Centerfield

Thankfully, Mr Chavez kept his shoe on.

LMAO. I also get a kick out of the "smells of sulphur" comments, knowing that Venezualan crude is "sour," thick and sulphurous and thus much less desirable than most other crude, being harder to process and refine. Sounds like Hugo has oil on the brain.

The current oil price drops and over-stuffed supply pipelines must really be hurtin' old Hugo, more so than the other members of OPEC who are busy pumping record amounts of "sweet" crude.

Hugo would be great on a stand-up tour. Just imagine if you combine hime with Yakov Smirnov(sic).

I have to wonder when his little game is just going to collapse on top of him.

Yeah, he can go straight to hell. I listened to Stephanie Miller laugh at this on the rado this morning. I am no Bush cheerleader over the last couple of months, but Chavez didn't insult just the President, but rather the United States as a whole. Liberals who praise Chavez want to make me throw up. This guy is insignificant, and if he wasn't, he wouldn't have said what he said. I put him in the same category as Castro. It's called the world would be better off if you didn't exist.

I do, however, think that it was absolutely the correct call to let Chavez and Ahmadinejad speak at the UN. Let them hang themselves with their own words. As Mathew said, insulting Bush is one thing, but insulting Americans (by suggesting that we need to read Chomsky's book--who, by the way, is still alive of which Chavez is apparently unaware)is not going to win him any friends. Of course, the left wing will applaud, but so what? Cindy and Harry will come kiss him again. I think Chavez and Ahmadinejad did Bush a big favor. They are such parodies of dictators, they could almost be characters on "24."

And it's not like Latin American anti-US sentiment is a new thing. Nixon's car was attacked in Caracas in the 50s. I think responding to him would be a big mistake. Chavez is already starting to overreach with his neighbors; at the same time, it's highly unlikely that he can ever turn Venezuela into another Cuba.

I am deeply troubled by the response Chavez received at the UN. I feel like supporting the removal of the UN from the US. No honoring the cease-fire in Lebanon? Nothing for the Sudan? No protest over human rights abuses in Iran, China and elsewhere? Chavez wins a seat on the Security Council; we should change Bolton to bolting and stop funding a stage to blast America.

Does Kerry still think appealing to the UN and our allies will get things done?

I think Chavez simply got a good whiff of himself.

I do, however, think that it was absolutely the correct call to let Chavez and Ahmadinejad speak at the UN. Let them hang themselves with their own words.

Granted that the veneer these two men are putting forward is pretty thin, especially Chavez, but I worry that if they are allowed to repeat the message over and over again they will eventually be able to make an impact in various parts of the world if not right here at home. It's not like we haven't seen that work for our own politicians before.

Having to let people like this have their day in the free speech ring at the UN may be one of the unintended consequences Bobby warned us about.

Hugo never ceases to amuse. I cover his kooky rants pretty regularly in my blog and he never fails to deliver top quality paranoid anti-American propaganda.

Does Ahmadinejad bring the phrase anti-christ to anyone else's mind? I'm thinking about growing a topknot.

Unfortunately, I don't think this is so amusing.

Matthew Yglesias wrote a mash note to the Ahmad-ster on his blog:

"Mahmoun Ahmadinejad has a pretty sweet hipster style..."