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El Tiempo of Colombia: McCain’s Visit a ‘Brassy, Tawdry Show’

Posted by WILLIAM KERN in Media, Politics.
Jul 4th, 2008 | Comments

In the United States there has been quite a bit of criticism of John McCain’s visit to Latin America for being ill-timed – although his partisans argue that the trip will shore up his foreign-policy credentials.

So what do Colombians think of the Republican candidate’s visit and the effusive welcome he received from Colombian President Uribe? For Colombia’s top-selling newspaper El Tiempo, Oscar Collazos writes in part:

“Uribe is depositing a symbolic vote for the Republican candidate in the ballot box – a very risky card to play. … Despite the ambiguous efforts of Uribe’s government to imply that the visit doesn’t rule out a future visit by Barack Obama – that’s the message which has been sent. … the fact that we received a presidential candidate who doubles as a clone of the present occupant of the White House with such excessive honors, makes clear our position of inferiority – a position accepted with servility by Colombia’s Chief of State.”

By Óscar Collazos

Translated By Paula van de Werken

July 3, 2008

Colombia – El Tiempo – Original Article (Spanish)

Candidate John McCain’s visit to Colombia, longer than those of Presidents Clinton and Bush; strict security measures taken in Cartagena; his presence at Casa de Huespedes Ilustres [the Colombian version of Camp David]; coverage of his visit by the national and international press; and words of praise for the anti-drug and “anti-terror” policies of President Uribe, suggest that Uribe is depositing a symbolic vote for the Republican candidate in the ballot box – a very risky card to play.

Seen from the other side of the coin, the Republican candidate’s visit is a pat on the back for President Uribe, who is so close to Bush’s foreign policy that he’s one of the few Latin American presidents who shares the shame – along with Bush- of not wanting to accept that the U.S. began a war of aggression and occupation based on a colossal lie, and which today it doesn’t know how to get out of.

Favor for favor. The words of the Presidential host and the preferential treatment given to the visitor seem intended as a response to the Democrats, who have frozen approval of the Free Trade Agreement and who have raised uncomfortable questions about the violation of human rights by forces of the Colombian State.

READ ON AT WORLD MEETS.US, along with continuing translated foreign press coverage of the U.S. election.

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Silhouette

Cindy McCain looks like a scary Barbie Doll. He waves her around like a servant, positions her this way and that and she looks like she is covertly seething behind a pinched smile.. To say that there is no love between them is to say that the Sahara is arid.

It goes without saying.

A scary Barbie Doll. He'd do well to leave that whole act at home. Any way you slice it, with her on stage it's just creepy..on second thought, maybe he should keep her there...lol...

kryon77

You stay classy, my lefty friend Silouette.

The Right is criticized for criticizing Michelle Obama, but notice: We're dealing with her public pronouncements, and disagreeing with them. You, on the other hand, go after a woman's appearance, and use your telepathic powers to tell about Cindy McCain's psychology and her relationship with her husband. But what you actually reveal is only your own arrested and freakish character.

But I originally intended to comment on the post, which uses the Columbia newspaper El Tiempo as a proxy for the views of citizens of Columbia. Maybe that's correct. But maybe the relationship of that paper is like relationship between the New York Times and the American people. The first doesn't represent the second, outside of Manhattan, DC, and and assorted college towns. I've never been to Columbia, but I imagine that the positions of McCain and Obama on the proposed free trade pact with America would dispose the Columbian people toward McCain, and against Obama.

runasim

While El Tiempo may not speak for all the people of Colombia, I doubt that Uribe does so either.

What caught my eye in the article was the reference to human rights, and that relates to the frozen Free Trade agreement between the two countries. Since McCain was such a celebrity visitor, this was a golden opportunity for him to bring up the subject. It is something that should be dealt with by all governments reaping the benefits of global trade. Somehow, I don't think McCain did that.

As our politicians strut their stuff overseas, what are they really selling? As we showcase our attempts to export democracy, we've put exporting values like civil and workers' rights, even at the most minimal level, in a dark closet, to which the door is never opened. Of course, we're trying to shove them into a closet in our own country as well.

It would be gratifiying to see the US offer something more than arms and money, maybe something called respect for human rights. I hope the trade deal goes through, but I hope it doesn't go through without so much as a whimper from worthies enjoying life in luxurious surroundings as the cameras roll. .

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