Obama, Chavez shake hands at summit

[subsuelo]

Source: msnbc

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad - Presidents Barack Obama and Hugo Chavez met for the first time Friday, shaking hands as the Summit of the Americas got under way in Trinidad and Tobago.

Photos released by the Venezuelan government show the two smiling and Obama touching Chavez on the shoulder.

The Venezuelan presidency says Obama initiated the handshake. It quoted Chavez as telling Obama he hopes for better relations between their nations.


Chavez also reportedly said: "With this same hand I greeted Bush eight years ago. I want to be your friend."

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30271562 /

[subsuelo]

1. Recommend this!!

[medeak]

17. our own Jackeens posted photos before story broke:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

[HeresyLives]

2. A President with class.

[subsuelo]

3. Both of them.

[HeresyLives]

5. Agreed.

No mention of 'sulphur' I notice.

[EFerrari]

4. Two of them.

[roody]

45. Who is the woman???

[EFerrari]

46. I don't know!

[EFerrari]

161. I've come to the conclusion that she is an interpreter.

She also appears in pix with Prez Chavez and Hillary Clinton and she is not named. We're supposed to be invisible and that gives her away!

[tomm2thumbs]

6. I like how Chavez made sure to remind folks that he shook Bush's hand too - for the Far Rightwingers

They will try to make this an issue - but since Bush did it, there's no argument to make

[katanalori]

9. you are too logical.......

They will make an issue of it anyhow. President Obama "bowed" to Saudi King, while Bush kissed Saudi King square on the mouth. And they made an issue of Obama's supposed "bow" for over a week.

[Wetzelbill]

74. I wish that was the case

That sort of thing just goes in one ear and out the other with them. Facts do not matter at all. Sure there is no argument to make, but they'll make it anyway.

[bullimiami]

7. i guess the smell of sulphur is gone then?

[EFerrari]

12. Unless you're right IN the exec offices at State.

lol

[spiritual_gunfighter]

102. Across the country

Freepers heads explode simultaneously!

[Judi Lynn]

104. They'll never miss them! n/t

[llmart]

155. Good response.

LOL

[madrchsod]

8. the rightwing is going to go batshit crazy.......

[caseymoz]

23. Those blast your hearing aren't terrorists, those are wingnuts heads exploding. nt

[harun]

28. Yep, fantastic!

[rucky]

52. As is half of DU

[Mithreal]

67. I thought they were already : ) nt

[The Wizard]

87. No one cares

what Republicans think. They're going to fill the air with vitriol anyway. They've relegated themselves to the fringe, and that's where they'll stay until they understand hillbilly governance is unacceptable in civil society.

[nichomachus]

99. How dare you say that

Never use "Republicans" and "think" in the same sentence. Republicans haven't thought for at least 30 years.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

103. Oh, they are already

at least on my local paper's website.

[Frank Booth]

10. Rec!

Every once in a while it hits me that this guy is really our President.

[EFerrari]

11. And that people all over the world are HAPPY to see him!

lol

[Bacchus39]

13. now Chavez can shut up. all is well.

glad to see that's over.

[pberq]

14. Kick and nominated

[AlphaCentauri]

15. some are going to have hard time with this trichromatic vision

they will see all red

[steven johnson]

16. Never attribute to malice what can adequately be explained by stupidity nt

[rurallib]

18. Could you elucidate? That is a confusing statement.

[steven johnson]

26. Hugo Chavez has Narssistic Personality Disorder

Section 301.81 of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) describes Hugo Chavez: "Has a grandiose sense of self-importance; is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance; requires excessive admiration; has unreasonable expectations of automatic compliance with his expectations; shows arrogant behaviors or attitudes, etc." Actually, it's the DSM-IV's diagnostic criteria for Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD).

That is what I was referring to as 'ignorance' as opposed to malice.

Venezuelan psychiatrists long ago pegged Chavez as a textbook example of NPD. According to the DSM-IV, a patient has NPD if he meets five of the nine diagnostic criteria. But Dr. Alvaro Requena, a respected Venezuelan psychiatrist, says Chavez "meets all nine of the diagnostic criteria." Dr. Arturo Rodriguez

Because in the mind of a pathological narcissist, grandiose self-delusion often masking deep insecurities and a fragile sense of ultimate self-worth.

http://vascaino.blogspot.com/2003_12_01_archive.html

[EFerrari]

34. Why are you posting the rantings of that right wing nutcase here?

Shouldn't you go right for Mengele -- I assume you have The Google.

lol

[steven johnson]

40. Address the issue

1. So you've read the DSM4-tr criteria for narssistic personality disorder? Do you agree with their application to Hugo Chavez or not?

From your prior posts you are a Chavez defender if not an apologist. So are you a member of his party, a member of his security apparatus, or a family member? Let us know.

2. Are you a supporter of Hugo Chavez politically or not? You seem to have a hot button here I can't completely characteristize.

3. Ad hominem attacks bring your objectivity into question. So the source I cited is completely false? Prove it. Don't give me vitriolic screed. Give me facts. We don't need the Venezuelan version of Fox News spinning the facts and resorting to cheap name calling.

[EFerrari]

41. Your credibility went to zero when you posted that Primero Justicia hack here.

[steven johnson]

48. OK So you have no facts

I have to assume you are part of the Venezuelan security apparatus spreading disinfomation on internet discussion groups. Prove me wrong.

[EFerrari]

50. No, Mr. Entitled. If you want to spew right wing garbage and project

all over Chavez and all over me, you go right ahead. Have a nice night!

[ProudDad]

118. I have to assume

that you're part of the vast right-wing conspiracy.

Is it hard to cash faux-noise checks?

Prove me wrong!

[EFerrari]

122. I"m a Venezuelan operative! Cool, now I can stop looking for a job!

[RaleighNCDUer]

53. It is the Venezuelan version of Fox News that created that calumny.

A venezuelan with an axe to grind cherry picked traits that he pretended to see in Chavez to fit the diagnosis.

Does he have a big ego? Show me ANY politician that doesn't.

[EFerrari]

58. It's ignorant bs. People with NPD don't have real relationships

they only hang out with their projections all over other people. Just page through the pix of Chavez with his colleagues. He's very obviously not NPD.











I love this one because it's so easy to see who the social leaders are and who the sociopath is:

[Zorro]

65. Your remarks sound quite similar to Bill Frist's diagnosis of Terri Schiavo

and are probably just as accurate.

[EFerrari]

66. Well, TGIF to you, too!

[No Elephants]

81. That list of symptoms could be said to apply to many people, especially famous ones, including

Dummya, Cheney, Rumsfeld, et al. Indeed, post #40 exhibits at least three of the symptoms listed in Post #26.

[Wednesdays]

72. MORE Top Ten Trivia Tips about Hugo Chavez!

1. Humans share over 98 percent of their DNA with Hugo Chavez!
2. Every day in the UK, four people die putting Hugo Chavez on.
3. Two thirds of the world's eggplant is grown in Hugo Chavez.
4. Hugo Chavez was declared extinct in 1902!
5. The word 'samba' means 'to rub Hugo Chavez'.
6. The first domain name ever registered was HugoChavez.com!
7. All shrimp are born as Hugo Chavez, but gradually mature into females.
8. The color of Hugo Chavez is no indication of his spiciness, but size usually is!
9. A bride should wear something old, something new, something borrowed, and Hugo Chavez!
10. The number one cause of blindness in the United States is Hugo Chavez.

[EFerrari]

73. LOL!

[bitchkitty]

47. Oh, puhleeeeze.

If you're going to make pronouncements like that, at least spell it right.

Ridiculous. It reminds me of Drew Carey, saying on Fox that President Clinton was a sociopath.

[bemildred]

49. That does not really explain why you invoke Hanlon's Razor.

Or whom it is to be applied to.

It seems worth mentioning also that the descriptions of NPD fits a lot of politicians, media personalities, and corporate CEOs.

And it seems like a sort of ad hominen in itself to apply it to people you don't like.

[steven johnson]

60. OK, you have evidence Chavez is not a malignant narcissist?

I'm still not hearing anything that contradicts the assertions about Chavez's narcissim. Irrelevant blather so far - no evidence.

In a recent profile on Hugo Chavez for the US Air Force, Dr. Jerrold Post describes the Venezuelan President as driven by insecurity, "malignant narcissism" and the need for adulation. "He has been acting increasingly messianic and so he is likely to either get the constitution rewritten to allow for additional terms or eventually declare himself president-for-life," says the Chief Scientist in Political Psychology at the Center for Advanced Defense Studies (CADS) in a Reuters interview. "To keep his followers engaged, he must continue outrageous and inflammatory attacks."
###Dr. Jerrold Post is Chief Scientist in Political Psychology at the Center for Advanced Defense Studies (CADS), a non-profit, non-governmental national security group that applies the intent-centric paradigm to promote research, innovation and education in the fields of information sciences, cognitive studies and information security.

http://www.c4ads.org/media/062707/post

[bemildred]

61. Well, no, I was asking why you invoked Hanlon's Razor? nt

[steven johnson]

62. I was only invoking Hanlon's deoderant -- Chavez stinks nt

For those of you who don't get the reference:

Hanlon's razor

Hanlon's razor is an eponymous adage which reads:
Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon\'s_razor

[bemildred]

63. Ah, thank you for clarifying the situation. nt

[bemildred]

89. Ah, Google is your friend.

I was trying to find out whom you consider to be incompetent rather than malicious. On further consideration, it seems clear you must mean Obama, since one can infer you think Chavez is malicious.

[bemildred]

92. Obama's new foreign policy backed by former government officials

LOS ANGELES, April 15 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama's foreign policy has won support from former government officials and scholars, for showing remarkable changes.

The remarks were heard at a conference at the University of Southern California's Unruh Institute of Politics on Wednesday.

New changes have been witnessed by the world when the United States said it would take part in the proposed talks with Iran with other five countries -- Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany, in an attempt to find a political solution to Iran's nuclear program.

Obama has also eased Cuba travel restrictions for the first time.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-04/16/content_11...

[roody]

75. Listen to his talk given at Riverside Church some years ago.

He is 100% heart. You can find it at Democracy Now archives.

[EFerrari]

76. The journalists who spend time with him seem to come to admire him.

Not only Palast but also Bart Jones who wrote a biography. Jones isn't the kind of guy who falls in love with his subjects. The BookTv segment is here:

http://www.booktv.org/program.aspx?ProgramId=8600&Secti...

[tclambert]

84. You could say that of George Bush, too.

[EFerrari]

94. Not really. I've never listened to anyone who genuinely liked Bush.

Including his parents.

[ProudDad]

120. His parents only tolerated him

they didn't, like, "like him"...

[roody]

134. I cannot find any audio file of his speech.

At the time, it was posted at Democracynow.

[EFerrari]

139. Have you checked CSPAN? Sometimes they post his speeches.

[Ghost Dog]

78. Now he wants proof of a negative.

Waste no more time on this one.

[spiritual_gunfighter]

105. Wow

Way to fail so completely and almost without any effort on your part! Shouldn't you have posted this on Free Republic and gotten an unlimited amount of positive responses?

[creeksneakers2]

114. I'm anti-Chavez

Although I think much better of him now the he made a gesture toward getting along better with the US.

I'm qualifying that way because I want to point out that for as long as I can remember Chavez opponents have claimed he would appoint himself dictator for life. So far the opponents have been wrong. By now its apparent that Chavez isn't going to appoint himself dictator for life.

[EFerrari]

117. He also shook George Bush's hand and Bush tried to get him killed.

I'd have a grudge, too.

[RaleighNCDUer]

51. Oooh! And now Obama's got his cooties!

Oh, noes!

[steven johnson]

64. No - he was deloused long ago

[ProudDad]

121. That's what I heard

Mr. Obama was deloused after hanging our with Mr. Ayers.





Take your right wing propaganda elsewhere or you'll not even get to 500 posts.

[tclambert]

82. That's right. Chavez often speaks and acts as if he is above the law,

only speaks before crowds of carefully selected loyal supporters, and surrounds himself with advisers who are sycophantic enablers, who create a bubble of approval and prevent any dissent from reaching his ears.

Oh, wait, that was George W. Bush.

Actually, that definition of NPD pretty much fits any world leader, and every candidate for President of the United States. I mean, what kind of person besides a narcissistic egomaniac thinks he (or she) should run for President?

The sentence "Because in the mind of a pathological narcissist, grandiose self-delusion often masking deep insecurities and a fragile sense of ultimate self-worth" applied very much to George Bush, but does not apply to Chavez nor Obama. Those two are pretty confident of their self-worth. They didn't become Presidents because they were named after their daddies. They earned it.

[No Elephants]

88. Being ignorant = suffering from a personality disorder?

[steven johnson]

106. Being ignorant=collection of cognitive distortions=personality disorder

Cognitive Distortions and the Narcissist
Narcissists are pathological liars (sometimes absolutely unnecessarily).
Narcissists suffer from severe cognitive distortions. No narcissist will admit that he has been rejected. They regard themselves as so wonderful, unique, irresistible - that they block out any information to the contrary.
They employ both negative filters (which keep out information which contradicts their False Self). But they also employ positive-enhancing filters. These filter in information congruent and commensurate with the narcissist's distorted and false image of himself AND amplify, enhance, or strengthen the information thus accepted.
In other words, if the narcissist believes himself to be sexually irresistible - he ignores and represses any behaviour by others and anything said to him which would contradict this belief. On the other hand and concurrently, he collects all the behaviours, reactions, responses and cues - verbal or not - that tend to affirm and confirm his self image.
And, then he proceeds to MAGNIFY the latter.

http://www.healthyplace.com/personality-disorders/malig... /

[ooglymoogly]

100. You funny fella....Politics is a narcissist's and self aggrandizing game

Some, like Roosevelt, aggrandize themselves by doing good works; Others like the b*sh cabal, by authoritarianism and stealing everything in sight; All have adoring fans. If you cant figure out that all politicians are self aggrandizing narcissists you need all new gaskets. Straw men are scarecrows and easily spotable and easily burned to a poof. Excuse me while I light a match.

[IndianaGreen]

125. Are you Bill Frist?

Making diagnosis from watching videos?

Hugo Chavez is a very humble man, a far cry from your delusional rightwing theories.

[RedCloud]

19. And Obama is making first gestures with Cuba too.

Nice to see the "Colossus of the North" has a President at long last willing to deal with all our neighbors, not just the ones the Wall Street Pirates prefer.

[yy4me]

83. I agree with you. We are long past time to make some sort of

peace with our worldwide neighbors. Just because we ARE, does not mean that we are right. We might not love Chavez or Castro but prolonging the antagonism between their countries as well as others does not help anyones cause.

Enough shoving our self-righteous thoughts down the throats of everyone. We have become a bully.
The time is here to work things out with a new and very aware President. With gestures like Obama's recent ones, I am confident we will make progress.

[tclambert]

86. I agree. I've been hoping we would reach out to Cuba for a long time.

But you know the Cuban community in Miami will scream. Some of them still want Batista back. We imposed an embargo on Cuba in 1962 (Kennedy admin). Hasn't brought down Castro yet. Maybe the 48th year will be the charm, though.

[HughMoran]

20. 18 recs over a hanshake?

What about the dozens of other leaders hands he shook?

[EFerrari]

21. Unlike yourself, even the OAS recognizes the significance of that handshake.

This is their homepage at the moment:

http://www.fifthsummitoftheamericas.org/

[HughMoran]

22. I don't see anything special there

...and Bush shook his hand as well. Also, you want Obama prosecuted for not prosecuting torture, so what difference does it make to you?

[Bacchus39]

31. sure it was, anything that needed to be said about US/Venezuela relations

was said right there. what else needs to be done with Hugo? nothing.

[HughMoran]

33. I'm glad relations with Venezuala and Cuba are thawing due to Obama

I just don't understand the enthusiasm to rec this thread. I guess I'm out of the loop on this issue somehow.

[Bacchus39]

56. I agree with you. looks like a handshake is all it took

some seem to think so. do you think that will make Hugo shut up though? I don't.

[HughMoran]

57. Depends what Hugo wants to talk about

Hugo will technically never "shut up" until he's 6' under - lol.

[Bacchus39]

59. again, so true. and what else needs to be done with Venezuela?

nothing. it seems the Chavistas are pacified with a handshake, at least for today. lets enjoy this moment of camaraderie for the next 12 hours or so until they start bitching about the US and Obama again.

[EFerrari]

35. You really have a hard time with basic logic, don't you?

That must be terrible.

[HughMoran]

37. You really have a hard time discussing anything with me without personal insults

That must be terrible.

[EFerrari]

39. Not at all. The sun went down an hour ago.

It doesn't matter if I wanted it to go down or not. It did. That's objectively true.

Same with prosecuting the war crime of torture. It's objectively true that failure to prosecute it is a crime. It doesn't matter if I want it to be a crime or not. It's simply objectively true.

But, carry on, Mr. Moran.

[HughMoran]

42. Let's do the Rumba

It seems you like to dance.

[spiritual_gunfighter]

107. At least a lot of thought went into your screenname n/t

[HughMoran]

113. At least one corpuscle must've fired to think up that intellectual duesy of a cheap shot

Et tu gunface, et tu?

[spiritual_gunfighter]

144. Yeah I know it was great n/t

[bemildred]

24. U.S., Cuba mutually signal thaw in relations

Reporting from Tobago, Washington and Port Of Spain, Trinidad -- Progress toward a thaw in U.S.-Cuban relations gained unexpected new momentum Friday as leaders of the two countries signaled a willingness to open potentially historic talks on issues that have bitterly divided them since the early days of the Cold War.

President Obama called for a "new beginning" with the island nation, capping a surge of gestures fed by a Cuban President Raul Castro's declaration Thursday that his country "could be wrong" about its adversarial approach to its powerful northern neighbor.

The flurry of overtures represented the latest in the diplomatic choreography that began with the election of Obama, who has called for a new openness to Cuba, and who this week began easing rules governing contacts with the island.

But Castro, using conciliatory language of a kind rarely heard in the 50 years since the Cuban revolution, grabbed the attention of U.S. officials when he said: "We could be wrong, we admit it. We're human."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-us-...

[EFerrari]

30. Maybe good things coming for our people.

[bemildred]

36. Yeah, we need an exploding head smiley. nt

[EFerrari]

38. Here you go.

[bemildred]

54. Kewl. nt

[subsuelo]

29. 26 now

[HughMoran]

32. More power to ya

I think it's great, I just don't get the "Rec!" posts. The thawing of relations with Cuba and Venezuela is good news though.

[bitchkitty]

68. I think all the recs because some of us are relieved.

I was waiting to see how Obama would approach Chavez. He laid that particular fear to rest. He's such a gentleman, even if he's not as left as I would like...

[unkachuck]

25. well, well, well....K&R

[aquart]

27. Excellent.

Antagonizing a major oil producer in the Americas was so STUPID of Bush.

[FailureToCommunicate]

44. Joe Kennedy's Citizen's Energy kept up a working relationship with Chavez, and kept

a lot of folks in New England warm...

[RaleighNCDUer]

55. Not really. After all, is it just a coincidence that after Bush started a war

with one oil producer, threatened a second ME oil producer and deeply insulted the primary Western Hemisphere oil producer, that the oil companies made record profits for several years running, because of the instability of the oil markets?

Bush's buddies milked it for everything it was worth, and it was worth tens - if not hundreds - of billions.

[The Wizard]

91. Any country that nationalized oil

had the United States attempt to overthrow its elected government. American oil companies have done enough damage to the world. Maybe if we nationalized oil energy prices would take fewer dollars out of the economy. The same goes for health care. Upper management in energy and health care have been lowering living standards for the vast majority since the inception of both.
Just mention nationalizing anything and the right wing media echo chamber always starts wailing and hand wringing in the name of freedom, but always offers the same solutions: unfettered free markets and tax cuts for the wealthy.
They don't seem to have a problem with military mercenaries roaming the street of America either.
The conflicting thoughts colliding in their heads qualifies them for housing, food and clothing at a government institution, and just for laughs, some electro shock therapy too.

[HughMoran]

43. K&R #30!!!!!

I'm a bad dude, you know.

[rollingrock]

69. This is good, but

I would be more impressed if he went to Cuba and shook Fidel Castro's hand.
(Since Bush and Chavez shook hands as well).

[EFerrari]

71. This was a good first step. Maybe more will follow.

[Judi Lynn]

77. Cuba invited many American officials to Havana for their 40th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs.

Around 60 went, including Kennedy's advisor Arthur Schlesinger, and Richard Goodwin, the former CIA station chief back then, some members of the Cuban "exiles" involved in the Bay of Pigs invasion, and some Kennedy relatives.

It was a rare event during which former invading "exiles" met face to face with the Cuban nationalists who were fighting to protect their island.

There have been many visits to Cuba over the years by retired American military officers to meet with Cuban military officials. They have even gone through and inspected their military facilities. I learned about this researching back in 2000. These events have been happening all along, without the American peoples' awareness. Really sad to know they were speaking with Cuba long ago, but no one ever made the move to clean up our national act regarding this small, and completely vulnerable country.

[Ghost Dog]

80. Yes. Obama absolutely should meet with Fidel

for a long confidential conversation.

While there's still time.

[Vidar]

70. A promising beginning.

[No Elephants]

79. Two heads of state shake hands at a conference and this is a news story? Who is the

media trying to manipulate here and why?

[C_eh_N_eh_D_eh]

85. That proves it without a doubt.

Obama is a Commienist.

[Old Michigander]

97. So what?

You got a problem with that?

[Wednesdays]

110. I think there was a little tongue-in-cheek in his comment

Just a hunch.

[EFerrari]

123. If he comes back wearing a red shirt, we're screwn!

[bemildred]

90. Obama drives Chavez out of limelight

Some rug chewing from AP here.

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) — Venezuela's Hugo Chavez was greeted like a rock star by onlookers when he arrived at a 34-nation summit — but only because Barack Obama had slipped through a back door.

A short while later, a roomful of dignitaries from every nation in the Americas except Cuba met the U.S. president with thundering applause and a few whoops. Some stood up to clap.

No one else got as warm a reception, and Obama was repeatedly interrupted by applause as he promised an "equal partnership" with the region, including a bid to mend relations with Cuba.

Chavez didn't speak at the opening ceremony and had to be content sitting quietly with the other leaders. It was a big change from the last Summit of the Americas in 2004, when he led the pack in defeating a hemispheric trade accord spearheaded by his nemesis, former U.S. President George W. Bush.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jykAQ...

[EFerrari]

115. Authorized Propaganda strikes again -- look at this:

Though Chavez remains hugely popular among Latin American leftists, he has been considerably weakened by Bush's departure and Obama's arrival. He's also less powerful because his oil-rich nation can't simply buy as much good will now that oil prices have plunged.

(How has he been weakened? He's still very popular in Venezuela and he just won a referendum.)

"In the end, Chavez is a product of Bush," said Marta Lagos, director of the Chile-based Latinobarometro polling firm. "Chavez would have never existed if Bush hadn't opposed him the way he had."

(Come again? Chavez PRECEDED Bush.)

snip

But Chavez bashed the United States in comments to reporters just minutes before he met Obama, saying a proposal to readmit Cuba to the Organization of American States — which suspended it 47 years ago — is meaningless because the OAS is "under the domination of the United States."

(Actually, this is just conventional wisdom in LatAm. It's not a new idea.)

snip

Some analysts say a weakened Chavez is still trying to figure out how he can criticize the United States while not taking on Obama.

"On the whole, I think the election of Obama has thrown him off balance," said Peter Hakim, president of Inter-American Dialogue think tank in Washington. "Bush was such a perfect target."

(That's crazy. Chavez has plans for Venezuela and the ALBA block also have plans. They don't sit around all day trying to figure out how to define themselves in contrast to the American president. lol)

[bemildred]

119. Yeah, lots of spin. But it is AP. nt

[Judi Lynn]

128. I looked up that Inter-American Dialogue think tank from the Peter Hakim

gibberish quote, and found they have people on their board from South Florida (Cuban reactionaries and their puppets) and they also have "Jorge Quiroga," whom I looked up to discover he ran as the Vice President for that bloody dictator, Hugo Banzer when he ran for his first elected office in the 1990's. (You recall he had US assistance in succeeding in his first term as President which happened because he overthrew the previous ELECTED President, and started unleashing pure hell on the indigenous Bolivian citizens! Quiroga was his vice President when he was elected twenty years later, during which time he also called for a massacre at El Alto.)

Yeah, this article can only be imagined a "news" article in the broadest possible definition of "news writing." Really sad what has happened to our country's ability to get ANY honest news anymore, isn't it?

I looked up that reporter: he was assigned to Brazil to handle business news for AP. He clearly has another agenda.

[EFerrari]

129. The new narrative -- that Chavez is "weakened" -- doesn't even make sense.

But, in a way the AP tips one off as to what is coming down the RW pike.

[Judi Lynn]

132. It's all completely unhinged. If you try to make sense of it, you could get a headache.

Like this quote you mentioned:

Some analysts say a weakened Chavez is still trying to figure out how he can criticize the United States while not taking on Obama.

Why would he criticize the US if he were not criticising something the US President had done, like the violent COUP _Bush supported against him, and the oil industry officials' work lockout of the workers, the referendum, bankrolling the Venezuelan opposition with US taxpayers' hard-earned and disrespected tax dollars.

That's just plain STUPID! They're in such a hurry to jam in all the dirty below-the-belt insinuations and accusations they can muster, they don't even stop to check them to see if they make sense.

They clearly disrespect the US public. They lie to our faces. Sure would be great finding a way to challenge this smarmy dishonesty legally.

[bemildred]

136. I think they might spin the Mighty Wurlitzer up on this OAS meeting.

But it's hard to keep up with Barack. No time to settle in and chew on something until it penetrates and does damage.

[EFerrari]

138. That's a very good point. He's fast and light on his feet.

A great strategy because the Noise Machine requires some time and some repetition to really be effective.

[bemildred]

141. I don't remember a guy that was this cool and quick on his feet, going back to Eisenhower.

Which is how far back I can remember. We're lucky he's not evil.

[EFerrari]

145. Yeah, we are lucky! Kennedy had some of this coolness.

He was very quick. I remember my mom laughing out loud at the way he upended reporters that were trying to pin him.

[bemildred]

146. He's the only one that gets close (JFK). nt

[24601]

93. Not really a big fan of Chavez

Hope the President picked his nose, wiped the backside & wacked-off, shook Hugo's hand, and THEN washed.