The Hugo dustup - anyone ever heard of "sticks 'n stones"?

I got a big kick out of the whole dustup that resulted from Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's remarks at the United Nations last week about President Bush. Here is what he said:

"And the devil came here yesterday," said Chávez, referring to President Bush, who delivered a speech from the same podium the previous day. "And it smells of sulfur still today, this table that I am now standing in front of."

Okay, Hugo's a dick. This is not in doubt. But, it's also not in doubt that this is America, and people are free to say what they want to say.

However, the biggest entertainment about the whole incident didn't come from Chávez, it came from the Republican right. What a surprise. How DARE you criticize our president!

Anyway, I found a pretty good piece by Jeff Cohen of Alternet about the whole comedy. He sums it up a whole lot better than I can. Get the whole article Here. An excerpt of what Cohen had to say - pretty poignant prose:

Across the U.S. political and media spectrum, there was wide agreement yesterday: Name-calling and personal attacks are bad for national and global dialogue. Prompting the unity were Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez' comments that President Bush was the devil incarnate, "El Diablo."

Among those exercised (and exorcized) about Chavez' name-calling were some of the loudest name-callers in American media today -- including Rush Limbaugh and other rightwing talk hosts. Limbaugh tried to equate Chavez' remarks with the alleged Bush-bashing that comes from top U.S. Democrats. In case you've forgotten, it was Limbaugh who ridiculed Chelsea Clinton, then 13, as the "White House dog."

It was Limbaugh in 2001 who routinely referred to Democratic leader Tom Daschle, literally, as "El Diablo." Along with "Devil in a Blue Dress" theme music, Limbaugh would carry on at length about how Daschle may well be Satan in soft-spoken disguise.

Well said, Mr. Cohen.

The reference to Limbaugh had me laughing about him, as usual. I think God for people like him - he does quite little to advance the Republican cause. I found this funny parody of him on the 'Net - just had to share...

One last thing - here's what the self-righteous Rush had to say about illicit drug use/addiction in October 1995: "Too many whites are getting away with drug use...the answer is to go out and find the ones who are getting away with it, convict them and send them up the river too."

Well said, windbag. Yea, I'm a name caller, too. It's my right as an American, and it's one of the main tenets this country was founded on. In a free and open society, we have to put up with language we don't like - even if it's from Hugo Chávez.