So what about Cahvez?

Rather than further clutter the other thread....

What is it about Chavez? - I'll preface this by saying I don't follow current affairs in Latin America particuarly closely so feel free to point out any errors.

I am curious about the viterol particularly from the US Right for Chavez. My my estimation he's a populist blowhard with a bunch of wacky ideas but he and his wacky ideas have been elected twice (?). Sure he's said some nasty things about Bush and the US but he's hardly alone there and it doens't look like there's much risk of the rest of South America being taken over by a groundswell of Chavezistas. Is there a reasoned background to the hostility?

Why would we like a guy that goes out of his way to tweak our nose? He's wildly corrupt and not terribly nice to his own citizens, either. I can't think of much reason for us to like the guy.

And he's trying to change the constitution to become elected more than he's supposed to, which has been an historical sign of dictatorship.

What DTE said. I also don't like it when someone acts like a fifth grader on the floor of the General Assembly (cool room, by the way) and constantly gets on the news and says we're planning to invade his country.

Sorry, Rith, but I'd really be conflicted on a visit to the General Assembly floor, between my respectful upbringing and a strong desire to fart the Star Spangled Banner (and then point out my extremely minimal contribution to the UN's carbon footprint versus all the usual CO2 emissions as the authorities duck-walked me to the nearest brig). I'm not sure that even qualifies for 5th grade behavior.

dteowner said:

Why would we like a guy that goes out of his way to tweak our nose? He's wildly corrupt and not terribly nice to his own citizens, either. I can't think of much reason for us to like the guy.

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Oh sure, no arguement there, i guess what I don't understand is the level of hate (people haveing apolexy over the handshake for instance) for someone who dones't seem to me to be wildly different from a range of other heads of states Mahathir bin Mohamad in Malaysia, or Evo Morales in Bolivia (who keeps kicking out your ambasadors) for example. Being corrupt and anti-American is practically a requirement for leadership in much of the world I'm just curious why he seems to attract more attention and air time than most.

Chavez actively seeks to publicly insult us whenever he gets a chance. The other leaders you've listed, while certainly not our "good buddies" give us the finger quietly when nobody is looking. The guy's a pissant and he wants to poke the alpha dog with a stick. For now, we're content to growl and watch him scuttle away. Some day, he'll get a little too close, and we'll bite him right on his butt and the incessant yapping will turn into a brief yip or two.

dteowner said:

Chavez actively seeks to publicly insult us whenever he gets a chance. The other leaders you've listed, while certainly not our "good buddies" give us the finger quietly when nobody is looking. The guy's a pissant and he wants to poke the alpha dog with a stick. For now, we're content to growl and watch him scuttle away. Some day, he'll get a little too close, and we'll bite him right on his butt and the incessant yapping will turn into a brief yip or two.

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You do know that you're giving him exactly what he wants? The most effective way to deal with pissants like that is to ignore them. Or, as a former Finnish president put it, "When provoked, don't get provoked." "The dogs bark and the caravan passes." That sort of thing.

Perhaps, but it's far more fun to take his stick, break it over his head, and then give him a colonoscopy with the broken end. After all, the alpha has to remind the pack of the pecking order every once in a while, particularly when the alpha is looking a little ragged and is currently sporting a cute pink bow on his head.

Trouble is, you're not gonna do that. He's sitting on the biggest lake of oil in the Western hemisphere, which means that you have pretty limited leverage over him -- and if you, say, lobbed a few cruise missiles at Caracas you would be open to accusations of having... overreacted. (Wouldn't be at all surprised to see that sort of thing if John McCain was in charge, though. If he's having a bad day, he'd make damn sure that someone else's day is even worse...)

Well, if you buy into the leftie conspiracy theories, we've invaded countries solely because they are sitting on lots of liquid gold. I'd at least have Chavez looking over his shoulder regularly, kinda like we did to Ahmad-whatever last year. To borrow a phrase from the queen of wacko, Ms. Brittany Spears, "You say you're crazy? I've got your crazy."