Bush is the devil
So, as I’m sure many of you know, said Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez at the U.N. yesterday. (And, no, I’m not pulling a Ratzinger-Benedict. You know, making a point with a quotation, then hiding behind the quotation. That sort of thing. Let me be clear: I don’t think Bush is the devil.)
The fact that Chavez received some applause in response to the devil remark says something about the U.N., or at least about some of its sovereign member-states. This was, after all, an address to the U.N. General Assembly.
Readers of both The Reaction and The Moderate Voice will know that I don’t much care for Bush and that I have been relentlessly critical of his foreign policy, but it’s demagogic hyperbole to say that the U.S. seeks what Chavez called the “domination, exploitation, and pillage of peoples of the world”. Then again, Chavez rules by demagogic hyperbole.
Ambassador John Bolton was quite right to point out that “the people of Venezuela don’t have free speech”. At the invitation of the international community, and to much of that community’s pleasure, Chavez can say what he wants. The Venezuelan people, alas, are not so fortunate.
Such is the glory of Hugo Chavez, tyrant.
19 Responses to “Bush is the devil”
Although he is tangentially right in the fact that western civilization was built on the “domination, exploitation, and pillage of peoples of the world.” Let us not forget that fact.
Chavez calls his enemies “the devil” while we call our enemies “evil”.
I’d say no one comes off looking very rational.
Chavez is an idiot. But he’s a fairly popular idiot. All of Latin America has veered to the Left in recent years, in response to neoliberal economic policies of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. Chavez is merely the most demagogic among the Latin Left’s leadership. Chile’s Bachelet, Argentina’s Kirschner and Brazil’s Lula are more moderate advocates of the same leftward drift.
Excellent post–very well said.
The comments (so far) are also good and even useful. I especially agree with Davebo’s implication that we could use more reason and less name-calling in–well, pretty much everything.
I think that’s all true, Elrod. But I think the main reason Chavez continues to have a significant voice on the international stage is of course our greatest weakness- oil.
I dont think Bush is the Devil.
Just one of his lesser minions.
Cheney on the other hand……
I agree with Davebo, that the name-calling has really gotten out of hand and further diminished a once august institution. Just as commenters on this blog are held to certain standards of civility, diplomats and heads-of-state at prestigious international institutions should be held to certain levels of civility.
Makes me wonder what our diplomacy would look like if world powers weren’t dependent on Chavez and Ahmadinejad for their oil. Hasn’t this elevated their status, while greatly diminishing the power of the US? Chavez may seem like a cheap schoolyard bully to us, but in South and Latin America, where our free markets have not led to their prosperity, he is a rock star.
Ah, you don’t think he is THE devil, just that he is A devil. Very important nuance, that. jejeje
Makes me wonder what our diplomacy would look like if world powers weren’t dependent on Chavez and Ahmadinejad for their oil.
The world powers don’t have to be dependent, they choose that path.
Being a crackhead sucks because of the people you have to deal with.
Its the same for oil addiction.
just that he is A devil.
No, I think a lessor minion would be more like a demon.
Bush, the devil… Yeah, I can see it. Face it, the US gov’t (I live there) has stomped on any and all lessers, economic, military, etc., for quite a while. Not hard to see why or imagine when one of theirs gets elected on a non-US platform that they’d ‘devil-ize’ the US. Maybe we should start treating others as equals instead of trying to dominate every aspect of the waking day. Jeez, that gets tiring afterwhile, ya know…
With the exceptions of Colombia and Mexico, who have swung to the Right. The ironic thing is that Chavez is being seen as the colonialist these days, hence the cooling of relations with Brazil and Nicaragua, and the election of a vehemently anti-Chavez president in Peru.
I think Chavez’s comment about the sulphur was a fart joke. You know GW loves fart jokes, so maybe he flaoted one that hung in the air for awhile? hehe
Bush isn’t the Devil; he’s the Anti-Christ.
“Americans have freedom of speech” – yes, but our institutions don’t listen. Our Freedom of Speech (which is under siege in oh so many ways) has become little more than venting: we speak, but it makes no difference.
Well, if you listen to Rush- its the Bush-haters and their expressions of dissent that have emboldened our enemies Chavez and Ahmadinejad to believe that most Americans would welcome their opinions of our president. Is there any ill in the world that Democrats are not responsible for in the eyes of the Limpy One?
Is there any ill in the world that Democrats are not responsible for in the eyes of the Limpy One?
Short answer? No!
“Util now, the Chávez government has largely respected press freedom even in the face of a strident and well-resourced opposition press. Indeed, as part of the often heated and acrimonious debate between supporters of the government and its opponents, the press has been able to express strong views without restriction. Private television companies have often adopted a blatantly partisan position, and their news and debate programs have been extremely hostile to the Chávez government.”
Human Rights Watch
November 24, 2004
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/11/30/venezu9754.htm
As the old saying goes, freedom of the press means freedomm for those who own the presses. The traditional wealthy elites in Venezuala are at war with Chavex. They also control virtually all of the major media outlets in the country. And, like W.R. Hearst and Rupert Murdoch, they use them as propaganda weapons in their political battles.
Chavez and his supporters tolerated this situation for many years, but finally decided to take the fight to their enemies, using the power of the government, which THEY control.
If ABC, NBC and CBS were owned and operated by the Green Party, you’d see the same thing happen in this country, First Amendment or no First Amendment. And the right wing reactionaries now freaking out over Hugo Chavez’s “tyranny” would be cheering all the way.
What can you say? Class struggle can be a real bitch.
Chavez needs to find a new way to make his argument-his performance at the UN brought shame to that already troubled institution. It was a mockery of the purpose Harry Truman had in mind when he supported its formation. Plus, Chavez made even BUSH look presidential by comparison, which takes some doing.
billmon- I do agree that a lot of our dispute with Chavez and other South American countries is based on class struggle. We expect those countries to host our corporations, and provide free markets for the investor class and not much else.
Since 9/11 our country has become polorized. The Bushies chose to politicize our greatest tragedy. Now Iran is paranoid, with American Troops to the east and west of it, Brazil and Venezuala and Bolivia have gone socialist. Bush is not the devil, he is not nearly smart enough, neither is his administration. All Cheney and Rumsfeld learned from Nixon’s near impeachment is that next time their pres would need more power concentrated in the executive branch.
Regardless if you agree with Chavez or not, or are insulted or not, by his comment, his speech, the war in Iraq, Katrina, our inability to pressure Iran, all demonstate America’s inability to deal with domestic or foreign affairs. Things will get worse before they get better and my opinion is in the end we, America, will swing far to the left, say as far as Canada, France, and England. It’s not what I want, but it is what I suspect will happen within the next six years as things continue to break down.
As Americans we need to learn to take contructive criticism from our enemies and friends, and look inward and make our country the best place to live on earth. A lot of what Chavez says, and Iran’s anti-semetic president says, is truth mixed with lies, and a lot of what the Bush Administration says is truth mixed with lies. But Bush’s lies are getting people killed, innocent people tortured (like the guy in Canada). If Chavez had that kind of power maybe the same would be true. But he doesn’t. And, Bush’s power should be checked by the voters, by congress, the courts, like our founding fathers intended. But for now we have a runaway congress that rubber stamps all he wants, and for all intents and purposes, he is very close to being a dictator. If congress doesn’t check him will the saying “absolute power corrupts absolutely” ring true, or has it already?
I can see why Chavez does not like Bush after the coup attempt in 2001 and all. But, if you can go in front of the U.N. and call a sitting American President “the devil” repeatedly, and get away with it, then that means the American President and his country are perceived as weak. That is the point everyone is missing – Bush, his administraion, they are weak, they’ve made America weak. The wolves are not circling yet, but they, and the sharks, China, Russia, N. Korea, they all smell blood, heck they see the blood.
Weren’t we suppose to be fighting Al-Qaeda. Where is Osama Bin Laden. Boy are we on the wrong path.