Video: Rangel warns Chavez not to attack “my president”; Update: Gratuitous DU thread added
posted at 1:13 pm on September 21, 2006 by Allahpundit
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This would have meant a lot more coming from a guy who hadn’t referred to Bush in the past as “our Bull Connor.”
His point is actually quite weak. Barack Obama, to his credit, used his trip to Kenya a few weeks ago to criticize that country’s government for its rampant corruption. The nutroots went hog wild over George “Hero for our time” Galloway’s grandstanding anti-American testimony before Congress last year. No one has a big problem with foreign dignitaries insulting the home team — except when we’re two months out from a midterm election and the backlash from those insults is apt to swing a few voters the “wrong” way. Rangel’s noisy display of patriotism this morning was his attempt to blunt that effect.
Still, it’s always nice to see a lefty put country over party. Even if he really isn’t.
Gateway Pundit has video of UN bottom-feeders clapping and laughing during Chavez’s “devil” remarks. The New York Post responds.
Update: Pelosi’s reading from the same script. She’s right, of course.
Update: Chomsky’s book is number four today on Amazon.
Update: Rangel’s office has issued a statement emphasizing that it’s the “personal” attack on Bush that he has a problem with. That’s a strange complaint coming from the master of the “Bull Connor” analogy. Essentially he’s saying that repulsive, cartoonish ad hominems are fine, so long as you’re a citizen.
Update: E.M. Zanotti says it’s no wonder the Dems feel safe in criticizing Chavez.
Hes not threatening to blow anything up. He’s not threatening the lives of thousands of people in the west. At most, he’s threatening the latest Oprah book club selection’s position at the top of the best seller list, or Noam Chomskys good name. Hes absolutely not a problem.
Which means he absolutely requires no solution. As long as Venezeula relies on the United States to buy his oil, his alliance with Iran, a country halfway around the world, are for show, and poor-dresser solidarity. Theres no need to have a plan to deal with him, a comprehensive solution to his dictatorial rule, no need to implement free elections, or even format a battle plan. Not that it wouldn’t be an excellent idea–Venezuela sits on 30% of the worlds supply of crude oil–but its not even near a necessity, so the Democrats have no problem having any moral clarity. They don’t have to follow through on threats.
Update: You’re all waiting for it. Here you go: the DU thread.
Update: Either Fox has themselves a new headline writer or the one they’ve got has been let off the leash. Check these out.
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I’m not blasting you guys for getting in to it with Honora because I’ve done the same with him and other liberals too many times to count, but I have to say that he exists here only to divert and confuse the issue to fill some sick “in the lion’s den” fantasy he has. What is he really talking about? Is he having a dialogue that’s important to anything here at all? No. He wants to call Bush dumb, then when corrected, say it’s about “relative intelligence”, then it’s about “lack of curiosity, then it’s about “Kerry is just deeper” (no supporting evidence), etc. etc. Haven’t we all dealt with his type before? Again, I’m not one to talk, but I scrolled through a bit of this spat with honora and was too annoyed not to say something.
RightWinged on September 21, 2006 at 7:46 PM
Being able to mispronounce “Ghengis” and use a phony English accent isn’t a great measure of intelligence. Just look at Madonna.
Dem talking point for the day: Quick! Pretend you don’t agree with Chavez!
NTWR on September 21, 2006 at 8:06 PM
Ugh, seriously! It’s a measure of how annoying a person can be. I have to slap myself everytime I hear “razed villages in a fashion reminiscent of Ghengis Khan”.
Besides, didn’t we all learn what an idiot Kerry was (besides Bush’s better grades, etc.) during that week he tried to pander to Red Sox Nation? He started wearing the hat, he showed up at a game and then when asked who his favorite player was he named an imaginary player “Manny Ortiz”. It was so obvious that his handlers had given him a quick briefing on the team so he could pretend to talk the talk, but then he mixed up two star players Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz, and revealed what a pandering liar he was. Of course he made up for it by going hunting in giant clothes that made him look like a child playing dress-up in daddy’s clothes. Oh and of course, sports
fanpanderer Kerry referred to Lambeau Field as Lambert Field.Obviously I’m joking, knowing these things isn’t a measure of intelligence either. But the fact that he thought he could fool people in to believing he was something he’s not takes a real idiot. At any rate, I’ll never forgive him for “Manny Ortiz”… as if there weren’t enough other reasons to despise him.
RightWinged on September 21, 2006 at 8:22 PM
Really, Honora, after the spanking you’ve had here today I’m a little reluctant to pile on. However, I must. Like most liberals, your rampant use of meaningless generalities in arguments, your mis-direction from the subject of the thread when you’re in over your head, and your elitist, oh-so-overeducated snobbery is glaringly transparent – precisely why so many Americans find Kerry, et al so repugnant.
Americans are not nearly as stupid as liberals like you delude yourselves into believing. If they were, they would ALL be voting Democrat.
Benthoven on September 21, 2006 at 9:01 PM
Rangel works for El Diablo and doesn’t like other people getting the credit. How else could a twit like that get elected.
Hening on September 21, 2006 at 9:25 PM
You know who else sees things in black and white Honora? People with principles. Let’s put the crayons away. How about Right and Wrong? Seeing things in shades of gray is rationalizing something that you know is wrong. As to all this hoo ha ha about Rangel defending the President; he’s defending two things, jack and sh*t. The democrats had two options in reacting to Chavez’s rant: They could either cheerlead and say ‘Yeah, even commie thug dictators think Bush sucks! Rah rah dictators!’ Or, they could offer a half a** slap at Chavez that everybody knows they don’t mean. Why would you say that? Cholly Rangel was so sincere. No, Cholly Rangel has survival instinct. Some little tinhorn dictator slithers up from his 3rd world dump and starts running his mouth about how our President is evil, the American people are going to be very angry. Now, if you are the Democrats, the last thing you want to do is find common cause with him, so they take the smart course and criticize Chavez. The sad thing is, so many people seem to think the Democrats mean it. Don’t make me vomit. They’ve called Bush ten times worse; they’re mainstreaming a conspiracy theory that he killed 3000 americans so he could start the most unpopular war in the last century. You think they care if their second favorite commie dirtbag calls him El Burrito Supreme, or whatever Chaveze said? Course not. Get real guys. If George Bush dropped dead tomorrow, you’d see every democrat in the house and senate acting like the Palestinians were after 9/11.
austinnelly on September 21, 2006 at 10:13 PM
austinnelly – i totally agree with your post 100%. I liked the part where you say that democrats in the House & Senate would be laughing & cheering if Bush dropped dead tomorrow just like the Palestinians did after 9/11 and how true it is.
Starblazer on September 21, 2006 at 10:22 PM
And the progressive liberal democrats at the democraticunderground.com say,
“Chavez might have his faults, but the guy deserves a fucking medal for saying something that all our Democratic leaders would love to say…but don’t have the balls to.”
“LOL,I agree completely with you on this one”
“”George Bush esta El Dipshitto!”
“Exactly correct”
“Harkin defends Venezuelan President’s U-N speech against Bush by Darwin Danielson Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, a Democrat, today defended Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s United Nations speech in which Chavez called President George Bush the devil…”
“Thank you Harkin…I am tired of the House Dems slamming Chavaz ”
“Finally, a DEMOCRAT with balls.”
“Yes, Charlie and Nancy: Bush IS the Devil. Or have you forgotten…”
“Nancy Pelosi has a lot of nerve calling Hugo a “thug”. Shows how ignorant she is about the situation in Venezuela.”
“Chavez rocks, this guy has more heart than most the leaders can dream of…”
And on and on and on.
NRA4Freedom on September 21, 2006 at 10:22 PM
Apparently Harkin didnt get the memo…looks like the fax lines are slow in Iowa.
Malpaso on September 21, 2006 at 10:43 PM
C’mon, give Charley and Nancy some credit. There used to be a time in this country’s history when “politics ended at the water’s edge.” Maybe, just maybe, they’ve reminded the Dems of that and might reinvorgate the idea. Maybe they’ll stop giving America’s enemies their talking points. Let’s applaud Charley Rangel and Nancy Pelosi. Unfortunately, they’ll then be targeted by the ultra-left, just like Joe Lieberman was.
JayVee on September 21, 2006 at 11:02 PM
Some things are never appropriate and create defining moments. Yesterday was one of them, a really big one.
The rats are trying to leave the latrine but the slime is pulling them back. So they devided into two camps, the Harkin camp on the one side and the Pelosi one on the ‘high road’. They think we are utterly stupid. Above all they think the independents and sane Democrats are complete morons.
What they haven’t realized yet, or maybe they have, is that Chavez’ speech was a unifier, just not for the Dems.
It elevated the WH to style and elegance and dropped the Chavez simpathizers into a deeper gutter. The decent Americans know this instinctively and no speech or commentary about it can alter that.
John Kerry is a somewhat smart and petulant, long-winded, inflated, aristocratic, prancing-around, arrogant, elitist and nuanced stiff, who “knows history”.
Support material to better understand Liberals:
That last part explains the “I voted for it before I voted against it” – get it, you simpletons?
How do you think Mr. Bush would respond to this quote?
Entelechy on September 22, 2006 at 12:44 AM
Charlie Rangle, and Nancy Pelosi coming out to throw a life preserver to President Bush. NOW that is news worthy. Ann Coulter was right, there actually must be a church of liberalism with regular parishioners.
byteshredder on September 22, 2006 at 1:30 AM
NewsFlash: Hugo just realized that the sulfur he thought he was smelling was actually just the remants of the burrito he had for lunch.
E L Frederick on September 22, 2006 at 7:58 AM
Benthoven on September 21, 2006 at 9:01 PM
Oh pile on at will. RW has its share of sheep. So I guess by you, only 48% of American voters are stupid. Gosh, it must be hard on you folks who aren’t.
honora on September 22, 2006 at 10:11 AM
So by you, holding opinions dogmatically is a good thing? Interesting. Must save a lot of time.
honora on September 22, 2006 at 10:13 AM
Really? Here I am thinking that life is complicated and that living life well and being a leader is really complicated, and actually it’s like falling off a log. Sort of makes you wonder why we aren’t up to our necks in strong leadership though.
“I do not support nation building.” G W Bush, 2000.
“Wanted dead or alive” G W Bush 2001; “I’m really not that concerned about him (OBL)” G W Bush 2005
One of Bush’s great moments: his Social Security plan. Problem: SS is on the road to insolvency due to Boomer bubble. Bush solution: private retirement accounts for people in their 30’s and younger.
Now here’s the thing: private accounts are a good idea, unfortunately they don’t address the Boomer shortfall. I’m confused–is the problem here black and Bush’s solution white, or what??
The point being that your boy is as good at blurring the lines as the next guy.
You want to keep on, we can start talking about fiscal responsibility. Black and white, principles? Bring it on buddy.
honora on September 22, 2006 at 10:23 AM
You just can’t help yourself. Holy mother of God.
honora on September 22, 2006 at 10:27 AM
While it first sounded like the ‘good cop – bad cop’ routine, with politically safe DEMS Pelosi and Rangel pretending to show the decent side of the DEMS, since they dom’t have re-election issues, I consider this to be a pre-emptive strike by Rangel to divert attention from what was actually said in the church in Harlem over to the safer ’stinks like sulfur’ speech at the U.N.
Rush Limbaugh played the key exerpt of the Harlem speech yesterday, and you can read the transcript of that part at his site.
It was a rascist rant pitting the whites (the Europeans) against the survivors of the massacre of the Americas, referring to the audience as the survivors, the aborigines of America. The audience went wild when Chavez said that.
The speech dripped rascist hatred.
Play that intro in a political ad and Willie Horton is nothing.
The press is cooperating at burying the text of this speech. Try a search. One press release implied that the church speech was about Bush being drunk, walking like John Wayne etc. But those comments were to passersby outside the church.
The U.N. speech is being focused on and the Harlem speech, sponsored by Charles Rangel in his home district, and I think attended by him, is being erased.
Pelosi moved in to add weight to the diversionary tactic.
entagor on September 22, 2006 at 11:59 AM
Do you think Rangel and the others were sincere in what they said? I for one dont. They needed to get in front of what Castro Lite said so it looks as though they disagree with him and can distance themselves. Come on now, who do they think they are fooling. The Deomocrats are in bed with the Hollywood crowd and the Hollywood crowd is in bed with Chavez. It all makes for a very night threesome.
Long Island Pete on September 22, 2006 at 2:19 PM
Honora writes: “One of Bush’s great moments: his Social Security plan.”
How does this fit with your earlier comment that Bush was not the “sharpest knife in the drawer?”
You’re intellectual giant John Kerry (and the rest of the Donkey Party’s leadership) is in total denial that there even IS a Social Security crisis. Yet YOU agree with Bush on both the problem AND the solution.
You waffling?
georgej on September 22, 2006 at 3:11 PM
honora, I feel left out. You decided to address everyone else’s comment except this one:
Please, please, please, give me a Tarot Card Reading!
natesnake on September 22, 2006 at 3:32 PM
Rangel, Pelosi, are NOT being truthful, given their past comments about President Bush.
Their apparent “bipartisanship” appears to be of the circle the wagons against “outsider” atatck variety, but it isn’t.
It’s a belated realization of how bad their party looks now that dictators like Chavez have picked up their rhetoric. Rangel and Pelois “get it,” — the rest of the hate spewing rank and file at DU and KOS, and Hamsher of Firedoglake, DON’T!
The vile hatespewing brownshirts that make up the “base” of the modern Democratic Party and led by Hamsher and KOS have been let loose and will not be called to heel.
When they lose, no doubt they’ll blame Diebold.
georgej on September 22, 2006 at 3:34 PM
There are times for nuance and there are times which call for decisive decision-making. I have the capacity for both, honora.
You’re intelligent but very snooty. Best to you, anyway,
Entelechy on September 25, 2006 at 1:00 AM
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