Bush’s friends continue to unwittingly help Hugo Chavez

February 3, 2006

In August, TV preacher Pat Robertson became an international laughing stock (again) for announcing on his Christian evangelism program that he’d like to see Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez assassinated. Robertson eventually offered a half-hearted apology and the story went away.

Last night, Robertson returned to the issue, and incomprehensively argued that Chavez still needs to be assassinated.

When co-host Alan Colmes asked Robertson, “[I]f he [Chavez] were assassinated, the world would be a safer place?” Robertson answered, “I think South America would.” When Colmes later pressed Robertson, asking, “Do you want him [Chavez] taken out?” Robertson retorted, “Not now, but one day, one day, one day.”

But wait; there’s more. In case Robertson hadn’t done enough to help boost Chavez’s political standing in Venezuela, Rummy wants to help too.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld likened Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to Adolf Hitler, reflecting continuing tension in relations between the United States and the Latin American government. […]

“I mean, we’ve got Chavez in Venezuela with a lot of oil money,” Rumsfeld added. “He’s a person who was elected legally — just as Adolf Hitler was elected legally — and then consolidated power and now is, of course, working closely with Fidel Castro and [Bolivia’s Evo Morales] and others.”

If Chavez were writing the script himself, it wouldn’t turn out any differently.

That’s great. I wonder if Rumsfeld can possibly imagine anyone else who could be described as “elected” “legally” and “then consolidated power and now is, of course, working closely with (people you wouldn’t think the US would be allied with, like Karimov and Putin) and others.” I won’t even repeat his requirement of “a lot of oil money,” because Bush the businessman couldn’t tell his ass from a hole in the ground, given that he couldn’t get oil out of either.

  • Isn’t Chavez the man who returned most of the rights (not oil, obviously) to indiginous lands back to the indiginous people of his country?

  • I wonder if Rumsfeld, working for Reagan, ever delivered nerve gas directly to Saddam Hussein, with which Saddam could “gas his own people”. They were photographed shaking hands on the deal. Incidentally, neither Saddam nor the Kurds he wiped out regarded the Kurds as each other’s “own people”.

    If you were Hugo Chavez, who would it make more sense for you to work with? Castro and Morales, or Cheney and Rumsfeld?

  • Hitler wasn’t elected, legally or not. He was appointed Chancellor under Hindenburg, and used that position to grab dictatorial power. The nazis came close, but never actually won a national election.

  • As Paul Krugman pointed out in the NY Times several years ago, countries without a nuclear arsenal are more likely to receive a harsher treatment from the White House. He speculated that this would lead to a rush of nuclear buildup. I wonder what Venezuala’s nuclear status is.

  • Since, as jimBOB says, Adolf Hitler was never elected, perhaps Rumsfield should modify his statement to instead say “He’s a person who was elected legally — just as George W. Bush was elected legally — and then consolidated power…”

  • It’s easy to see what is in the psyche of Rumsfeld, what he insists on PROJECTING onto others. The current US president was not elected in 2000–but was appointed by cronies after his brother rigged the Florida election–nor in 2004–when massive fraud in Ohio–again, by cronies–allowed him to usurp the prsidential office for the second time.

    Even Hitler’s appointment as Chancellor was cleaner (although there WAS that little matter of the World Trade Center demolition–er, Reichstag fire).

    I can’t think of a single example of the rise of fascism in a country that is more obvious than what has happened in the US since the ear 2000.

    Hugo Chavez is a very intelligent guy, with a fabuloussense of humor–he should get a fair amount of mileage out of this latest Bush-ite gaffe.

  • I know this is petty, but I LOVE this blog, recommend it widely, and hate for you to look silly. I believe you meant ‘incomprehensibly’ not ‘incomprehensively’. It’s not just a mere misspelling, they mean different things. I apologize if this sounds too picky to you. Please keep up your otherwise nearly flawless work!

  • Totally agree. This is exactly what Chavez wants.
    This is an electoral year and his popularity is falling sharply.

    His vote intention is below 50% for the first time since 2004, reports a survey conducted by Venezuelan pollster Datanálisis. That is a dramatic fall from the 71.8% recorded last July by the same surveyor.

    That is why he comes up with this Anti-American soap opera.

  • Popularity depends on WHO measures it, apparently. Figures for Chavez’ popularity at the moment range from 62% to 77%–not exactly reflective of a candidate for re-election in trouble!

    As for the soap opera–here in Latin America, where this poster has lived for 15 years, soaps are extremely popular. However, I don’t see elements of soap opera in Chavez’ relationship to the US government. Considering that they backed the ephemeral 2002 coup with millions of dollars of US taxpayers’ money and logistical support from both the US military and the CIA and continue to pour millions of US taxpayers’ money into destabilizing Venezuela (not to mention the expulsion that one of their military attaches at the US Embassy was just caught en flagrante en an espionage caper and expelled from the country….)

    Looks to me like the soap has Proctor and Gamble written all over it!

  • Rumsfeld went on to say “I mean, we’ve got Bush in the United States with a lot of oil money,” Rumsfeld added. “He’s a person who was elected legally — just as Adolf Hitler was elected legally — and then consolidated power and now is, of course, working closely with Dick Cheney and me and others.”

    • Comments are closed.