Bush worried about Venezuelan democracy

[sabra]

http://english.eluniversal.com/2006/05/22/en_pol_art_22A710691.shtml

Bush worried about Venezuelan democracy


US President George W. Bush expressed Monday concern about erosion of democracy in Venezuela and Bolivia. In a clear reference to his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chávez, the ruler criticized interference in the polls of third countries.

"Let me say it clearly: I am concerned about the erosion of democracy in the countries you mentioned," Bush answered to a participant in a rally of the Chicago's Restorers Association on the situation in Venezuela and Bolivia, AFP quoted.

Apparently in reference to President Chávez, but without naming him, Bush warned against "intended meddling in the elections of other countries in the hemisphere," Efe reported.

"I will recall the people that intervening in other elections to attain goals in the medium term is not in the interest of the neighborhood," Bush explained in clear reference to Chávez' support to Peruvian candidate Ollanta Humala and Nicaraguan Daniel Ortega.

[Sequoia]

1. Ah, shud up warmonger monkey.

[Acadia Blue]

45. He should worry about the mess he is making here.

[NoodleyAppendage]

2. Shot across the bow. Here comes the Venezuelian War of 2007...

It's only a matter of time that the neocons see Venezuela as a potent 2008 election issue.

J

[rurallib]

4. so many to invade ..... so little time .... so little army

[OKthatsIT]

66. LOL

[movonne]

11. Will the Iran war be over by 2008??? if not maybe we will take on

two, or three at a time...we have done so good in Iraq and that will be our roll model for future invasions....

[libhill]

21. Awww

it'll be all right. The Venezuelans will welcome our troops with rose strewn streets and confetti. Just like in Iraq....

[High Plains]

24. Don't forget Afghanistan!

Things are going so swimmingly there these days.

[arch_liberal]

80. The Great Decider morphs into the Caped Invader?

Protecting us all from high wages for peons....

[louis-t]

3. Pot, meet kettle.

[Raiden]

63. More like "Pot, meet bar of Ivory soap"

Comparing Chavez and Bush on matters of democracy is absolutely laughable...Chavez was actually elected

[TomClash]

5. This could have been written about the United States

by Chavez or Morales.

[Judi Lynn]

6. Don't forget the source is an extreme anti-Chavez,"opposition" paper.

Every article from these guys should be evaluated with their identity firmly in mind.

[sabra]

10. indeed. but it's mostly quotes of *'s spewing nonsense...

[Judi Lynn]

13. You're right. I've used some of their stuff, as well.

Depends on whether or not they are sticking close to the actual story, or using it as a vehicle for propaganda.

[Ganja Ninja]

7. I'm sure it doesn't have anything to do with the fact that ...

they have more oil than Saudi Arabia. It's only a coincidence. By the way, that Saudi democracy sure is a wonderful thing ain't it.:sarcasm:

[nick303]

49. By what measure

do they have more oil than Saudi Arabia?

[Robbien]

8. He's worried because Venezuela has more democracy than we do

Bush is threatened when the common people have a say in their own government.

Hey Mr "Signing Statements" above the law potus, STFU.

[goforit]

52. And he's worried cause he's been caught w/his fingers in the cookie jar.

Vote rigging,
several assassination attempts against Chavez,
and squashing the economy.

3 strikes......." you're outta here"

[peacetalksforall]

9. OK - that's a clue - perhaps the claim of meddling is a set-up. Could

it be that those speaking for those countries are partnering with the U.S. Which countires made that claim - anyone know?

[htuttle]

12. He's using 'Democracy' as a synonym for 'Capitalism' (again)

[Imperialism Inc.]

15. Yep. I noticed that too.

[murray hill farm]

70. And most Americans do not know the difference!

I believe that most Americans could define neither capitalism or democracy anyway!

[raccoon]

73. Or they think democracy and capitalism are synonymous. nt

[WinkyDink]

83. He isn't the first one, but he's the most violent one.

He LOVES dictatorship-cum-capitalism. THAT is Bush's definition of "democracy", and hey, "we make our own reality", so what's a word or two?

[Imperialism Inc.]

14. Oh yeah,

definitely shouldn't interfere in the election of other countries! I mean the U.S. , for example, would never do something like that. :rofl: Clearly this has to do with the Bolivia recently starting an idle land program like Venezuela has. It , of course, has nothing to do with democracy but helping the poor is an evil as far as Bush is concerned and he'll stop it any way he can .The land programs are similar to something John Kennedy proposed back in his day.


I wonder if the campaign against Carter has anything to do with a coming renewed effort against Venezuela. I mean, it is after all the same tactics they use on Chavez. I wonder if we'll see our resident Bush apologists on this thread using the Carter tactics against Chavez or if they'll stay away because it is just too obvious right now.

[Judi Lynn]

19. Carter, as one of the international election observers, DID give Venezuela

great marks on the transparency of its election he oversaw. That was bound to rub the slime in the White House the wrong way, and put Carter near the top of his #### list.

[frylock]

27. just another reason why carter should be censured

:sarcasm:

[redqueen]

16. What about OUR democracy?!

Venezuela's election was overseen by international observers... ours were not!

Is this crap fooling ANYONE?

[fshrink]

18. It is shot. And that's not even an over-statement.

[redqueen]

20. It's really not...

when you see the corporate-approved candidates so welcomed by so many... it's really no challenge to see it plainly for the sham it is.

[Judi Lynn]

17. Isn't it astonishing to hear Bush talking about people interfering

in elections? UNBELIEVABLE.

I loved the closing line, which sounds EXACTLY like a threat:

Good relations with the United States would be helpful for these peoples, he pointed out.

(If they know what's good for them!)

[lumpy]

46. His hypocrisy runneth over.

Bush apparentely forgets that he started the war of words with Chavez. Bush is the SOB that has demonized so many countries continuing Reagan's tone. The jackass knows nothing about the diplomacy of extending a hand. His knowledge of foreign affairs..oh forget it
As for interferring in other countries....Hypocrisy hypocrisy hypocrisy

[Tempest]

22. Controversial U.S. Groups Operate Behind Scenes on Iraq Vote

Even as the White House decries the ominous prospect of Iranian influence on the upcoming Iraqi national elections, US-funded organizations with long records of manipulating foreign democracies in the direction of Washington's interests are quietly but deeply involved in essentially every aspect of the process.

newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/1311

[Tempest]

23. Bush spends $65 million to influence Ukraine election

Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y. ) on December 14 requested an investigation into an estimated $65 million in U.S. funds that he says were used to influence the outcome of Ukraine's presidential election and in support of the "Orange Revolution" through allocations to organizations that had a known preference for Viktor Yushchenko. "Information in the public domain indicates that a significant portion of the reportedly $65 million spent during the past two years, for such programs in Ukraine, may have been given to organizations with a known partisan agenda in support of one of the presidential candidates," Rep. Towns wrote in a letter to Andrew Natsios, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development.

http://www.ukrweekly.com/Archive/2004/520407.shtml

[Judi Lynn]

26. Good catches. We really need to know about these things, and you can be

sure, we don't just find too much information about any of this through our own conventional sources.

I wonder why they aren't proud to write about it! It's our tax money involved in throwing their elections, after all.

[Tempest]

32. Also see post #28

Another find to file away.

I gave up on the conservative MSM a long time ago.

[TankLV]

54. Of course, the fact that the overwhelming MAJORITY of Ukrainians WANTED

and VOTED for Yushchenko has nothing to do with it, plus the fact that the RUSSIAN COLONIALIST PUPPET he ran against CHEATED LIKE BUSH DID, has nothing to do with the results of the Ukrainian elections, right?

You know NOTHING about the topic.

It's a lot more complicated than what you simplistically stated.

[Tempest]

74. All I did was point out Bush's hypocrisy

Nice strawman though, asshole.

BTW, how's that so-called Orange Revolution going in the Ukraine?

Seems it has fallen apart through in-fighting and bickering.

[High Plains]

25. Oh, the aching hypocrisy. I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

[BrotherBuzz]

28. So Bush*, NED isn't meddling for you?

I'm not keen on Pat Buchanan's American Consertative, but they nailed this issue.

Bush’s meddling in foreign elections undercuts his stated principles.

April 24, 2006 Issue
Copyright © 2006 The American Conservative


By James Bovard


George W. Bush has been more emphatic about spreading democracy than any president since Woodrow Wilson. Yet Bush’s policies have subverted elected governments, corrupted foreign elections, and tainted democracy itself. For most of the American media, however, Bush’s pretensions on democracy remain sacrosanct.

When Bush took office in 2001, the U.S. already had a long history of meddling abroad in the name of foreign “self-determination.” The National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a government agency created in 1983, had been involved in election-manipulation scandals in Panama, Nicaragua, Slovakia, and elsewhere. But the Bush team sharply ratcheted up both spending and the brazenness of U.S. interventions. The United States is currently spending more than a billion dollars a year on democracy promotion.

In 2001, NED quadrupled its aid to Venezuelan opponents of elected president Hugo Chavez, and NED heavily funded some organizations involved in a bloody military coup that temporarily removed Chavez from power in April 2002. After Chavez retook control, NED and the State Department responded by pouring even more money into groups seeking his ouster.

<more>

http://www.amconmag.com/2006/2006_04_24/article2.html

[Judi Lynn]

30. This article is a thing of BEAUTY, from beginning to end.

Surely a keeper, with usefulness reaching far into the future.

Thank you. Never expected to see something this worthwhile from a conservative source. :woohoo:

[BrotherBuzz]

35. Reflect on the last paragraph of the arrticle...

The administration seems to have learned nothing from its democracy debacles of the last four years. But perhaps the rhetoric has all been a ruse. Perhaps invoking “democracy” is simply a smokescreen in pursuit of the neoconservative goal of “benevolent global hegemony.” 

htuttle whittled it down to size and framed the talking point in post #12

 He's using 'Democracy' as a synonym for 'Capitalism'

[Amonester]

57. The only thing the maladministration learned in the last four years

is how to make a megaton-load of money for themselves, and for the haves and have mores.

"And beleive me, they have done very well."

For them, the word "enough" does not exist.

[BrotherBuzz]

62. Indeed, and all accomplished by following the Bush* plan in all things:

Socialize the costs and privatize the profits

[redqueen]

76. Thank you so much for posting that.

:applause:

[m0nkeyneck]

29. what about the erosion of democracy here?

[spanone]

31. He'd like a lil more of that ol Exxon-Mobil democracy...

[Hardrada]

33. 3, 4 Many Viet Nams!

as the old antiwar poster used to say.

[cliss]

34. Bush has gone about as far as he can on this

"democracy" bull-crap. His propaganda has reached a rocky End of the Road, a proverbial Cul-de-sac as his wind-bag blabbing ran out of gas.

Mr. Morales is an indigenous coca farmer. How can Bush possibly spin this? Mr. Chavez is a former paratrooper. These men are the polar opposite of Bush.

You know.....(ominously)...Stan Goff wrote that very soon, the mask will come off completely. They will become so desperate, that they will start talking about their real intentions. (waiting)

[daleo]

36. Of course Bush is worried about Venezuelan democracy

Democracy anywhere worries him.

[ugarte]

37. Nice to know the US never meddles in the affairs of others...

That's news to Latin America and the rest of the world.

[AndyTiedye]

38. I'm Worried About Ours

[Roland99]

39. Yeah, just like the democracy in Latin America needed 'fixing' in the 80s.

Fuckers.

[Matariki]

40. Someone needs to read the dictionary entry for "democracy" to this guy

I really don't think he understands it.

[Miss Chybil]

41. What about OUR democracy, MR. Bush? You are the POTUS,

not the King of the World. Pay attention to your own country and quit messing up everybody else's.

[Spazito]

42. He should be worried, democracy is breaking out all over and

that is BAD NEWS for the bush cabal and his corporate buddies.

[Endangered Specie]

43. I too am worried about democracy in Venezuala...

but I'm just as worried about it here too!

Bush speaking on democracy is like Kim Jong Il speaking on selflessness

[xxqqqzme]

44. ..."I will recall the people that intervening

in other elections to attain goals in the medium term is not in the interest of the neighborhood," Bush explained in clear reference to Chávez' support to Peruvian candidate Ollanta Humala and Nicaraguan Daniel Ortega.'

asshat thinks he's Mr. Rodgers!

[MessiahRp]

47. LMAO at that too...

As if the fucking chimp hasn't intervened in other countries to force their hand to his will... if anything he's globally the most redhanded of anybody in that regard.

Rp

[CONN]

48. And Mr. Bush: Libya is O-K?

Per CIA Factbook: "a military dictatorship" http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ly.html#Govt

Bush embraces Libyan terrorist Gadhafi, and all is forgiven.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=15archive/&entry_id=5221

[Rex]

50. Bush should be worried about the erosion of democracy in THIS country!

The Failure Presidency.

[PerceptionManagement]

51. Why, in God's name isn't the Chimperor worried about AMERICAN democracy?

[HuffleClaw]

53. "intended meddling in the elections of other countries..."

hmmmm. as opposed to the ACTUAL 'meddling in the elections of other countries' that have been a hallmark of BushCo. ?

[Jim__]

55. bush is worried about the erosion of democracy in Venezuela.

And the press reports this with a straight face?

[nolabels]

64. That ain't press, that there corporate lap dog, arf, arf

Like damn, it's no wonder they want compromise and shut down the internet. With out it we would never know what all these P.O.S's are really up to with any great detail.

[murray hill farm]

71. Bush is worried about...

the rise of actual democracy anywhere! Doesnt work with his plans

[arewenotdemo]

56. what a jerk

edit: murderer

[flaminbats]

58. Bush had the opportunity to show his love for democracy..

Who has the opportunity to step aside when losing the popular vote while winning the Electoral College? John Q. Adams, Rutherford B. Hayes, Benjamin Harrison, and now Bush won fewer popular votes but the necessary Electoral College votes required to become President. If any of these individuals truly believed in democracy they would have stepped aside in respect to the candidates who won the popular vote in those elections.

I still remember what the Bush voters told me when I pointed out that Gore won half a million votes more nationwide than Bush did in 2000. They all said the same thing.."the United States isn't a democracy. We're a republic, so why should the President be elected?" :eyes:

http://www.uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/national.php?year=2000&off=0&elect=0&f=0

Only a person who cares nothing for democracy would knowingly choose to become President over the will of the people!

[arch_liberal]

81. Only a person who cares nothing for Democracy

- would act as if he had a mandate for his own extreme radical agenda when he knew full well he had only been elected by a accidental electoral anomaly that in no way represented any form of mandate from We, the People...

He pretended to be a Uniter not a Divider but instead annointed himself as "The Great Decider"!

[Nevernose]

59. If this doesn't get the "Ironic Headline of the Year" award

I don't know what will..

[upi402]

60. 'Clue for rent!'

Where did he attend uni? and how did he get there?

[Zorra]

61. Chavez was elected. Bu*h was selected. 'nuff said.

[EFerrari]

65. That's what we said just before we stole Hawaii. Damn,

they really REALLY need new writers in D.C.

[pitohui]

67. how touching

maybe he better be more concerned abt usa-ian democracy because we've got fuck-all here

[pinniped]

68. This POS sure does do a lot of worrying, at least in print.

Meanwhile, back at the pig farm, monkeyboy boozes up and the worries go away.

This POS is irrelevant, the only people believing he is are his 30% base of morans.

[Bossy Monkey]

69. Clue for ya numbnuts: if you'd worried about it here, you wouldn't have a

job (addressed to Bush, not OP, of course)

[AnOhioan]

72. Unbelievable

To paraphrase the idiot.

Let me say it clearly: I am concerned about the erosion of democracy here in the US

[zann725]

75. Indeed, the Chimp SHOULD be worried. The NON-democracy he refers to

SEEMS to offer some concern for human rights and for helping the poor of the world and its own. Not saying these countries are "perfect," but...to accuse THESE countries of "an erosion of Democracy" is....'calling the Kettle black.'

[Judi Lynn]

77. Chavez has helped bring hope and help to Venezuela's very, very poor

who have been exploited forever for their labor and otherwised kicked to the curb. _Bush has conspicuously spit on America's poor.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

78. I hate it when irony isn't funny

[arch_liberal]

79. Shrubidubious is more worried that they HAVE democracy

Something that is sorely lacking in the primped and painted world of corrupt corporate politicism here in the United States

[Joanne98]

82. Oliver Stone is making a movie about the 2002 Chavez coup

Maybe monkeyman should worry about that instead.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/21/AR2006052100817.html

[WinkyDink]

84. ONCE AGAIN, Bush says EXACTLY what he means, to wit:

"Let me say it clearly: I am concerned about the erosion of democracy in the countries you mentioned...."

MEANS: "...that the EROSION is NOT FAST ENOUGH." He IS "concerned".

[GRLMGC]

85. This kind of shit pisses me off when its coming from anyone

Chavez was voted in democratically. His rule may not conform to some people's ideas of what "true" democracy is but if the people voted for him, then that's all that matters. For fuck's sake!

[Terran1212]

86. So everytime he doesn't like someone abroad he calls them antidemocratic

And his sheep follow along and bleat with him.