Harry Belafonte and Cindy Sheehan, two of America’s far-left wing cult hero’s praise him. He is a dictator who is smothering out the voice of the opposition and oppressing millions. He is Hugo Chavez. Venezuela is ruled with an iron fist by the unapologetic suppressor of human rights and the American left loves him.
This kind of irony is so characteristic of the left in America. In left-wing blogs and on left-wing radio and TV talk shows, you will hear those accusing George Bush of suppressing voices of opposition. But these same leftists hold Hugo Chavez up as a role model and hero. Hugo Chavez is the very model of an iron-fisted dictator who does not allow dissention in his country or freedom of speech.
When George Bush has been asked by the press what he thinks of those critical of him, he answers that opposing viewpoints and freedom of speech are what make America great. Hugo Chavez does not seem to feel the same way, but gets a pass from America’s left. The left claims to be the champion of the oppressed, but when it comes to those silenced in Venezuela, American liberals are silent.
Recently, the operating license of the only media outlet not controled by strongman Chavez came up for renewal. Chavez immediately rejected RCTV’s license and replaced it with another one of his leftist controlled puppet stations.
When protestors in Caracas Venezuela marched and chanted ‘Freedom’, Chavez had the police fire tear gas and bullets into the crowd. Nothing like this happens in the U.S., of course, because protestors with a permit may protest anything they want. 95% of protests in the U.S. are conducted by liberals and George Bush has never ordered police to intervene. Interesting then, that the left holds Chavez in such high regard while showing visceral hatred for President Bush. Hypocrisy as far as the eye can see.
Was there outrage in Europe, where the left frequently accuses the United States administration of a plethora of things? Germany, the country that heads the European Union whimpered that Mr. Chavez should have held a competition for the station that would take over the operating license. They said nothing of the strong-arm tactics and suppression of freedoms. Likewise, a group in Paris that monitors such events internationally opinioned that this is the first time Hugo Chavez has done anything wrong.
Anyone who has been a regular reader of Live, Breathe and Die.com may remember the article I did last September, in which I detailed the horrific record of corruption in the Chavez government. Starting in 1998 with illegal campaign funding, in 2000 when he changed the timing of the elections to win and in 2002. when he took control of all radio and television stations. Chavez made clear, in a speech last September before the U.N., his allegiance to radical Islam.
The far left in America is currently working to pass legislation that would silence conservative talk radio. Like Hugo Chavez, the American left has no tolerance for free speech when the speech doesn’t suit them. While Chavez puts a symbolic boot against the side of the face of democracy-loving Venezuelans and holds them to the ground like a storm-trooper, American liberals cheer him on. After all, Chavez called President Bush the devil, so liberals give Chavez the green light to remove all human rights in Venezuela.
September 11, 2001 was just another day in America. Nothing significant happened on that day and to those who think something terrible happened on that day; it was just a figment of your imagination. As absurd as that sounds, that is exactly what many millions of American liberals believe.
We have seen it in the content of liberal blogs, in the platforms of liberal politicians and in liberal publications. Today, the belief was solidified when a liberal candidate for President of the United States publicly proclaimed it. John Edwards told The Council of Foreign Relations, in a speech, that the war on terrorism is nothing more than political maneuvering.
In countries throughout the Middle East, in much of North Africa, in Indonesia, in the Philippines and Uzbekistan and at least 50 others, there are radical members of Islam who are training to kill us. Their life’s ambition, their mind-set and brain chemistry are all programmed for one event in their lives; to kill Americans. This is a sad fact and this reality is denied by liberals who refuse to face the reality of the world today.
There can be nothing worse than to put a leader in charge of the United States, the person responsible for protecting her citizens, who denies the seriousness of terrorism. The only thing worse than that is a President who denies that we are at war with insane radicals who believe that killing Americans reserves them a place in Heaven.
John Edwards proved today that the liberal denial of terrorism and the war against terrorists is real and a serious concern. Liberals just don’t want to accept reality and liberals will never protect Americans from harm. Mr. Edwards made his remarks in a format that was meant to condemn the Bush administration, but his core beliefs were revealed in the process.
Across American, on liberal blogs, in national magazines, in local newspapers, on local newscasts and on national morning television shows, the denial of terrorists and the war against them is front and center. Liberals invent words for terrorists so they don’t have to label them as ‘terrorists.’ Liberals focus on Iraq as the only war we’re in, while denying the broader war we are fighting every day in nations around the world.
Putting John Edwards or anyone with a similar mindset into the Oval Office is like pulling the pin on a hand grenade. We are in a war for our very survival. There are literally millions of Islamo-fascist robots throughout the word programmed to murder us on a grand scale. They don’t care about our lifestyle preference, our ethnicity, our political affiliation or our feelings about global warming; they simply want to murder us.
From the Sudan to Malaysia to Syria to training camps within the United States, terrorists train every day to kill Americans in massive numbers. Our effort to thwart their efforts and defeat them is called ‘The War on Terror.’ It is more than a catch phrase; it is very real.
Sitting down at a conference table with people who live to kill us will never work. Thinking that talk will work is naive. America is at war and the enemy seeks to instill fear in their opponents.
John Edwards can make fools of a California University by charging them $55,000 for a speech about poverty, but he shouldn’t be allowed to make fools of American voters by denying the reality of terrorism. Relying on his reality would be a fatal mistake.