The Devil made him do it

[sirs]

[sirs]

BY JAMES TARANTO
Wednesday, September 20, 2006

He Who Smelt It . . .
"It smells of sulfur still today," said Venezuela's screwball strongman, Hugo Chavez, in a speech before the U.N. General Assembly. "Yesterday, ladies and gentlemen, from this rostrum, the president of the United States, the gentleman to whom I refer as the devil, came here, talking as if he owned the world."

Oh, it's just too rich. Here's how he began:

Representatives of the governments of the world, good morning to all of you. First of all, I would like to invite you, very respectfully, to those who have not read this book, to read it. Noam Chomsky, one of the most prestigious American and world intellectuals, Noam Chomsky, and this is one of his most recent books, "Hegemony or Survival: The Imperialist Strategy of the United States." [Holds up book, waves it in front of General Assembly.] . . .

The president of the United States came to talk to the peoples--to the peoples of the world. He came to say--I brought some documents with me, because this morning I was reading some statements, and I see that he talked to the people of Afghanistan, the people of Lebanon, the people of Iran. And he addressed all these peoples directly.

And you can wonder, just as the president of the United States addresses those peoples of the world, what would those peoples of the world tell him if they were given the floor? What would they have to say?

And I think I have some inkling of what the peoples of the south, the oppressed people think. They would say, "Yankee imperialist, go home."

Here's a photo of Chavez holding up the Chomsky book. We missed the speech but watched some of the cable-TV commentary, in which it seemed that liberals were forced to say things along the lines of, Well, whatever you think of Bush, this guy is really awful.

As Churchill once said, "If Hitler invaded hell I would make at least a favorable reference to the devil in the House of Commons." But the Angry Left won't be happy about having to take Bush's side. How long before they start claiming that Karl Rove wrote Chavez's America-hating diatribe?


http://www.opinionjournal.com/best/?id=110008969

[Amianthus]

How long before they start claiming that Karl Rove wrote Chavez's America-hating diatribe?

That's what I'm waiting for.

Brass, Terra, Lanya, where are you now that we need you?

[_JS]

Actually, I thought it was funny.

Got to hand it to Chavez, the man has a sense of humour.

[Xavier_Onassis]

Chavez is funny. He's a great speaker.

He was talking to Venezuelans and others in South America. Juniorbush has already tried to stage a coup to oust Chavez, and part of this is payback, as in "look here, you bully, you are not only a bully but an incompetent one to boot. I am still here, and everyone hates you, so go suck an egg!'"

[sirs]

Well of course.  As long as he's ridiculing Bush and America, he's a riot.  One can only imagine the outrage directed at Bush if he were to ridicule any other Foreign leader, while addressing the UN or some other large international gathering.  Oh wait, already happening.  My bad

[_JS]

Quite frankly, when you attempt to remove a duly elected leader of a nation through dubious means, then your president can stand to be the butt of a few jokes.

Moreover, given the United States history with Latin America and our less than sterling record to which Bush has so generously added his own name, be grateful that Chavez and others have such a good sense of humour as opposed to the long memory that other areas of the world have.

[sirs]

As i said...I don't even have to imagine the outrage leveled at Bush when he attempts or even indirectly demeans the leader of another foreign country.  Stuff along the lines of how thoroughly disrespectful and unpresidential, when not being labeled idiot

[_JS]

Yes, yes

President Bush is such a victim of double standards.

Let's all join together and whinge some more for the difficulties faced by President Bush.

Maybe Laura will bake him some cookies and make him feel better since that mean ol' Chavez hurt his feelings.

[sirs]

President Bush is such a victim of double standards

Bingo....though obviously not relegated to Bush alone.  Pretty much applies to anything Bush/Conservative.  But since when is pointing out the obvious tantamount to whining?  When the left doesn't have a good rebuttal perhaps?

[Michael Tee]

My assistant walked in this morning and the first thing she said was, hey, did you hear what this guy from Venezuela called Bush yesterday in the UN?  She was kind of elated, almost gleeful, and she's not at all political.  I personally thought it was funny as hell. 

A lot of people are talking about this and all the comment is favourable.  I haven't heard a negative word yet, but admittedly did not watch the TV commentary this morning or last night.  The general feeling seems to be that it's about time this low-life got his public comeuppance, and Chavez deserves a big vote of thanks for finally saying it in such a setting.

If further evidence were needed as to how low the U.S. has sunk in world public opinion under Bush, this latest would be very much to the point.

[hnumpah]

If further evidence were needed as to how low the U.S. has sunk in world public opinion under Bush, this latest would be very much to the point.

And that's really sad, considering how much goodwill we had coming our way after 9-11. Even when we went into Afghanistan, it was seen as going after the ones who had attacked us and the regime that was sheltering them. Bush squandered it on Iraq, though.

[sirs]

More accurately, it demonstrates the level of irrelevence and how uncredible the UN has become globally.  Much like what the NAACP has become nationally.  Not even a shell of what their original good intentions were.  Now just a mutation of once great organizations.

[Michael Tee]

The UN as such had nothing to do with Chavez' remarks, other than providing him with a forum, a "bully pulpit" from which his comments would obtain maximum publicity.

What demonstrates the low esteem into which America has fallen under Bush is the almost universal sense of glee with which (apart from the usual MSM whores) the world seems to have greeted these remarks.  Even people like my young assistant, who normally don't give a shit, were totally pumped by the idea that this lying little bastard was finally being given the disrespect he was entitled to in a very public way, by people who even five years ago wouldn't have dared.

[sirs]

The UN had everything to do with the forum it provided.  Once an organization focused on dealing with global conflicts and sincere attempts at dealing with such, now simply caters to American Bashing, anti-semetic tripe, and calls it diplomacy.  One big International Elitist debating society, where their word means nothing, and their enforcement of their own resolutions means even less