as a state." I can't wait to hear Cavuto's commentary on this development.

About a month or so ago, Neil Cavuto had as one of his guests, Banco Popular's Richard Carrión. During the interview, Richard Carrión mentioned that in the United States, only about 50% of Banco Popular's clientele was Hispanic -- that leaves the other 50% as everyone else. Since I cannot imagine anyone in the United States thinking that Banco Popular is a German, French or Japanese financial institution -- that would mean that MANY people trust their money with a Puerto Rico financial institution. That alone should say EVERYTHING.

I don't believe that Neil Cavuto read El Nuevo Día 3 or 4 years ago when they published an article that included a poll stating something like 70% of the people of the United States would welcome Puerto Rico as the 51st state.

I don't believe that Neil Cavuto is familiar with a study on worker loyalty and productivity done a few years ago by the Walker Information Global Network and Hudson Institute. Puerto Rico ranked #4 in the world, ahead of the United States of America. The U.S. ranked #7. That alone should say EVERYTHING.

Neil Cavuto isn't alone at Fox News Channel. I can remember last summer when Puerto Rico beat the "U.S. Dream Team" in the 2004 Olympics and John Gibson and others seemed to be in shock -- and possibly because of that shock couldn't help pronouncing Puerto Rico as PUERTOOO RICOOO????, like it wasn't possible that athletes from a small Island could be better that those athletes so celebrated and so obviously overrated. It would have been nice, in addition to editorializing the pronunciation of the name Puerto Rico, to also realize and comment on the fact that the same heroic people in the United States military who risk their lives everyday protecting the United States of America are also from Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico isn't France or Germany -- and neither are the athletes from Puerto Rico. They deserve the same respect as if the "Dream Team" had won -- because Puerto Rico and the United States ARE ON THE SAME TEAM IN LIFE AND DEATH.

There really is no reason for anyone at FNC to wait for Puerto Rico to become a state. I think it's more than the right time that Fox News Channel opens a permanent Puerto Rico bureau, whereas ALL the news about the Island can be incorporated into their various news programs as news of every state in the United States is. Politicians and others can appear on their various programs on a regular basis just like people do from all 50 states and throughout the world.

A couple of weeks ago, a 4-year-old Michigan boy took his mom's car and drove to Blockbuster to get a video. It became a national story. The kid wasn't a hero or anything like that, but it was definitely a very UNIQUE story.

A few years ago, in Puerto Rico, there was another young boy about 8 or 9-years-old, if I remember correctly. His mom had some kind of a medical crisis at home in the middle of the night during a severe thunder storm. This kid got his unconscious mom into the family car and drove her in terrible weather 30 minutes away to a hospital, saving her life. Now that's heroic! Wouldn't that have made a UNIQUE story! Fox News Channel didn't cover that story, nor did ANYONE else in the United States.

I began watching Fox News Channel during the good-old Elián González days -- when Elián was still living in the United States with his family in Miami. Orlando Salinas quickly became my favorite journalist at Fox News. There isn't one person on Fox News Channel I can think of that I do not like A LOT.

I actually have little if anything negative to say about Fox News Channel beyond their coverage of Puerto Rico. The first time I noticed something I didn't like, which was regarding how a story on Vieques was being covered, I sent FNC an e-mail with my concerns. One of the news executives wrote me back. That alone said EVERYTHING to me about Fox News. Since that time, whenever I have something I would like to say about their coverage or lack of coverage about Puerto Rico or anything else, I write to this same person and he writes me back.

The best show on Fox News Channel for me is "Fox News Watch" with Eric Burns. As far as the other programming, it's all top-notch. I especially like Rebecca Gómez and since I began watching FNC, I was very happy to see Greta Van Susteren come to FNC from CNN and John Gibson and Gregg Jarrett join FNC from MSNBC. Now I have little if any reason to get my cable news anywhere else.

Anyway, with all of Neil Cavuto's clout at Fox News and his connections throughout the financial world, it might be nice if sometime soon, he brought his show to Puerto Rico for an entire week or two and explored everything he may have missed this past weekend.

Well, that's all folks! Until next Friday.

Keith

For motivational speeches, conferences, media requests and other things such as eating disorders, you'll have to contact someone else. My only qualifications for writing a weekly column are based solely upon having a lot of free time, unlimited Internet access and very little else.