When it comes to toadying up to the Castro regime, it's going to be tough for the Associated Press to top its achievement noted by Clay Waters - Some Cubans Enjoy Comforts of Communism.

Even so, the AP - in the person of writer Andrew Selsky - put in a more-than-respectable effort today with the article No Photos of Castro Since His Surgery.

Here's the key line:

"Most Cubans have insisted that they are sure Castro will recover and that the government will function fine until then. But others have privately expressed worries that their leader may be more sick than the world knows."

Let's 'desconstruct' this. According to the AP, all Cubans fall into one of two categories:

1. Those that are sure Fidel will recover, and in the meantime are positive that the government will function 'fine;' or

2. Those who are worry that Fidel might be sicker than imagined. Of course, they only worry 'privately.' Wouldn't want to upset the kids, I guess.

So that would leave - give me a sec to run the numbers - exactly 0% of Cubans who think things aren't so fine in Cuba, or who - !Dios Mio! - might actually welcome the day when Fidel shuffles off to the Great Workers Paradise in the Sky.

Yup, it's just one big happy familia down Havana way, all eagerly awaiting the day that El Comandante retakes the reins. True, the overwhelming majority of Cubans are deprived of freedom and mired in poverty.

But, hey - in unison now - they have free health care in Cuba!

—Mark Finkelstein is a NewsBusters contributing editor and host of Right Angle. Contact him at mark@gunhill.net.