Medea Benjamin defending Chavez's closing of the TV station is a damn joke

[wndycty]

She is on Tucker right now defending the move. I like the way Chavez sticks it to Bush, I'm glad Medea a Code Pink hold the administration accountable BUT this is just shameful. This really hurts her credibility.

[Skidmore]

1. That was a backhanded compliment if I ever saw one.

Is Medea being Cindyed?

[nashville_brook]

6. looks like it

[shenmue]

2. Hooray

Finally somebody else admits Chavez is not the son of Heaven.

[JDPriestly]

7. There are lots of us who see Chavez as more interested in

himself than in establishing democratic institutions and traditions in Venezuela.

Chavez may have said and done some good things, but he is a half-baked, wanna be Napoleon (far less brilliant or creative than Napoleon), not a Washington. From what I see, he is not preparing the way into the future for his country. He is just making changes for the moment. Some of the changes he is making will endure, but some of the most important ones will fail. Venezuela needs strong democratic institutions, not a rabble-rousing leader who orders showy "changes" that will not last. Chavez's success is too much about his personality and not enough about democracy.

[UTUSN]

3. I saw that and I'm with YOU!!1

She was vomiting the same Kool Aid that we hear here constantly in support of Hugo. And the implication continues the same old crap: That those of us who detest a loudmouth stuffed in a military costume are non-SELF-thinkers who are REGURGITATING somebody else's talking points (Darth Rums or whoever).

ALL of those things about Hugo on an almost daily basis that have been chronicled here, drip drip drip, are clear SIGNS of authoritarianism. By the bye, unlike Shrub violating sovereignty, I am ALL FOR a nation's self determination. If the Venezuelans WANT that p.o.s. stuffed in a military costume---------they can HAVE AT IT!!1 But Kook Aiders don't tell me what I am permitted to think of him!!1

He quacks!!1 He waddles!!1 He's a fucking DUCK!!1 (No offense to actual, non-figurative ducks.)

[Name removed]

16. Deleted message

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[paulk]

4. Medea Benjamin has credibility?

She's just showing her true colors by defending Chavez. Totalitarianism is fine as long as it's from the left...

[MonkeyFunk]

5. I think there may well be

valid reasons for closing the station.

I see no valid reason for turning it into another government-run station.

Those complicit in the coup should've been put on trial, and the station sold to other, independent interests.

[tech3149]

10. Another :"government run station" is an operative phrase

There was one "government run" broadcast television outlet before the non-renewal of the license for RCTV. That puts privately owned television media at a 4/1 advantage. RCTV had about 652 violations of programming practices that extend beyond when Chavez came to power. How long do you let someone break the rules before you say NO more! RCTV still has the opportunity to be available via cable-only distribution (if you can afford it), but they'll be preaching to the choir, I say fine. I won't sing Chavez's praises, but I'm pretty sure that he's walking the talk and supporting the majority of the population rather than bending over to those with financial influencee and power. He may be self-serving, but it's at the expense of doing the most for the many.

Ragarding those complicit in the coup, the judicial branch has been corrupt since the 70's and Chavez was willing to avoid prosecuting in the coup attempt, in fact the decision was deliberate to present a non-confrontational discussion. In many other countries that we supported any anti-governmental support would have been reported and condemned within the same day.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

8. Ya' think?

tsk tsk tsk

Can you give one, just one IN PERSON AND PUBLIC activity BY YOU that compares to any of the bzillions of activities by this incredible woman towards peace and human rights? Give one and prove it and compare it.

If I say, 'that's a damn joke', don't be offended.

[magellan]

9. There are two sides to this story, as usual

From Democracy Now! today:

Venezuela says it cancelled RCTV over its support for the coup that briefly overthrew Chavez five years ago. RCTV broadcast footage falsely blaming Chavez supporters for violence, applauded coup leaders as they overthrew the government and then refused to report that Chavez had returned to power following mass-protests. Venezuela says it will create a new public-service network in its place.

Caracas mayor Juan Barreto: "Finally this frequency will return to the people and we are going to bring forth a television station with a social character. What does this mean? A television station produced by independent producers."

[mod mom]

11. If we could have stopped the bs fed to us in the run up to the war by demanding

FACT-BASED reporting, perhaps we would be in a better way.

just saying.

[NoPasaran]

15. "Democracy Now!" supporting a government shutting down media?

Medea Benjamin isn't the only joke referenced in this thread.

[GirlinContempt]

17. Oh for fuck sake.

Part of democracy is upholding laws.
Start a television channel. Then, call for the overthrowing of the government. Organize a media blackout during a crisis. And see how far you get.
I can already tell you, you'll be fucking arrested.
RCTV violates the Venezuelan constitution. And the law.

[NoPasaran]

18. Oh for fuck sake

The coup the TV station supposedly supported was in 2002. If they're such a huge fucking danger to him, why wait FIVE YEARS to pull the plug?

What's really disgusting are all the "progressives" whose noses smell remarkably like Hugo Chavez's ass.

[GirlinContempt]

23. Oh right, I'm not a "PROGRESSIVE" because I don't agree with you

about one of the most misunderstood and trash talked countries in the world. Good fucking job, dude, you've sure got MY number.

Wake up. The stations license didn't expire. Chavez decided not to pursue it in 2002, but the LICENSE IS UP and will not be renewed for the VERY REASONS STATED. My point is in another country they would have been ARRESTED.
Jesus.

[NoPasaran]

24. I don't deny you're a "progressive"

I don't understand this love affair with dictatorship.

[GirlinContempt]

26. I'd throw a dictionary at you

but it's the internet, so I'd probably miss.

[Breeze54]

21. I agree!

You forgot you! :P

[magellan]

22. Um, did you even read it?

Amy gave the facts as known, as she usually does. DN! doesn't "support" anything except the truth.

[NoPasaran]

25. Yes I did

The dictator's henchman gushing over the government taking over the station presented without comment. Disgusting.

[magellan]

28. Did you bother with the link?

Because there you'll also find a comment from a Caracas resident who supports the station. It's just a small blurb at DN! overall, eminently readable. I excerpted the part that reflected my subject line, by which I was trying to impart a little OBJECTIVITY. You know, two sides to every story? Instead of just the anti-Chavez one being pushed on this thread?

[welshTerrier2]

12. let's start here ...

i'll be the first to admit i have not studied the intricacies of the situation in Venezuela. i've been a bit preoccupied with Iraq ... but i see DU's conservative wing making the exact same mistake over and over again. this is exactly the kind of blindness that got us stuck in Iraq since 2003. I was told then that I could not have KNOWN Saddam did not have WMD. No, I could not have KNOWN. What I did know was the bush and his cronies had an agenda to go to war and that nothing, absolutely nothing, that came out of the bush/cheney government had a spec of credibility. IWR apologists apparently were not as distrusting as I was ...

one must begin any analysis with the overwhelming presumption of US meddling. do you think it's just possible that all the allegations about the US pumping money into Venezuela to topple Chavez are true? or not? Do you just want to dismiss that possibility because it is "left wing hysteria?" ... this is not set forth as a justification for a single thing Chavez has done. it is set forth as an "analytical framework." it is a place to start. if you're blind to US history and US imperialism, your analysis cannot possibly lead you to a proper understanding.

when all-the-time left wing bashers fail to acknowledge their country's history as a starting point, they are lost before they begin. Could I be convinced what Chavez has done is nothing but tyranny and oppression? Sure ... But that's not a very good place to begin. Have you read "Confessions of an Economic Hitman"? Have you read "The Sorrows of Empire" by Chalmers Johnson. Are you familiar with how the "war on drugs" has been used to exploit foreign governments? Does Venezuela have ... are you ready for it? ... O-I-L ??? maybe your arguments against Chavez would be just a wee bit more credible if you would at least start with a recognition that your own government has a very, very, very bad track record in the region ... start there ... then we'll talk ...

[LSK]

13. not this shit again

[wndycty]

29. Yes, again. . .

. . .how do we justify defending an action that we would protest in the US?

[IChing]

14. Our TV media has already been taken over- fools

If it wasn't for the internet you would all be clueless.

[flvegan]

19. I owe you a drink.

Whatever your choice, whatever you'll have, you and I...

Thanks for abso-fuckinlutely nailing it.

[Warren Stupidity]

27. Thank You

That is what needed to be said.

[EFerrari]

20. Go, Medea. Kick ass and take names.