Useful idiots cheer Chavez in London (bumped for sanctions)
posted at 3:12 pm on May 15, 2006 by Allahpundit
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The headline says it all. Photos are at Getty. Ooh ah, Chavez no se va,” they chanted, and little do they know how right they are. Or maybe they do know.
Red Ken Livingstone, who chaired the Chavez rally at town hall, dutifully assumes the position with a tract so broad it would embarrass the Daily Worker. Ian Buruma shakes his head and wonders how the left will outmaneuver the dreaded neocons when it’s saddled with so many thug-hugging fellow travelers:
One of the most vexing things for artists and intellectuals who live under the compulsion to applaud dictators is the spectacle of colleagues from more open societies applauding of their own free will. It adds a peculiarly nasty insult to injury… Hugo Chavez, the elected strongman of Venezuela, is the latest object of adulation by western “progressives” who return from jaunts in Caracas with stars in their eyes.
Hitchens anticipated the Chavez love-in a few weeks ago when he offered three explanations for “this horrid mutation of the left into a reactionary and nihilistic force.” Read it all, especially his closing broadside at the new popular front. Of which, let it be known, Chavez is most emphatically a member.
Update: Sanctions. It’s hard to take the idea that “you’re either with us or with the terrorists” completely seriously on a day when we’re restoring relations with Libya, but it’s comforting to know it still means something.
Meanwhile, in London:
[A] reporter for the BBC likened some comments of [Chavez's] to Bush’s phrase, first delivered shortly after the September 11 terrorist attacks, “You are either with us or against us in the fight against terror.”
At that, Chavez erupted in anger about being “compared to the biggest genocide person alive, in the history of humanity, the president of the United States — killer, genocidal, immoral — who should be taken to prison by an international court. I don’t know to what you are referring when you compare me to President Bush.
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Remember that quote from Star Wars, “I have a bad feeling about this…”?
gmoonster on May 15, 2006 at 1:18 AM
Since when did Venezuela matter? Just another banana republic under the hell of yet another dictator.
clyde on May 15, 2006 at 8:32 AM
Round em up, drop em off. Then they can live under those mental midgets and tyrants that they claim to adore.
NRA4Freedom on May 15, 2006 at 9:26 AM
Desturbing.
Cary on May 15, 2006 at 11:41 AM
If you like Chaves, you’ll love the next Mexican President.
Greg McCann on May 15, 2006 at 12:42 PM
Did Chaves convert to Islam?
Speaking to IRNA on the sidelines of the EU-Latin America Summit, Chavez said, “We pray to `Allah’ that no war would be launched against Iran! http://www.regimechangeiran.com/
Catnip on May 15, 2006 at 3:43 PM
This is the start of a new South American Oil Power block. Bolivia, Venezuela, Mexico (depending on who wins the election), and of all places, Cuba (who has Communist China helping to exploit Gulf Oil), will have a stranglehold on the economy of the US.
Our politicians need to get off their collective butts and allow drilling off the Coasts of Calif, and Florida, and in Anwar.
And of course, we need to STOP paying farmers to NOT grow crops which could then be converted to Ethenol…
Wake up America, if we don’t do somthing about this situation in South America, its gonna bite us…
Romeo13 on May 15, 2006 at 4:08 PM
Me thinks the Lady McChavez doth protest too much… “erupted in anger about being compared to [someone the Lady thinks to be a] killer, genocidal, immoral — who should be taken to prison by an international court. I don’t know to what you are referring when you compare me…”
To quote another Star Wars line, “must have hit her pretty close to the mark to get her all riled up like that, huh, kid?”
Wineaholic on May 15, 2006 at 4:16 PM
Hey Michelle, I went to check out a couple of links you have listed on the right and apparently recommend, and one, ZIPPERFISH, is full of semi-naked chicks. Semi-naked chicks vote too, I guess.
clyde on May 15, 2006 at 4:56 PM
Would it be horribly bad to pop Chavez?
Defector01 on May 15, 2006 at 5:10 PM
if chavez isn’t dealt with and soon, then a nice little cabal between him, NK, iran, cuba, and other south american communistas will flourish… the notion that we cannot assassinate world-leaders that pose a problem to us is becoming intolerable… while the counter-argument could be that, it would be open season on US officials, tell me when that hasn’t been the case ever if not at least post 9/11… if tom cruise can do it in movies, then why can’t we do it on the political front…
afterall, isn’t hollywood about shaping the perception of reality…? or was that politics…? okay, now i’m confused…
Asmodeus on May 15, 2006 at 7:56 PM
Just another Chucklehead running a banana republic until his people get a clue as to what he is up to. Then he will be swinging at the bottom of a rope.
NEMETI IN SYRACUSE on May 15, 2006 at 7:57 PM
The worst mistake the democratic coup made was not to have Hugo have an accident immediately after they captured him. Just more proof about what the Left really is. They are all complicit in the worst crimes against humanity and are conspiring to commit them all over again. When does he begin to execute the landowners?
libertarianuberalles on May 15, 2006 at 8:07 PM
Well, Cindy Sheehan loves the guy. That should be proof he is on the up and up.
gary on May 16, 2006 at 6:54 PM
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