Here is a man so obviously corrupt; a man who stands for absolutely nothing except staying in power. His screaming attacks against a military he once served in was a pragmatic power move, endearing him to a loud minority of anti-American socialists desperate for influence and willing to ignore any indiscretion.
"In the name of the peoples of the world, President Bush, withdraw the troops from Iraq. Enough already with so much genocide," Chavez said before an auditorium packed with his red-clad supporters.
Penn sat near the front, at times applauding and nodding in agreement. He is the latest in a series of celebrities who have visited Caracas, including Danny Glover and Harry Belafonte.
Here he is, telling us how eager he is to negotiate with the most illegitimate and dangerous regimes in the world - for the sake of "repairing" busted bridges. Obama is a smart man who usually says a lot without saying anything at all. But in this case, he must know better that negotiation with thuggery legitimizes thuggery. Agreements made with thugs always requires a compromising of our interests (presumably in sharing freedom) and ultimately leads to a further erosion of support from countries that would normally be our natural allies in liberty.
For example, the elder George Bush sold out Lebanon to Syria for support in Iraq War 1. In doing so, he legitimized the thuggery of Syrian Baath Party leaders, agreeing to let them occupy a democratic Lebanon, destroying the trust we built with this nation under Reagan. With Nancy Pelosi tripping over herself in the rush to re-establish relations with Syrian thug-master Bashar al-Assad, we're telling freedom-loving people within Lebanon that the US will turn its back on them once Democrats assume the presidency. Why should these people support the US and Israel when Obama is telling the world that he can't wait to talk to Syria and Iran?
