Condi to Chavez: Disagreeing with government is not unpatriotic.

[edbermac]

PANAMA CITY, Panama — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Venezuela's foreign minister fired verbal broadsides at each other here Monday over the closure of a key opposition television station in Venezuela that has prompted mass protests. Rice hit out at the shuttering of Radio Caracas Television, RCTV, calling it Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez's "sharpest and most acute" move yet against democracy.

Venezuela's top diplomat, Nicolas Maduro, then accused her of hyprocrisy, unacceptable meddling in his nation's affairs and compared the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and secret prisons elsewhere to something not seen since "the time of Hitler." The dispute between Washington and Caracas took center stage at a gathering of foreign ministers of the Organization of American States, a meeting intended to focus on environment and development issues.

...

At the meeting, she urged the OAS to send its secretary-general, Jose Miguel Insulza, to Venezuela to look into the closing of the station and deliver a full report on his findings.

"Freedom of speech, freedom of association and freedom of conscience are not a thorn in the side of government," Rice told the ministers. "Disagreeing with your government is not unpatriotic and most certainly should not be a crime in any country, especially a democracy."

Rice requested and was given time to rebut Maduro's comments, saying that "issues of democracy and the defense of democracy are never inappropriate" and defending the United States' record on press freedom, noting that media outlets routinely criticize the U.S. government. "I am quite certain that it would be difficult for any commission to debate more fully, to criticize more fully the policies of the United States government than is done every night on CNN, on ABC, on CBS, on NBC and on any number of smaller channels," she said. (Oh, is FAUX one of the smaller channels?)

"That is the point of press freedom," Rice said. "In a democracy the citizens of a country should have the assurance that the policies of their government will be held up for criticism by a free and independent press without the interference of their government. "The citizens of the United States have that assurance, I sincerely hope that the citizens of Venezuela will have that assurance as well," she said to loud applause before leaving the room before Maduro could reply.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20070604/rice-venezuela/

The Bushies just love irony, don't they? :sarcasm:

[Rabrrrrrr]

1. Jesus. They truly have no shame.

[malaise]

8. Ding ding

Republicans your name is Shameless.

[Gabi Hayes]

2. this took as long to find as it took to type into google:

''republicans say democrats unpatriotic''


Tying Kerry to Terror Tests Rhetorical Limits

By Dana Milbank
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 24, 2004; Page A01

President Bush and leading Republicans are increasingly charging that Democratic presidential nominee John F. Kerry and others in his party are giving comfort to terrorists and undermining the war in Iraq -- a line of attack that tests the conventional bounds of political rhetoric.

Appearing in the Rose Garden yesterday with Iraq's interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi, Bush said Kerry's statements about Iraq "can embolden an enemy." After Kerry criticized Allawi's speech to Congress, Vice President Cheney tore into the Democratic nominee, calling him "destructive" to the effort in Iraq and the struggle against terrorism.

It was the latest instance in which prominent Republicans have said that Democrats are helping the enemy or that al Qaeda, Iraqi insurgents and other enemies of the United States are backing Kerry and the Democrats. Such accusations are not new to American politics, but the GOP's line of attack this year has been pervasive and high-level.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45672-2004Sep23.html

[ThomCat]

3. That takes some chutzpah.

She certainly has a talent for hypocrisy. She knows damned well that her team (the current administration) uses the accusation of treason and being unpatriotic as a routine bludgeon against democrats. x(

[reichstag911]

4. Um, except here, Condi? nt

[cal04]

5. Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro, then accused her of hyprocrisy

(snip)
Venezuela's top diplomat, Nicolas Maduro, then accused her of hyprocrisy, unacceptable meddling in his nation's affairs and compared the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and secret prisons elsewhere to something not seen since ``the time of Hitler.''

(snip)
Maduro, speaking after Rice, reacted angrily, saying her comments were an ``unacceptable intervention is the internal affairs of a nation, and that is why we reject it.''

``Venezuela is asking for respect,'' he said. ``We demand respect for our sovereignty.''

Maduro defended the decision to close RCTV as ``democratic, legal and fair'' and accused the United States of repeated violations of human rights, including at the U.S.-Mexico border where immigrants ``are chased and hunted like animals'' and at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where he said terrorism suspects are being ``held hostage.''

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6683530,00.html

[Gabi Hayes]

6. I hope he mentioned the release of Luis Posada Carriles, avowed terrorist.

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB153/index.htm

[tom_paine]

7. In other news: Hitler lectures Stalin on the benefits of a Free Press

:puke: :puke:

[EFerrari]

9. F3ck off, Condi. Next time plan your coup better. n/t

[Demeter]

10. Always Striving To Outdo Herself; Condi Reaches New Depths

[Disturbed]

13. Condoscenda is a true believer in Democracy.

You can’t allow somebody to commit the crime before you detain them, because if they commit the crime, thousands of innocent people die,” Condolezza Rice

[partylessinOhio]

11. This thing needs to be sent to the Hague with */Cheney!

We don't need her stirring up more crap!

[LSparkle]

12. Liar, liar, Ferragamos on fire ...

Condo, your nose is growing ...

[aquart]

14. Irony challenged. Big time.

[Gabi Hayes]

15. this gem, from guess which famous constitutional lawyer?

''Liberals invented the myth of McCarthyism to delegitimize impertinent questions about their own patriotism. They boast (lyingly) about their superior stance on civil rights. But somehow their loyalty to the United States is off-limits as a subject of political debate. Why is the relative patriotism of the two parties the only issue that is out of bounds for discussion? Why can’t we ask: Who is more patriotic – Democrats or Republicans? You could win that case in court.''

[Rabrrrrrr]

16. Alberto Gonzales? Or Ashcroft? Or Pat Robertson?

[immoderate]

20. Ann Coulter?

Tarnation! Gabi Hayes, who'd be loco enough to go spoutin' that hogwash? Sure a' shootin'!

--IMM

[Demeter]

21. That's Ann Coulter

http://www.randomhouse.com/acmart/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780739304037&view=excerpt

[Gatchaman]

17. Once again, I have to trot out my favorite George Carlin quote

Condi's statement shows that she is "stunningly, and embarassingly, full of shit."

[EFerrari]

18. That's a good one. n/t

[MasonJar]

19. Hey, Condi, tell that to Dick and George!