VENEZUELA'S HUGO CHAVEZ: MEDIA'S NEW FAVORITE COMMIE

 

 

 

Jim Kouri, CPP
November 6, 2005
NewsWithViews.com

Poor Fidel Castro. He must be heartbroken these days. He's been replaced as the American left's -- which includes the likes of the New York Times, Washington Post and most of the elite media -- favorite communist leader. Of course, we don't use the word communist anymore. We now call them socialists. The hard "k" sound in communist is replaced by the soft, soothing "s" sound in socialism.

Castro's replacement as the darling of liberals and leftists is none other than Hugo Chavez, the looney president of political and economic basketcase Venezuela. The news media's love affair with Chavez, one suspects, has more to do with their hatred of George W. Bush. As the saying goes, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend." Give us a kiss, Hugo.

The latest story on Chavez takes place in Argentina during the economic summit of the Organization of American States. There was Chavez bouncing up and down like a man waiting on line desperate to use the toilet spouting his usual "Yankee Go Home" rhetoric at the lectern in a soccer stadium filled with assorted communists, leftists and liberals. (Follow the bouncing Hugo and sing, "Gotta go. Gotta go. Gotta go right now!")

The unifying element of the stadium media event was the hatred they all shared for President Bush. Here's how the New York Times covered that story in the first paragraph of their story in Saturday's edition:

"President Bush's troubles trailed him to an international summit meeting [in Argentina] on Friday as anti-Bush protesters turned violent just blocks from the gathering site, and Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's fiery populist leader, rallied a soccer stadium filled with at least 25,000 people against the United States."

First of all, it wasn't an international summit, New York Times. If anything it was a regional summit. And President Bush's troubles didn't trail him to Argentina; the pain-in-the-butt press corps trailed him there to harass him about the outing of a non-covert, political operative in the CIA, in the most bogus political scandal since Truman fired MacArthur.

With all due respect, guys and gals, Chavez isn't a fiery populist. He's a cold-blooded, power-hungry communist. Notice the wording: fiery populist leader. Now, forgive my nitpicking, but "fiery?" Rita Hayworth was fiery. Angelina Jolie is fiery. Ann Coulter is fieriest of all. But to the members of the elite media, who get all hot-and-bothered over commie leaders, Chavez is fiery. No surprise here since the gentlemen of the press giggle like schoolgirls at the mention of Bill Clinton's name. With Chavez, they have a real lefty to elevate as a model of leadership.

The protest in that Argentinean soccer stadium rallied by Chavez was populated by people against the United States. Now, I'm shocked! Quick, I've got to lie down! Chavez, that political giant, managed to find 25,000 America haters in South America and rally them? Now that's an achievement! Hugo, buddy, I hate to break it to you and your buddies at the New York Times, but I can dig-up and rally that many America haters in just one US city.

And it's also always amazing how in the world of the elite media protests just miraculously turn into violence as if the protesters had no intention of becoming violent in the first place. You'll never be told that the violent protesters are actually bused in because the protest leaders know they will become violent and bring even more media attention to their grievances. Peaceful protests don't just turn violent. They are planned to be violent.

Mr. Chavez also accused the Pentagon of having a secret plan to invade his oil-rich country, similar to charges, always denied by the United States, that Mr. Chavez has made in the past. One wonders if that secret plan is in John Kerry's safe along with all the other secret plans he had during the 2004 election cycle. I wonder who in the American government told Chavez about the secret plan. I think we should have a special prosecutor appointed to investigate the Chavez leak. We'll call it ChavezLeak. (Hell, I knew he was bouncing up and down cause he needed to go to the lavatory.)

"If it occurs to American imperialism, in its desperation, to invade Venezuela, a 100-years war will begin," he said. Calling for Latin American unity in the face of what he described as American hegemony, he also said that "either our nation will be free or a flag will wave over its ruins. But we will not be a North American colony." Someone should break it to Hugo that you couldn't pay America enough to colonize South America or Central America. In fact, our concern is that they are trying to colonize the US with a steady flow of illegal aliens leading the charge.

A 100-years war? Are you shaking in your loafers, Mr. New York Times reporters? Hugo's bravado is reminiscent of Saddam Hussein's threat of the "Mother of All Battles," just before his troops in Kuwait outran our tanks heading into Iraq during the 1991 Gulf War. You remember that one. It was the quagmire in which Iraqi soldiers started surrendering to the girlie-men in the news media.

A 100-years war with Venezuela? Try a 100-minutes. The US military could invade Venezuela and not even break a sweat. Then our boys and girls in uniform would go to the nearest hacienda and celebrate their victory.

According to New York Times reporters, as Mr. Chavez spoke, he was interrupted by chants from the crowd mocking Mr. Bush. Every mention of Fidel Castro in contrast, was cheered (sounds like the New York Times' newsroom), as were frequent references by Mr. Chavez to his desire to unite all of Latin America in a new wave of socialism.

"Chavez's is a voice that represents the entire Latin American community and the values we uphold, from national sovereignty to economic independence," said Silvio Torres, a 29-year-old government worker. Socialism is economic independence? Only in the world of the political left. And let me get this straight: unifying all of Latin America would create national sovereignty for Venezuela? Neat trick if you can do it.

Mr. Chavez's rally at the soccer stadium was preceded by a long march in a cold rain through the near-empty streets. Fearing violence and clashes with the police, many store owners along the route had closed their businesses and boarded up their windows. But that demonstration, at least, was entirely peaceful. The thousands of protesters carried banners calling Mr. Bush a "fascist," "child-killer" or "genocidal beast," some with the "s" in his named replaced by a dollar sign or a swastika.

One marcher, Rafael Abu-Adal, a 52-year-old teacher from Buenos Aires, carried an Iraqi flag. His objective, he said, was not only to express solidarity with the Iraqi people, but also to draw a parallel to Latin America's situation. If this nutjob teacher wanted to express solidarity with the Iraqi people he'd have shown a blue-inked finger. One suspects that Latin Americans should concern themselves with the quality of their educators rather than tackling issues that have no bearing on their economic turmoil or their pathetic leadership. Suddenly, Vincente Fox looks good to me.

In its description of how the peaceful protest turned violent, the New York Times reports:

"In Mar del Plata, a favorite vacation spot south of Buenos Aires for middle-class Argentines, the violent protesters first made their way to the steel barriers marking the security perimeter around the summit site. At first, witnesses said, they merely threw rocks and gasoline bombs at police officers at the checkpoint and chanted slogans attacking Mr. Bush."

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Oh, so at first they "merely" threw Molotov Cocktails at police? How would the Times reporters have covered it if the police officers "merely" opened fire with a barrage of bullets?

"Wow, what's the big deal? The protesters only threw gasoline bombs at the cops. Can't they take a joke? Come on guys, lighten up."

� 2005 Jim Kouri- All Rights Reserved