(source: Venezuelan government website)
President Obama and Venezuela’s anti-U.S. leader Hugo Chavez shook hands today at the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad.
[...] we predicted, the handshake seen ’round the world has caused an uproar. However, let’s take a walk down memory lane, as conservatives have [...]
We don’t know waht President Obama said to Chavez behind closed doors, but we do know what W. said to a saudi prince while he was holding hands with him in a flower garden. He said “look at those pretty blue ones, they’re native Taxas flowers”.
And they want to make gay innuendo about our President?
I remember the bushies saying it was a “tradition” to hold hands with another man in Saudi Arabia. We call it something else here in the USA,Epecially if you are walking through a flower garden.
By the way 17 of the 19 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia. Maybe Ws little stroll was just appeasement.
I know it’s noy fair to bring up 9/11, he used his first mulligan for that failure.
What was President Obaman supposed to do,snub the guy?Notshake his hand so all the rednecks who get all fired up from listening to right wing radio all day can say “WE’RE AMERICAMS WE DONT’T HAVE TO SHAKE HANDS…
USA USA USA”.Give me a break!
[...] Alan debates Col. Ralph Peters (U.S. Army-Ret.) on the impact of President Obama’s efforts to improve relations with dictators like Hugo [...]
[...] we still have people upset about reaching out to a guy 90 miles off the coast of Florida, or even shaking the hand of the leader of Venezuela. How will they ever get their heads around this [...]
My Democrat friends aren’t crazy about this picture either, Alan. Nice try though.
Only registered user allowed |
LOL, Let the fun began. Time to make some popcorn, dim the lights; it is the far right paranoia show.
April 17th, 2009 at 7:22 pm
Who is paranoid? How about “Our President shouldn’t be shaking hands with anti-U.S. insane dictators”?
placefield Reply:
April 17th, 2009 at 7:30 pm
It’s a hand shake. I’m not a fan of Chavez either but we need to deal with these countries. Can’t just stick our heads in the sand and hope they go away. Iraq has proven that we shouldn’t just invade them either. We are in bed with worse countries and this is just a hand shake.
VegasLib Reply:
April 17th, 2009 at 8:50 pm
We buy their oil, Flap. THAT is much more than a handshake… we contribute to their economy a helluvalot.
flap Reply:
April 17th, 2009 at 11:00 pm
And that’s why I think libs and cons both agree we need alternative energy sources so it’s not even an issue. We shouldn’t have to buy oil from this guy.
April 17th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
Hey, he didn’t bow! ;^)
He is supposed to be shaking hands, it will be interesting to see if folks condemn this (and whether those folks condemnd Bush for holding hands with the Saudi ‘king’).
It will probably be enough to push more teabaggers over the edge to secession talk.
JaredfromTexas Reply:
April 17th, 2009 at 8:04 pm
Hey, he didn’t bow! ;^)
My thoughts exactly… ;)
…are we starting to think alike? OH NOOOO!!!!
Um Cara Reply:
April 17th, 2009 at 8:07 pm
Well, we are both Texans.
Tell me that you also share my thoughts that talks of secession are ridiculous? I hope? Yes?
JaredfromTexas Reply:
April 17th, 2009 at 8:18 pm
UM CARA,
Of course it’s ridiculous…and just plain dumb of Gov Perry to even mention it.
Drk H Reply:
April 17th, 2009 at 8:42 pm
Um Cara – I can say, at this point and time it is ridiculous. But at what time does it become the right action? How far should we allow the 3 branches of gov’t to usurp the limits on their power before it is appropriate. At what point, should the germans have stopped Hitler? It’s not a joke question or trying to be smart ass, or even trying to allude Obama is anything like him or planning on that. It is a simple belief we have laws, are we going to make our politicians abide by those laws. It is a sincere question at what point is it appropriate to say, nope, we are out of here, if you will not abide by the constitution that we have.
placefield Reply:
April 17th, 2009 at 11:04 pm
Well,
If the president refused to step down from power. That would be a good time.
placefield Reply:
April 17th, 2009 at 11:35 pm
After his term(s) are up and someone else is elected obviously.
sky Reply:
April 19th, 2009 at 6:08 pm
Absolutely, if a president refused to step down. Or maybe revolution?
VegasLib Reply:
April 17th, 2009 at 8:50 pm
The President should bow to no one. NO ONE.
infidel Reply:
April 18th, 2009 at 2:32 am
I agree! He didn’t just bow, he submitted!
April 17th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
April 17th, 2009 at 7:30 pm
heehee…Alan said this was going to be posted all over right-wing websites…but then he posts it on his own website???
Way to get ahead of the game, ALAN.
placefield Reply:
April 17th, 2009 at 8:13 pm
In my two minutes of post work Savage before I run screaming to another channel he was going off about this. According to him this is the end. He is convinced that he is going to be banned from the radio at any time by the coming Gestapo state.
sky Reply:
April 19th, 2009 at 6:09 pm
haha. paranoid idiot.
Um Cara Reply:
April 19th, 2009 at 6:15 pm
Well, I suspect his show is probably not too far off from being canceled due to ratings. He’s just setting up an excuse so he can save face.
April 17th, 2009 at 7:58 pm
Nixon shook hands with Mao. Reagan with the Soviet leader. Carter and Sadat. If so,right wing radio really went fishing on this 1.
infidel Reply:
April 18th, 2009 at 2:41 am
The fishing was good too……..he gives so much you don’t need any bait.
It’s not just this that has people mad. It’s also the fact of him buddying up to every known dictator, bowing to the saudis, downgrading America, her history, her people. He’s living in a fantasy thinking he can be friends with a despot. OTOH he probably can, but America cannot.
April 17th, 2009 at 8:19 pm
Oooh….I’m SO worried that Obama met with Chavez. George HW Bush was photographed with Manuel Noriega and let’s not forget it was the conservatives’ messiah Ronald Reagan who sold weapons to the Ayatollah Khomeini.
April 17th, 2009 at 8:19 pm
Shouldn’t they have refused Chavez’s cheap oil?
April 17th, 2009 at 8:25 pm
Let the Right-Wing keep up this campaign of negativity..
What would really get me worried is if the Rush..I mean Right (Freudian slip) started praising Pres. Obama and his policies, and/or were otherwise conciliatory.
infidel Reply:
April 18th, 2009 at 2:42 am
Don’t worry your little head, it’s not gonna happen.
sky Reply:
April 19th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
ugh. just got chills up my spine. Yes, that would worry me, too.
April 17th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
Judging from all the applause one would think world peace suddenly broke out. Which btw I wish it had. Unfortunately it didn’t
Personally, I’ll wait a year or two to see where a simple hand shake leads before offering judgments.
placefield Reply:
April 17th, 2009 at 11:05 pm
I like that.
April 17th, 2009 at 10:44 pm
Hugo Chavez does not hate North America.
He only hates Bush who attempted to overthrow him
from power.
Actually he was kidnaped for one day and then released.
How would you feel if any foreign power had the
capability to overthrow our own government?
JaredfromTexas Reply:
April 17th, 2009 at 11:24 pm
PIERRE,
Firstly, Chavez does hate America…any proclaimed socialist hates capitalist countries.
Secondly, I’d like you…for a change…to stop regurgitating left-wing talking points and think for yourself…do you homework before you post your drivel…that way you don’t look like an idiot for posting things like: “Bush attempted to overthrow him.”
pierre Reply:
April 17th, 2009 at 11:48 pm
Hey Jared,
Why is any socialist country a threat to USA?
And please do your own homework :It was not
the first time that US government has over-
throwned (or worse …) a latin american
government.
You can’t handle the truth.!!And let other countries
experience their own system of government!!
JaredfromTexas Reply:
April 17th, 2009 at 11:58 pm
PIERRE,
Put down the sauce my friend…
When YOU say Bush who attempted to overthrow him
from power obviously referring to Chavez…I told you to do you homework on Chavez’s “coup”.
You didn’t, but instead invoked other Latin American governments who have had coups supported by the US.
Once again…no basis or source for your original debate point = you looking like an idiot…and hugely impacting on your already meager credibility.
Why is any socialist country a threat to USA?
I never said anything of the sort. Don’t put words into my mouth.
pierre Reply:
April 18th, 2009 at 12:21 am
Oke Jared,
Educate me !!!
Who was behind the coup attempt on Chavez?
And please, don’t tell me it was the venezuelian
people(la pura raza).
JaredfromTexas Reply:
April 18th, 2009 at 12:50 am
PIERRE,
It was your statement…do your own homework.
I’ll give you a hint, though…(it wasn’t the US)…
I look forward to your impending retraction…
pierre Reply:
April 18th, 2009 at 1:03 am
Consider Chavez’s crimes:
Branding the US attacks on Afghanistan as “fighting terrorism with terrorism”, he demanded an end to “the slaughter of innocents”; holding up photographs of children killed in the American bombing attacks, he said their deaths had “no justification, just as the attacks in New York did not, either.” In response, the Bush administration temporarily withdrew its ambassador.
Being very friendly with Fidel Castro and selling oil to Cuba at discount rates.
Hey Jared, look it up ! google it, the rest is there.
pierre Reply:
April 18th, 2009 at 1:53 am
o Iran 1953
o
o Guatemala 1954
o Cuba 1959-
o
o Iraq 1963
o
o
o Chile 1973
o Argentina 1976 Afghanistan 1978-1980
o Iraq 1992-1995
o Venezuela 2002
o
o
o
o
o Palestinian Authority, 2006-Present
People’s Mujahedin of Iran
Hey Jared, These are just a few of regime change done under your name.And we are still fighting. Is it worth it?
JaredfromTexas Reply:
April 18th, 2009 at 2:51 am
PIERRE,
First of all, I wouldn’t consider any of the items you’ve listed as “crimes”. Regardless, Chavez is a far-left looney tune…which may be one good reason why you feel your defense of him is warranted…however, it is widely opined that he is off his rocker…”google it, the rest is there.”
While he constantly berates the American’s involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq…notice he not once…NOT ONCE…decries the actions of the suicide bombers who have killed a hundred times the innocent civilians you say the Americans have.
These are just a few of regime change done under your name.
Wow…in my name, huh? I didn’t realize “Jared” was that popular.
By the way…have you done your homework on the coup in VE in 2002? Or are you content with stating your opinion as fact?
pierre Reply:
April 18th, 2009 at 9:22 pm
jARED,
GOOGLE : WHO WAS BEHIND THE Chavez coup.
CIA don’t work without orders from the commander in chief.
JaredfromTexas Reply:
April 18th, 2009 at 9:33 pm
PIERRE,
If you’re willing to swallow anything you read, without proven sources…then by all means…go ahead.
For me…I’ll continue to rely on proven facts…and not personal opinion.
Once again, after repeated chances to prove your position, you come up empty. I don’t know why I thought this time would be any different than all the rest…call me an optimist…
pierre Reply:
April 19th, 2009 at 12:01 am
Stay uninformed, then!!
TDro319 Reply:
April 19th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
In other words, Pierre, Jared has nothing.
JaredfromTexas Reply:
April 20th, 2009 at 3:18 am
TDRO,
In other words, Pierre, Jared has nothing.
You probably should have saved a bit of credibility and gone with something to the effect of:
“In other words, JARED, PIERRE has nothing.”
As I have yet to get a straight answer from the person who decided to make the statement “The US was behind the coup in Venezuela in 2002″.
No verifiable information to support his claim…thereby making it 100% his own opinion.
Are you supporting PIERRE’s position?
April 17th, 2009 at 11:12 pm
Venezuela’s anti-U.S. leader Hugo Chavez
So, to the Left. What is the redeeming quality of Mr. Chavez?
steve Reply:
April 18th, 2009 at 12:16 am
None,but all of our presidents talked to the extremes that differ from our freedom.
Nixon/Mao,Carter/Sadat. Reagan and the Soveit leader. The Soviet leader came here when Ike was in office and Nixon showed him around.
JR is a different story thou. Oil and cheap oil at that. This nations drug of choice and perhaps we can kool that asswipe down as well.
I am not a Bush fan and i can bash Bush,Clinton,FDR and any president for being an American,but that asswipe speach at the UN,I wanted to punch Chavez. On our soil at that.
PINO,i lean to left as you may know,but Chavez is a asswipe with no redeeming quality but oil and he can keep it.
April 17th, 2009 at 11:49 pm
but Chavez is a asswipe with no redeeming quality
So why the privilege of a greeting from a US President?
steve Reply:
April 18th, 2009 at 12:39 am
Those other guys the other presidents talked to are asswipes as well,but Chavez pissed me off.
steve Reply:
April 18th, 2009 at 12:42 am
The only thing i can see is oil and become less dependent on middle eastern oil held by more asswipes and worst than Chavez like the SAUDIES.
April 18th, 2009 at 12:28 am
Just 2 weeks ago Chavez was calling obama an idiot. If you had no proof before, this has confirmed it.
steve Reply:
April 18th, 2009 at 7:24 am
Not gonna to dispute,but presidents meet people we don,t like or actions and deals despite the party they are from.
April 18th, 2009 at 2:47 am
What they didn’t show in the picture was our president spitting on his hand before he shook hands, then, afterward, he wiped his hands off on a secret service guard. He was heard muttering something about “I triple dog dare you to eat a fart” to Chavez as he was shaking hands, too.
Naturally, you will probably only see and hear those things on that pillar of news worthiness, Faux “News”. And, when Hannity airs his segment, he will photo craft the clip to make it our president kissing chairman Mao (who most us know has been dead for a few decades). Sean will probably say, “After a bow, what is more important than to kiss a friend at the summit”. It will take 14 days for Hannity to realize that he didn’t get away with the deception, and will issue an apology on page 200 of the Washington Times.
sbj Reply:
April 18th, 2009 at 3:59 am
Oh please, Mr. Blair…I have been living for the last couple of days, with wild animal and their Farts! Phewy!!!
Thank God, I love me creatures great and small:)
April 18th, 2009 at 2:57 am
Has anybody here seen my old friend Barry? Can you tell me where he’s gone?
I thought I saw him playing grabass on the hill, with Hugo, Fidel and Kim Jong.
April 18th, 2009 at 1:12 pm
Who’s going to repair the damage done by arming the taliban, Sadaam and Pakistan?
It’s not going to be those who made their fortunes arming and propping up everyone who is a problem for us now,including South and Central America, is it?
It’s always tougher for the grown ups.
As for Hugo, How many people had a problem buying his cheap oil?
average james Reply:
April 18th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
Lefty,
This new diplomacy thingy seems a difficult concept for some us to grasp.
Venezuelan oil…..oh yah, damn.
JaredfromTexas Reply:
April 18th, 2009 at 9:16 pm
OLD LEFTY,
Once again (i’m getting a bit tired of saying this…)
IF we were able to look into the White House crystal ball and see the state of the relationships we had with the Taliban, Sadaam, and Pakistan would eventually deteriorate…I’m certain the US wouldn’t have engaged in supplying them with arms.
Just as you cannot forsee the impact Obama’s foreign policy is going to have on relationships in the future; noone could possibly forsee the potential impact of Bush’s/Clinton’s foriegn policy.
OldLefty Reply:
April 18th, 2009 at 9:41 pm
Of course they could have seen it. Intel people warned, about arming every wacko in the Middle East, and teaching them that they could bring down a superpower in a holy war….what will happen when they turn it on us?
It is only common sense. You arm religious zealots with RPGs and stinger missiles and help them achieve glorious victory for God, then walk away and leave them in squalor with nothing but past glory….what do you expect?
As for Pakistan, It’s as simple as a messy democracy (India) does not cooperate with your corporations like a dictatorship, so you make alliance with the dictator.
My husband says when he was a kid, they USED to be SO jealous of the Pakistanis, because they had American cars and TV, while the Indians were still going by Ghandi’s “home spun cloth only!”.
It’s the oldest story in the history of empire, and the governments who cave in to the corporatists never learn.
JaredfromTexas Reply:
April 18th, 2009 at 9:46 pm
OLD LEFTY,
So, now your a fan of intel? You would rely on intel eluding to potential changes in political stature between the two groups…but not rely on intelligence that pointed to WMDs in Iraq.
My point is that only NOW do we realize the impact of those relationships…there is NO WAY to tell, regardless of intelligence, whether anything would turn sour…
OldLefty Reply:
April 18th, 2009 at 9:57 pm
#1) The Intel about WMD was cherry picked by Cheney…they never intended to allow good intel to get in the way of their war on Iraq.
#2)The SAME things have played out over and over again:
The Brits choose the Wahhabs over the Arabian and the Ottomans, see what you get..
We overthrow Mossadegh and supported the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, see what you get…
Anyone with an ounce of sense can see that no good EVER comes from supporting religious zealots over democracies.
JaredfromTexas Reply:
April 18th, 2009 at 10:05 pm
OLD LEFTY,
#1…you don’t know the intel about WMDs was “cherry picked” by Cheney
#2…so, Obama’s talks with “moderate Taliban” is sure to end up costing the US in the end…according to your tried and true fortune-telling methods…you should warn him…
A.K.A Reply:
April 18th, 2009 at 9:48 pm
I’m sure Lefty would have much preferred the Soviet Union to expand and extend its sphere of dominance to include the entire Middle East.
OldLefty Reply:
April 18th, 2009 at 10:07 pm
AKA,
The CIA reported in the seventies that the USSR was imploding under it’s own weight.
In the fifties, many Indian states voted for members of the communist party: the state of Kerala voted the communists in almost EVERY office, then, they voted them out…all according to the Indian federal and state constitutions….no Soviet tanks.
They still vote them in when labor feels a little downtrodden.
The first time I was in India, (1982), in Bombay, there is this hudge building, The Library of the USSR…So what?, again, no Soviet tanks.
Since they won independence they have been a democracy, even though they took aid from the Soviets, because we gave aid to Pakistan…
How’s that workin out?
A.K.A Reply:
April 18th, 2009 at 10:24 pm
The Soviets were stressed in the 70s, but they were not ready to “implode”. It was the continued US resistance to Soviet expansion on all fronts that ultimately led to their economic collapse. I would say compared to the consequences of no intervention at all, it is working out pretty well…
April 18th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
JaredfromTexas,
Between the Downing Street memos, Tyler Drumheller “who says he saw firsthand how the White House promoted intelligence it liked and ignored intelligence it didn’t, Curveball, Wilkerson, CIA complaining that Cheney went frequently,(unprecedented), to pressure the CIA, the Office of Special Plans … Paul O’Neill saying that this was all they talked about before 9/11….I don’t think there can be a doubt.
By the time we’ve come to Obama’s talks with “moderate Taliban, there has been so much damage, avoiding a failed state, (Afganistan? or Pakistan?), may be all we can have even dim hope for.
A.K.A Reply:
April 19th, 2009 at 1:06 am
That post is virtually unintelligible. But, using my superior knowledge of “liberal speak” I have translated it to mean “I read an article by a guy that knew someone that said he knew first hand how Chencey only told the CIA what he wanted them to know.”
HAHAHAHAAAA!
sky Reply:
April 19th, 2009 at 6:16 pm
does “liberalspeak” mean educated discourse?
April 18th, 2009 at 10:30 pm
AKA
That’s what those who promoted the arms race tell you. There is no evidence for that. Vietnam fell, but we give them favored nation status. Don’t we LOVE the cheap labor in communist China?
You encouraged the rise of radical Islam, you inadvertently created al Qaeda, because they were anti socialist, and now you not only have the mess you have now, but we are dangerously close to a failed state with nukes…Congratulations.
A.K.A Reply:
April 18th, 2009 at 11:00 pm
Wow. Did I do THAT? HAHA!
You seem to be a committed pacifist. Is there ANYTHING you would fight and die for?
OldLefty Reply:
April 19th, 2009 at 10:44 am
A.K.A,
I will take blame for my post being unintelligible but it may also be just that you find it so because you avoid information that is outside the right wing echo chamber.
I have quoted former administration and intelligence officials, and documents, who basically all say the same thing: the only people who disagree are the few neo cons and their cheerleaders.
Paul Pillar (NIO Near East and South Asia) stated that the Bush administration, , “repeatedly called on the intelligence community to uncover more material that would contribute to the case for war,” including information on the “supposed connection” between Hussein and Al-Qaeda, which analysts had discounted.”
Tyler Drumheller is the former chief of the CIA covert operations in Europe, who has said that the CIA had credible sources discounting evidence for wmd.
You had the VETERAN INTELLIGENCE PROFESSIONALS FOR SANITY, saying they were cherry picking evidence.
Lt Karen Kwiatkowski, 43, a now-retired Air Force officer who served in the Pentagon’s Near East and South Asia (NESA) unit in the year before the invasion of Iraq, stated that the Pentagon’s Iraq war-planning unit “manufactured scare stories about Iraq’s weapons and ties to terrorists. “It wasn’t intelligence‚ — it was propaganda,” she says.
“They’d take a little bit of intelligence, cherry-pick it, make it sound much more exciting, usually by taking it out of context, often by juxtaposition of two pieces of information that don’t belong together.”
The Downing Street memo recorded the head of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) as expressing the view following his recent visit to Washington that “George W.Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD.
But the” intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy.”
Lawrence Wilkerson, was chief of staff to United States Secretary of State Colin Powell, says his involvement in the former secretary of state’s presentation to the United Nations on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction was “the lowest point” in his life.
Also, Colin Powell said it was a stain on his record.
You have the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Oak Ridge, Livermore, and Los Alamos National Laboratories reviewed the CIA analysis of the aluminum tubes, and said that they could NOT back the claim that they could be used for enriching uranium.
And Paul O’Neill who said they were planning the invasion from the first day they took office was the treasury secretary.
Anyone who clings to the belief that the administration was duped by the CIA has to explain why Tenet got the medal.
But just like the gullible parent of the juvenile delinquent….EVERYBODY else is lying, but my little angel.
As for: “You seem to be a committed pacifist. Is there ANYTHING you would fight and die for?”
……………………………………………
Of course…I you would fight and die for an ACTUAL threat to our lives and freedom that we have NOT had between world war 11 and 9/11, but I maintain that after 9/11, that we did not engage in a fight with an actual enemy….you see, I was gullible enough to believe Tony Blair when he said, “The world will never again turn it’s back on Afganistan”
ecsredeye Reply:
April 19th, 2009 at 9:33 pm
Check out Architechs and Engineers for 9/11 Truth website. We have yet to engage the actual enemy.
April 18th, 2009 at 10:40 pm
I can’t really beleive that adult Americans beleive our president should attend a summit with other country leaders and act like a child when one of these leaders extends his hand for a hand shake. If this does not show the totaly stupidity of the GOP I can’t find a better example. I actually heard some people on CNN and MSNBC and Fox asking if President Obama was smiling too much. What? If this is all the cable news shows can come up with to report no wonder they are losing their audience share. I changed the channel to Green Acres..LOL…
GOP (Sean Hanity, Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, Micheal Steele, John B. Glen Beck and don’t forget Newt G.) keep doing what you are doing and us “Dem’s” will enjoy a long tenure in the white house, senate and congress to get this country back on firm ground.
steve Reply:
April 19th, 2009 at 10:13 am
Amen and every president has reached out as well. The 2nd paragraph sums it up in a nutshell.
Danielle Reply:
April 19th, 2009 at 9:12 pm
Good post Taylor.
The cons are just seething with rage over EVERYTHING Obama does. They don’t even see how ridiculous they are acting.
It’s actually kind of funny…….
They’re making the Dems jobs so much easier, we just have to sit back, laugh and watch them dig their own hole.
Danielle Reply:
April 19th, 2009 at 10:37 pm
Acting diplomatic is such a horrible thing to do!
Maybe Obama could have acted like the arrogant idiots did for the last eight years. He could have called Chavez an asshole and threw the book back in his face. I’m sure the results would have been productive.
JaredfromTexas Reply:
April 19th, 2009 at 10:40 pm
Did you guys see that the book Chavez gave Obama went from 54,260 on the best seller list to #5!!!!
Danielle Reply:
April 19th, 2009 at 10:59 pm
Yes, I just seen that on TV. I bet that author is happy!
Um Cara Reply:
April 19th, 2009 at 11:03 pm
It sounds like an interesting book, actually. I am probably more interest in Latin American issues than the average bear, but I am thinking about ordering it.
And, by the way, I absolutely can not stand Chavez, and think he is a horrible dictator, and a nut. And my Venezuelan friends agree, as does every Brazilian I know.
Danielle Reply:
April 19th, 2009 at 11:30 pm
Yeah….Chavez is a total nut.
April 19th, 2009 at 10:05 am
No mention of the book Chavez lovingly gave Obama, Alan? What a pity.
Danielle Reply:
April 19th, 2009 at 9:07 pm
So Chavez gives Obama a book, and Obama should have been criticized for that?
April 19th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
Chavez was elected by the people of Venezuela in a country whose media is more Fox than Fox and has opposed him tooth and nail. He’s stood and his allies have stood in free and fair elections time after time. He even lost one vote on Constitution changes he wanted, but he maintains a high level of favorable opinion by his compatriots and is the people’s choice in Venezuela.
A country that admittedly practices torture and lets the torturers off free, and makes a lawyer who sanctioned torture into a high ranking judge is not in a strong position to lecture other countries. Had oour vote in 2000 been as free and fair as those they have in Venezuela perhaps this would be a much better world to live in but the policies of the illigitimate government that stole the vote has wreaked havoc throughout the world.
We need at the least some humility.
April 19th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
Posted by ecsredeye
April 19th, 2009 at 9:35 pm
[ignore]Posted by ecsredeye[/ignore]
April 19th, 2009 at 9:36 pm
Despite the party,all the haved talked,met and made deals with people and countries we are at odds with.
That goes for Ike,JFK,LBJ,Nixon,Ford,Carter,Reagan,SR, Clinton,JR and Obama. Check your history. At times we have to meet with and deal with nations and leaders we are at odds with.
We have done it for oil,peace,money,trade,war and so on for betterment of the world. If we can get more oil off Chavez and his nation and less dependence on the middle east is a good thing. Chavez needs the money we need the oil and a helluva lot less of a hassle and it will mellow out Chavez as well.
April 19th, 2009 at 11:21 pm
My Democrat friends aren’t crazy about this picture either, Alan. Nice try though.
April 20th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
[...] we still have people upset about reaching out to a guy 90 miles off the coast of Florida, or even shaking the hand of the leader of Venezuela. How will they ever get their heads around this [...]
April 20th, 2009 at 6:49 pm
[...] Alan debates Col. Ralph Peters (U.S. Army-Ret.) on the impact of President Obama’s efforts to improve relations with dictators like Hugo [...]
April 20th, 2009 at 7:07 pm
We don’t know waht President Obama said to Chavez behind closed doors, but we do know what W. said to a saudi prince while he was holding hands with him in a flower garden. He said “look at those pretty blue ones, they’re native Taxas flowers”.
And they want to make gay innuendo about our President?
I remember the bushies saying it was a “tradition” to hold hands with another man in Saudi Arabia. We call it something else here in the USA,Epecially if you are walking through a flower garden.
By the way 17 of the 19 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia. Maybe Ws little stroll was just appeasement.
I know it’s noy fair to bring up 9/11, he used his first mulligan for that failure.
What was President Obaman supposed to do,snub the guy?Notshake his hand so all the rednecks who get all fired up from listening to right wing radio all day can say “WE’RE AMERICAMS WE DONT’T HAVE TO SHAKE HANDS…
USA USA USA”.Give me a break!
April 20th, 2009 at 11:05 pm
[...] we predicted, the handshake seen ’round the world has caused an uproar. However, let’s take a walk down memory lane, as conservatives have [...]
April 21st, 2009 at 11:59 am