Forget the libel of calling the President "the greatest tyrant in the world" and "the greatest terrorist in the world," which is nothing new - we've heard this a million times from Lefties of all stripes and persuasions. What gets me about 78-year-old calypso musician Harry Belafonte's chummy sessions with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was his incredible chutzpah in proclaiming to Chavez, "Not hundreds, not thousands, but millions of the American people support your revolution."
Belafonte's little delegation included actor Danny Glover and perennial Princeton University rabble-rouser Cornel West.
To their credit, the AARP (American Association of Retired Persons), which shortly before the incident awarded Belafonte with one of their Impact Awards, said of the quote: "To our dismay, Mr. Belafonte has made reckless and irresponsible statements about the President of the United States which we neither support nor condone. Mr. Belafonte is entitled to express his own personal views, but AARP does not condone the manner and tone which he has chosen and finds his comments completely unacceptable."
In the finest tradition of Latin American dictators, Chavez stands accused of electoral fraud, political repression and human rights abuses. So I would hazard to guess that it's only natural that those of Belafonte's political stripe would fawn over him. After all, Venezuela's upper and middle classes have taken a beating under his tenure.
Given his desire to combat U.S. influence, Chavez' Venezuela does not work with the United States to combat terrorism. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have documented human rights abuses, documenting torture and censorship of anti-Chavez political prisoner detainees. The U.S. State Department concurs. The International Criminal Court has taken up a case by relatives of those killed in a violent clash during a march against Chavez on April 11, 2002. Chavez is also regarded as someone who won't hesitate to use the military to crush domestic opposition, in addition to being a demagogue.
Article comments
1 - Bing
It is so sickening to see the constant trashing of America by rich hollywood liberals who live lavish and carefree lifestyles because of the nation that they rail against has given them those lifestyles.
The are nothing but an elitist, condescending bunch of assholes who deserve nothing more than utter disdain from the average American.
I only wish that the next time one of these sycophants opens thier big mouth someone will pubicly tell them to shut the fuck up or better yet punch them square in the face.
2 - Bing
As there is nothing more that would warm the cockles of my heart as seeing George Clooney or Sean penn with blood streaming down thier face because they opened thier mouth to spew thier anti American venom in front of the wrong person.
3 - Baronius
I wouldn't go so far as Bing on this one, but nice going, AARP. Celebrities shouldn't get a free pass. (Actually, if I were standing next to Penn, I probably wouldn't recognize him. Something tells me that'd bug him more than a punch in the face.)
4 - GoHah
As Homer Simpson once asked: "Celebrities--is there anything they don't know?" Answer: Yes--not hundreds, not thousands, but millions of things."
5 - Dave Nalle
Great catalog of Chavez' outrages and you didn't even mention the demise of the free press in Venezuela. Shutting down and nationalizing the media is the first step in establishing dictatorial control.
Dave
6 - Valery
That Chavez is one baaaad and dangerous dude. The defender of all that is righteous and wonderful on the planet,...... (fill in the blank), should arrest that man before he invades some defenseless country and kills thousands of innocent children, women and men on some phony excuse that it has weapons of mass destruction.