Reply #77: Not quite the dictatorship

[fujiyama]

Bush and US propaganda make it out to be...

But, I don't believe Venezuela is as democratic as some DUers make it out to be, and I think Chavez obviously has some authoritarian tendancies.

But frankly, I've heard so much propaganda against him and attacks against him that it's old and tiring. I mean, even Jon Stewart bashes him and then has a thuggish dictator that came to power in a military coup and he calls him "president" and kisses his ass on his show (I'm talking about Musharraf of Pakistan). Chavez strikes me as more legitimate than several other world leaders like that of China, and Putin of Russia (during whose tenure several journalists critical of him have been murdered execution style). None of those countries' leaders get nearly as bad press in the western media.

Hopefully he'll allow for a free and fair election, and if defeated will step down in an orderly fashion.