Monday, March 02, 2009

Docs to Hugo Chavez: Put a Lid on It!

Whoever uses too many words will be loathed, and whoever usurps the right to speak will be hated.

Sirach 20:8

It's too bad Protestants don't accept the Book of Sirach as canonical, because it's full of gems like this one. One can imagine that perhaps the inspired writer of this line was granted a vision, far-off, yet distinct, of pressmen, Venezuelan party functionaries, diplomats and other unfortunates struggling through one of the Thug-in-Chief's speeches, in which it is not uncommon for him to drone on for five hours at a stretch.

Of course, Chavez is known not only for his logorrhea, but also his ungentlemanlike conduct. This is the same guy who, in 2006, turned up on American soil and accepted American hospitality in order to call President Bush Satan at the United Nations. And at a summit of Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American leaders in Santiago, Chile in 2007, Chavez' obnoxious behavior provoked the King of Spain to turn to him and say, "Why don't you shut up?"

And so, no doubt in the national interest, doctors have advised Venezuela's Blutocrat: put a lid on it for a few days. The long-winded socialist dictator is suffering from an inflamed throat after flapping his gums non-stop during two consecutive "election" campaigns, including a seven-hour speech in January.

Hugo Chavez is the guy who says, among many, many, many other things, that Jesus Christ was the first socialist, and Judas Iscariot was the first capitalist. Maybe, in the long-term interest not only of Venezuela but of the world and of decency in public discourse, the docs ought to let Chavez go on running off at the mouth until his throat completely shrivels up and their advice becomes a moot point.

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