Jeb Bush in Chile: ''For too long, democracy has been defined as having a fair election''

[seafan]

Jeb Bush promotes Latin democracy

BY NATHAN CROOKS
June 19, 2007

SANTIAGO, Chile --
Increased entrepreneurship and a deeper understanding of democracy are the solutions to many problems confronting Latin America, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush told a gathering of business and political leaders.

Speaking at the Business Future of the Americas conference, Bush also promoted the development of biofuels throughout the region. Bush, co-chair of the newly formed InterAmerican Ethanol Commission, said biofuels production was a ''breakthrough opportunity'' for Latin America. ''We simply don't have enough corn in the U.S.,'' he said.

.....

The Business Future of the Americas conference was organized by the Chilean American Chamber of Commerce and drew attendees from over 20 countries throughout the region. As keynote speaker, ''unleasing entrepreneurialism'' was Bush's primary theme. He said the rise of populism in the region was occurring because of a ``perception that capitalism has not brought the promised benefits and that progress can only be achieved by government intervention.''

For Jeb, it's true that a stopped clock is right two times a day.

.....CALL FOR REFORMS

Bush urged Latin American leaders to push for increased transparency, more flexible labor laws, and sound fiscal policy in order to make Latin American economies more competitive.

''Lifelong employment is no longer a policy that can be adhered to anywhere,'' he said. ``Governments need to focus on education and training. The most important thing that we can all do is to make education the highest priority for the economy.''

Bush praised Chile as one notable exception in the region and said that even the United States envied Chile's sound fiscal policies.

He urged Latin American leaders to advance a deeper understanding of democracy.

''For too long, democracy has been defined as having a fair election,'' he said.

``For those of use who believe in freedom and liberty, it's become crystal clear that elections and economic reforms are not sufficient unless they are backed up by good government and respect for private property and the rule of law.''

U.S. DIPLOMACY

Bush said that the United States has a role in increasing democracy throughout the region by expanding financial support, increasing work with multilateral organizations, and in reviewing agricultural policies that hurt the developing world.

''The U.S. can continue to fight for free trade agreements,'' he said.

.....

Go away, Jeb Bush.

JUST. GO. AWAY.

[Cleita]

1. I hope the Chileans plan an exorcism after he's gone.

The last thing Chile needs after forty years of Pinnochet's brutal dictatorship is the BFEE polluting their shores.

[partylessinOhio]

2. I smell sulfur.

[file83]

29. Is that what that smell is?

[madfloridian]

3. Damn those fair elections anyway.

Recommended and appreciate your post.

Jeb and George...dictator brothers.

[Warpy]

4. Don't kid yourselves, people, we are going

to have to fight that ignorant, elitist putz in 2012. He will be back as the GOP candidate.

Stupid speeches like this one prove it.

[Ghost in the Machine]

7. Nope... Jeb is an outcast with the BFEE and the neocons...

He lists his religious faith as Catholic, in contrast to the christian fundamental views of the neocons, and he married (gasp!) a Mexican woman and has mixed breed children, whom Poppy Bush "lovingly referred to" as the "little brown ones" when he introduced them to Ronnie Raygun in 1988.

He may have been a PNAC signer, but he doesn't fit in in their world view. The only thing they'll accept his wife and kids as are servants.

Just my not so humble opinion. And I'm NOT putting down Mexican women or mixed race kids, I'm just making an observation, so don't even try to flame me for this.

Ghost

[Cleita]

8. Jeb's wife comes from the same class of elitists that he does, just

from a different country. I don't think it will make a difference. They might even consider his ethnically mixed family a plus in 2012. All they have to do is put the right spin on it for their Kool-Aid drinking base and all will be well, just like with Cheney's gay daughter. You know those bigoted talking points don't apply when it comes to them.

[Ghost in the Machine]

10. Point taken.. just look how the shrub has energized the fundies

and he's as far from a christian as I am...and I'm an atheist.

[Warpy]

20. The theocons are coming to terms with the Catholics

because the Catholics are against women's rights.

He'll be just peachy to them.

[WinkyDink]

9. His offsprings' drug use and arrests (for lewd conduct, e.g.), plus his wife's tax evasion,

will become the subject of at least one "unauthorized" bio, you can bet on that, too.

Abramoff might put the kibosh on El Presidente Jeb, though.

[Ghost in the Machine]

12. I know about them...

take a look here ~~>> http://www.bash-a-bush.com/dc/dcboard.php

[WinkyDink]

14. Awesome site! Bwah!!

[mod mom]

23. Offspring drug use? What about Jeb's brother? W had drug use, DWIs, was awol,

also had drunk obnoxious off spring, had a wife who killed her high school boyfriend, and had many shady business dealings (think about who funded his bad business decisions as well as who got funding for his baseball team) and it didn't bother him. We can let the BFEE fade away but to fully expose it and make them face REAL justice.

[WinkyDink]

33. Maybe fed-up America will treat Jeb as France treated Louis XVI, as

as opposed to XIV.

[glitch]

25. You got it. And he doesn;t actually have to "win", his "win" just needs to look plausible.

And it doesn't have to look very plausible, just sort of plausible. Even almost sort of plausible will be good enough for the Corporate Media to run with.

[kenny blankenship]

5. See, the secret truth about democracy is, and my brother George will back me up on this

or he would if he wasn't drunk as a boiled owl, is that you don't have real democracy, good democracy, true democracy, unless the social and economic results of your democratic system are exactly the same as you'd get if corporations dictated all those results at gunpoint. Obviously, just having "fair elections" isn't enough to get you there--in fact just the opposite. You need a lot more than "fair elections", or else corporations will sooner or later really start pointing guns at people to get things back the way they need them to be. You need what I call a "sustainable" system for growth.

Now, we're not here to point a gun at you--today (hehheheheh) We're here today in this upside down hemisphere of yours to teach y'all about democracy, real American democracy. It's a simple lesson. Democracy is about the fine art of hiding the gun. You need to compel people, to chain their energies to the growth engine, to wring everything you can out of them profitwise, but without them being aware that they are being compelled, and without them seeing who and what it is that compels them.

[Disturbed]

6. Mittens/Jeb '08.

It's in the bag.

[tom_paine]

28. Then a "lone gunman" whacks Mittens in '09 just like Poppy tried to do to Reagan in '81

A ertain symmetry, dont cha' think.

Maybe Emperor Jeb and his patsy will get it right, givig Amerika 12 more years of Bush Imperium.

Yes, I know, very :tinfoilhat: and probably not true, but just how deep does the well of corruption GO for the Imperial family?

How deep did it go for the Caesars? As the Bushlers are the modern Caesers, right down to bitch slapping the Senate into line, I think it would be imprudent to dismiss it as a possibility.

[unpossibles]

11. I wish we had increased transparency, more flexible labor laws, and sound fiscal policy here at home

what an asshole.

[Judi Lynn]

13. Someone should elect Jeb and get him stashed away as a mayor in some

right-wing town so he won't be butting into Latin American affairs.

As Florida's governor, he still had time to meddle in elections there, conveying promises, and threats to countries which dared to run leftists as candidates.

These bastards need to be retired, actually. They are a blight to the entire world.

[Cleita]

17. How about Midland, Texas or Crawford, Texas. n/t

[wryter2000]

15. For too long Bush's have been confused with sentient beings n/t

n/t

[tanyev]

16. See, these days you've got to fix elections to protect democracy.

It's the GOP way.

[WinkyDink]

18. Kissinger, family friend and advisor, opined on democracy thusly:

Henry Kissinger once justified U.S. support for the Pinochet coup in Chile by saying, "I don't see why we need to stand by and watch a country go communist due to the irresponsibility of its own people."

[Cleita]

19. They are using a variation of the same meme about Hugo

Chavez and Venezuela.

[EFerrari]

32. LOL! Exactly!:

:thumbsup:

[Alpharetta]

21. I didn't realize how angry I am at him until just now

It came on me like a flood. Here's a smart Bush who I thought had a conscience. But somehow his conscience was no match for the loyalty which has brought upon us billions wasted in Iraq, hundreds of thousands killed in Iraq, millions displaced in Iraq, New Orleans rotting, schools rotting, a country rotting.

[glitch]

22. Just out of curiousity, what on earth gave you the idea he had a conscience, ever? nt

[Joe Chi Minh]

24. When I first read that, I doubled up. I thought it must be The Onion!

[seafan]

27. Not the Onion. Just the turnip.

[puebloknot]

26. K&R Fair elections? What a "quaint" concept. nt

[autorank]

30. So the inverse is, it's defined as having an unfair election...he's honest about his policies.

Just look at the state he governed.

His successor got in and immeidately distanced himself from Jeb on his racist policies, felon disenfranchisement, and on the DRE's that do so well for Republicans. Not that these are perfect antidotes but they sure indicate that the Jeb model is over.

Excellent thread.

[EFerrari]

31. Beth in SF: Jeb, for too long you have ignored my one finger salute. nt

[LeftishBrit]

34. Whereas Jeb's definition is 'Making sure my brother gets the job, whatever the voters want!'