More Friends of Huggie. And a Few Questionable Activities.

Add al Jazeera to the list of friends of Chavez. They cite without a critical eye what would lead American Democrats (if true, or plausibly so) to claim W is undermining the Venezuelan government similar to Reagan’s early actions in Nicaragua: “Chavez showed what he said was a document proving that the US-based National Endowment for Democracy gave $300,000 to several opposition groups. … The government of Mr George W Bush continues putting its hands where it should not put them, … Chavez said the money given by the endowment was used by the opposition to draft a government plan titled Country Consensus as a blueprint for a post-Chavez Venezuela.”

Maybe because the National Endowment for Democracy is a private, nonprofit with Gephardt on the board has dissuaded the dems from such a line.

The Boston Globe may eat their young when it comes to Kerry, but they seem to be rather fond of Chavez, in a manner similar to how Kerry seems to feel about Edwards and McGreevy about his ex-Homeland Security guy: “Chavez, a charismatic ex-paratroop commander who has styled himself as a champion for the masses against a corrupt, elite oligarchy … a humbly born, man-of-the-people leader who some analysts compare to Juan Peron, the longtime populist leader of Argentina.” I am sure Hugo feels pretty when he reads things stories like these.

To learn more about Huggie Chavez, Wikipedia has a great discussion. He has rewritten the constitution, backed the dissolving of labor unions, suspended the legislature until he got it where he wanted it to be (120 of 131 seats from his party – and when his majority slipped to 60% he ruled by decree for a year), and constitutionally restricted freedom of the press. He’s called W a “devil” and a “pendejo” (roughly translated to “prick”).

More on the violent side of Huggie in a bit.