Comments on this Entry:
(Zaid on
Apr 23, 2009 4:40 PM)
I still think the exchange between her and Ron Paul was the best one http://ugaliberal.blogspot.com/2009/04/funny-exchange-between-sec-clinton-and.html
(Zaid on
Apr 23, 2009 4:44 PM)
I wish someone would point out that Chavez has been elected in free and fair elections repeatedly that have been monitored by the carter center, HRW, and all that.
And Colombia gets a completely free pass, it has the worst human rights record and government in the entire Western Hemisphere.
I think the equation is this simple: left-wing, pro-labor leader = DICTATOR, right-wing, anti-labor leader = FREEDOM
yup
(Drew on
Apr 23, 2009 10:12 PM)
Chavez does have that unfortunate coup attempt on his record, and per Human Rights Watch, his record on civil liberties – including the right to form and join a union – is poor.
Of course, it isn’t as bad as, say, China, about which Pence would not be similarly concerned, but I think it’s wrong to dismiss the charge the Chavez is an authoritarian leader by virtue of the fact that he’s won elections.
(Zaid on
Apr 23, 2009 11:17 PM)
He has lots of authoritarian tendencies, but not really any more so than any other leader in South America. Certainly not anywhere close to Uribe in Colombia. And he probably has a better human rights record than half of our allies.
As for the coup attempt, he did serve time in jail and run for president the right way after that.
Any way you slice it, it’s really, really wrong to call him a dictator.
As for Human Rights Watch, this is their conclusion on Venezuela under PSUV:
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/story/401909.html
Venezuela is “basically democratic.”
My problem is that the criticisms of Chavez are so ridiculously off the wall, not that they exist. There’s plenty of stuff to criticize about him, legitimately, I think, but this isn’t really about him reflecting authoritarian tendencies, this is about him pissing off corporate interests.
Which is why Islam Karimov or King Abdullah or Uribe or Hu Jintao are considered great guys by Washington even though their human rights record is a thousand times worse than a Chavez or Morales.
(matthewAPN on
Apr 24, 2009 2:34 AM)
“!Ooh! !Ah! !Chavez no se va!”
(Drew on
Apr 24, 2009 10:44 AM)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UH9rC0MaBJc
More pwnage.
(PaulaG on
Apr 24, 2009 12:21 PM)
great video, drew. i love how passionate she is in her answer.
(Decaturguy on
Apr 24, 2009 12:39 PM)
Nice job Hillary.
I’m not fan of Chavez, but it should also be pointed out that since he has been in power he has also conducted elections in which his interests were defeated. Not many dicatators allow that to happen, do they?
(Zaid on
Apr 24, 2009 1:26 PM)
If you pick up any newspaper in Venezuela, you’ll see headlines like “Chavez is a monkey(a racial slur in Venezuela)” and the opposition controls just about all the private newspapers.
Also not very common in a dictatorship..
(BEZERKO on
Apr 28, 2009 9:39 AM)
So it’s ok to hug and kiss and walk holding hands with the Saudi King:
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=bush%2C%20saudi%20king%2C%20holding%20hands&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi
I don’t get the warm fuzzies when I think of King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud. But under no circumstances is it ok to acknowledge and shake hands with Hugo Chavez. Not a nice guy, he took down their senate leaving Venezuela with one chamber to check his powers. The REAL reason though that such vitriol is directed at him from the U.S. is that he nationalized the oil industry.
(Zaid on
Apr 28, 2009 10:52 AM)
“Not a nice guy, he took down their senate leaving Venezuela with one chamber to check his powers.”
I want to do that here. No, I’m serious. Screw the Senate! Is there any more worthless group of people ^_^
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