May 1, 2007 by lonbud
Me And Hugo, Down By The Schoolyard
America’s Mayor wants to take on The Bully of Venezuela.
With the Bush administration coming unglued before our very eyes in the face of an increasingly uncooperative congress, a still-deteriorating situation in Iraq, and the ever-diminishing credibility of our Department of Justice under Alberto Gonzales, GOP presidential hopeful Rudolph Giuliani would have us turn our attention to Hugo Chavez and ponder his having seized state control of Venezuela’s last remaining private oil fields.
In a speech Tuesday before Hispanic small business leaders in Washington, the former mayor of New York asked, “Who would listen to Chavez if he didn’t have all this oil money?”
Mr. Giuliani went on to portray himself as a “president who knows how to get things done so we don’t have to be sending money to Chavez,” and said there was no one “more outspoken about how dangerous I think he is.”
On the latter point, at least, he may be right.
Far be it from me to say how one should campaign for president, though were I afforded the position to do so in the wake of an absolute debacle like the one Mr. Bush appears to be leaving on the White House lawn, I believe I might candidly address the matters at hand and describe for the voters of this nation my vision for repairing the damage wrought by the outgoing government, and my plans for restoring the promise of the American Dream to all our citizens.
What we’ve had from Mr. Giuliani in the past two weeks are the stoking of our collective fear and a call to raise our defensive hackles against a tin-pot dictator with the cajones to say “Yanqui Go Home!”
A vote for Mr. Giuliani is clearly a vote to jump from the frying pan into the fire.
charles rachlis - May 2, 2007 @ 6:44 am
Just a few corrections “tin-pot dictator” should have had “” quoats around it. As Hugo was elected, more than once,with majorities that clearly place him among the “democratically elected” statesmen of the “civilized world”.
The use of the word seized regarding the method of transfer of ownership of the oil resources of the nation from private capital to the State of Venezula (held in trust for the people of that nation) disregards the fact that compenstation was paid for all oil resources which have been transfered. A hostile take over maybe but purchased none the less.
Thanks for pointing out the sabre ratteling of Rudi in his hope to make a case for his election. It would be remiss to neglect noting that many on the Democratic side are in Rudie’s camp on this one. Most of the Dems, if asked, would lament how bogged down the empire has become in Iraq, so squandering military resources which, if available, would have been sent south to protect private capital rather than allow a nationalist regime to act on behalf of its people .
All who favor republic over empire should applaud and and defend the nationalization of oil fields in the third world. Indeed we should be thankful that the empire’s military is so depleted as to be incapable of maintaining its chosen role as the Jack-Booted Thugs of Wall Street.
May the days of the collapse of empire hasten the rise of power of the working classes.
Mike - May 2, 2007 @ 7:18 am
Oil, oil, oil! Does anyone see a pattern here? One of rthe justifications for taking Iraq was we would then have better control of their oil production and gas prices would drop (they haven’t). One of the thoughts about taking on Iran is we woudl then control their oil and it would stop flowing to those Godless Chinese Commies. North korea doesn’t seem to have any oil so we finally decided to negotiate, even after our Pres painted them as not trustworty or reliable enough to negotiate with. No one in this adminstration has ever made a serious call for taking on North Korea, although they have clearly been seen to be one of the most clear and present dangers on the planet for upsetting the apple cart. And lest we forget after all the flag waving was seen through in VietNam it acame down to “we cannot let Standard Oil loose their holdings in SE Asia”. Oil, Oil, Toil & trouble; I think thats how that song went.
Paul Burke - May 2, 2007 @ 8:13 am
I have to echo Mike’s sentiment – I’m kind of laughing along with Chavez as he pulls out of the IMF -he’s got his hands on the oil and booted the profiteers out – a deal was made but not much of one – and it serves them right for not being better global citizens – and pirating all of the profit out of Venezuela. If they (the oil boys) went in and started to pump their profit back into that State and surrounding community – then the people down there wouldn’t have been so happy for Chavez to boot them out – Venezuela got its fair share in the original deal – at least what it negotiated – but a good global citizen would have put some of its own money back into the host State – that’s what they should do – but what about us what should we do – hmm – how about making oil obsolete along with all other dirty energy sources – the crimes and destruction, the wars and degradation that would be eliminated would be global – clean energy is a lifestyle change that would bring about a ton of intangible and tangible benefits across the spectrum of our entire existence – the time is now.
lonbud - May 2, 2007 @ 8:56 pm
Bless you Charles, for your tireless championing of the “working classes,” and thank you too for pointing out some sloppy language on my part.
I’ll leave for another day the debate over the character of Venezuela’s democracy and for now just let it be known I believe Mr. Chavez is a very useful foil in the consideration of our own.
It’s worth pointing out the curious timing of Mr. Giuliani’s choice to highlight Mr. Chavez’ actions, given the former’s law firm happens to represent the oil company the latter helped put out of business.
Once again, following the money helps to explain many a curious thing in this mean ol’ world.
lonbud - May 3, 2007 @ 5:44 pm
The punditocracy is covering tonight’s GOP candidate debate like it’s the NCAA basketball tournament or something, but one thing emerging with stark clarity – as if it’s been in doubt at all since at least the days of Dutch Reagan – the Republican Party is the party of tight sphincters in this country.
To a man – and, surprise, surprise: they are all old, white, men – each of the 10 are in favor of overturning Roe v. Wade. Rudy G is the outlier among the bunch. After saying, “I hate abortion,” he equivocated by allowing, “It would be OK to repeal it, it would be OK if a strict constructionist judge upheld it as precedent.”
Mike Huckabee, from Arkansas, compared abortion to suicide bombing.
Tommy Thompson thinks it’s fine for employers to fire people for being gay.
John McCain thinks we don’t need to go to war with Iran “at this time.”
I know I feel better already, don’t you?
harshmoon - May 3, 2007 @ 6:53 pm
I just have to say I was quite disappointed in the display. I’m still trying to figure out why no one refused to answer the questions from a known leftist and former employee of the drunk Tip O. Ol’ Dutch would have placed his boot up Chris Matthew’s sphincter. There ain’t no conservative in the bunch. They were all old and white? I didn’t notice.
lonbud - May 3, 2007 @ 8:37 pm
Don’t kid yourself, harshmoon, Ol’ Dutch was no conservative, either. The GOP hasn’t put one up for election since 1964.
While I’ll give you that “old” is a state of mind, as to the “whiteness” and “maleness” of the Republican field, I commend you to the following photo:
harshmoon - May 15, 2007 @ 8:47 pm
I just watched the second debate tonite. You’re right, they are old and white, male too. Still! I’m glad I paided attention this time; otherwise I may have actually listened to their responces. By the way, after careful study, I’m not convinced Hillary is a woman – but that’s just me. It also appears some demos feel Obama ain’t black enough, among other comments. I find no relevence in those discussions either.
lonbud - May 16, 2007 @ 8:04 pm
You are right about the race thing, harshmoon. Of itself alone, ’tis of no consequence, as long as we’re discussing how we order the society and conduct its affairs.
As to the responses of the GOP’s 10 Lil Injuns last night, I found it quite instructive to note the degrees of nuance each of them fellers had on the amount of torture they’d be willing to inflict in the quest to save us freedom lovin’ folk from the muslim hordes.
I think Digby may have said it best: the “debate is a window into what really drives the GOP id…I think Rudy won it. These people don’t care if he’s wearing a teddy under his suit and sleeping with the family schnauzer as long as he promises to spill as much blood as possible.”