http://signs-of-the-times.org/signs/chains/signs20060921_UNUselessNations.php#9b4115b8f2a9ba074f6dce39285
I'd just like to say I'm appalled by the attitude of both the administration ("we're not going to dignify those remarks with..." -- remember that anything but a logical refutation of a statement is just BS -- cliches like this and other evasive tactics do not address the issue) and especially of allegedly impartial media figures, who villify Chavez without examing all his remarks.
It may have been disrespectful of Chavez, in the ordinary, objective sense, to use such hyperbole in metaphor, but he also made good sense in other comments by observing that dubyer is an ex-alcoholic, has a lot of (psychological) complexes, and is very dangerous because he has a lot power. The media had an easy time dismissing all his statements because of the "devil" remark.
CNN did send one reporter to a poor neighborhood in Venezuela to ask if the people there agree with Chavez about the "devil" remark, and in fact, they did. It was also hinted that loads of other world leaders wish they could express a similar opinion so freely, but are simply scared silly of the political ramifications.
I think it makes sense for Chavez to speak up about the US-backed coup attempts in Venezuela, and to keep grabbing the spotlight because he's probably safer that way! Now Musharref is speaking up about US threats against Pakistan. I wonder if he was emboldened as much by Chavez as by dubyer's admission that he'd invade Pakistani territory if he thought he could find Bin Laden there (exhibiting enormous disrespect for the sovereignty of other nations, by the way -- and speaking of disrespect, how about dubyer pulling the "I'm not talking to you" stunt with Ahmadinejad, as if he were a kid in a schoolyard instead of a head of state).
Invariably, the media go from Chavez to Ahmadinejad, trying to paint him with the same "crazy" brush, and putting words in his mouth, a trick that Chavez is probably immune to thanks to 20+ million native-Spanish speakers in the US and probably at least as many more who understand Spanish. That's how I see it, anyway.
I'd just like to say I'm appalled by the attitude of both the administration ("we're not going to dignify those remarks with..." -- remember that anything but a logical refutation of a statement is just BS -- cliches like this and other evasive tactics do not address the issue) and especially of allegedly impartial media figures, who villify Chavez without examing all his remarks.
It may have been disrespectful of Chavez, in the ordinary, objective sense, to use such hyperbole in metaphor, but he also made good sense in other comments by observing that dubyer is an ex-alcoholic, has a lot of (psychological) complexes, and is very dangerous because he has a lot power. The media had an easy time dismissing all his statements because of the "devil" remark.
CNN did send one reporter to a poor neighborhood in Venezuela to ask if the people there agree with Chavez about the "devil" remark, and in fact, they did. It was also hinted that loads of other world leaders wish they could express a similar opinion so freely, but are simply scared silly of the political ramifications.
I think it makes sense for Chavez to speak up about the US-backed coup attempts in Venezuela, and to keep grabbing the spotlight because he's probably safer that way! Now Musharref is speaking up about US threats against Pakistan. I wonder if he was emboldened as much by Chavez as by dubyer's admission that he'd invade Pakistani territory if he thought he could find Bin Laden there (exhibiting enormous disrespect for the sovereignty of other nations, by the way -- and speaking of disrespect, how about dubyer pulling the "I'm not talking to you" stunt with Ahmadinejad, as if he were a kid in a schoolyard instead of a head of state).
Invariably, the media go from Chavez to Ahmadinejad, trying to paint him with the same "crazy" brush, and putting words in his mouth, a trick that Chavez is probably immune to thanks to 20+ million native-Spanish speakers in the US and probably at least as many more who understand Spanish. That's how I see it, anyway.
