Would you kindly please just shut the f*&# up?

Re: Would you kindly please just shut the f*&# up?

A freely elected president who behaves like a dictator is worse.

 

Whatever you think of the elections -- remembering that those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones -- Chavez has been elected, what, three times, now?

Not endorsing any of his policies, or him as a human being, just saying.

 

Re: Would you kindly please just shut the f*&# up?

Um, hate to rain on your parade, but the election that first brought Chavez to power was far more democratically legitimate than that which put Bush in office.

 

Chavez was elected. Twice. And survived a recall vote (not to mention a coup attempt). The validity of the actual numbers in those elections has been questioned, but for the most part the results have been given a lukewarm greenlight by international election observers. (From the OAS and the Carter Center, I think.) Chavez is a rabble-rouser and a punk, of sorts, but he's been elected. Jackasses can stomp onto the international stage without being dictators.

 

Twice elected, one recall vote. Is that right?

I wish I could say I was sure. I'm an educated man, but I can't speak intelligently about the election history of Hugo Chavez or the travel habits of PFC William Santiago.

 

But I'm sure you'll be well-versed in the travel habits of Johan Santana this offseason ;D

 

Re: Would you kindly please just shut the f*&# up?

Are U friggin' being serious right now? If he lives through another 20 years of election cycles down there, you can say he's been "ELECTED" 23 times for all I care. The truth is the guy is pond scum and a dictator. I wonder if we can actually find any of his citizens that didn't officially vote for him and are willing to talk about it on the record?

 

Re: Would you kindly please just shut the f*&# up?

Oh, please.

Chavez is a buffoon but he's no more a dictator than Fredo.

 

He's not a dictator. He's actually fairly popular down there. It's a prosperous country — thanks to petro money — and he throws gobs of that money back into the economy in the form of an unprecedented public works program. They're building lots o' stuff. And he's even more popular because of the public back and forth with the U.S. and the West. He's their guy, and they like that he's standing up to the West. Of course, most of the world thinks he's something of a clown, but most of the world doesn't vote in Venezuela.

 

Brings back memories of one of the more entertaining troll-jacks in SJ history.

 

Doesn't it, though? Glad someone picked up on it.

And Red, just because you don't like his politics, doesn't mean he didn't get elected.

Unlike, say, Musharraf in Pakistan or the VW full of clowns in Saudia Arabia.

You know, our partners in peace.

 

Re: Would you kindly please just shut the f*&# up?

Make him out to be an FDR. With big lips, a multicolored face and hobo clothes.