Categorical Aperitif

I still worry that Hugo Chavez will turn into the pseudo-Marxist autocrat which he is automatically, unthinkingly caricatured as by the Bush Administration and much of the dutiful corporate media (all while he has won free elections, Venezuela has a powerful opposition media, and the U.S. government and elite media were complicit themselves in an antidemocratic coup attempt against him a few years ago), but in the meantime, I can't help but like the guy. Democracy Now! was kind enough to give us some excerpts from one of the speeches he's done as he's followed Bush around Latin America during the past week:

PRESIDENT HUGO CHAVEZ: [translated] On the other side of the river, that is where that little gentleman of the North must be. Let's give him a big boo! Gringo, go home!

I am convinced that our friends in Brasilia and in Montevideo are not going to feel offended, because we would not want to hurt any of our brethren from Uruguay or Brazil. We recognize their sovereignty. We recognize that those governments have the sovereign right to invite the little gentleman of the North, if they so choose.

But Kirchner and I don't need to plan anything to sabotage this visit, because we are witnessing the true political cadaver. The President of the United States is a political cadaver. He doesn't even smell of sulfur anymore. He doesn't even smell of sulfur or brimstone, if you will. No longer. What you smell from him now is the stench of political death. And not long from now, he will turn to dust and disappear.

Amen.

Classes, family, and automobile willing, I'll be back tomorrow with some long-delayed Random Flickr Blogging and/or some Live Celtic Softcore Blogging (our local PBS affiliate just can't seem to give us enough of these winsome Stepford lasses, I swear). Courage.