Hugo Chavez’s referendum for “New Socialism” was defeated Sunday. From Breitbart/AP.
Voters defeated the sweeping measures Sunday by a vote of 51 percent to 49 percent, said Tibisay Lucena, chief of the National Electoral Council, with voter turnout at just 56 percent.
Nice work Venezuela.
Hugo was gracious in defeat.
But he also urged calm and restraint. “I ask all of you to go home, know how to handle your victory,” Chavez said. “You won it. I wouldn’t have wanted that Pyrrhic victory.”
Pyrrhic?
I had to look it up at dictionary.com.
1885, from Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, who defeated Roman armies at Asculum, 280 B.C.E., but at such cost to his own troops that he was unable to follow up and attack Rome itself, and is said to have remarked, “one more such victory and we are lost.”
Nice reference Hugo.
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Tags: Hugo Chavez, Pyrrhus
Mr President wrote,
You really don’t like Hugo, do you? Not that I blame you of course…
Mr President’s last blog post..The Empire Strikes Back
Link | December 3rd, 2007 at 6:06 am
Pribek wrote,
I think that Chavez is an egomaniac and I don’t think that it is a good omen for a country that is going to take a crack at socialism to have an egomaniac at the wheel.
I don’t think that it’s realistic to expect an emerging nation to progress, in this climate, short of having a dictatorship or kingdom in place, without some degree of socialism. That isn’t an endorsement of socialism, by the way, more of an observation. We have aspects of socialism inherent in our system in the U.S as does the U.K., Canada, EU countries etc.
Oil is a commodity that people need. Therefore, Venezuela at least has the raw material to garner some wealth to distribute among the masses. They have the potential, in other words. It was not a good sign though, when ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips pulled out of Venezuela earlier this year. Chavez was asking for too much. He promises to double production but how does he pull that off with the big boys leaving town?
Hugo’s greed, efforts to concentrate power, desire to control media, land ownership and private lives remind me of the pigs in George Orwell’s “Animal Farm
Un-like Castro, Chavez has a viable product to sell. Un-like Ahmadinejad and, to a lesser degree Putin, Chavez is the one calling the shots in his country. None of these guys could be considered U.S. friendly. It would not be a stretch to say that Chavez has recently been the most vocal in his disdain.
All the while, it seems as though the only time our media is interested in Chavez is when he is wining and dining some goofy celebrity.
The U.S. gets 11 percent of it’s oil from Venezuela. So, we are certainly affected by Chavez’s actions. If Venezuela could double production, the U.S. would stand to benefit.
The answer, Mr. President is; no, I don’t like Hugo Chavez. I’m glad the people of Venezuela got it right yesterday and I’m anxious to hear reaction from the likes of Sean Penn, Harry Belafonte and Jimmy Carter.
Link | December 3rd, 2007 at 7:48 am
JoJO A. wrote,
Hate him or love him, Chavez is an incredible speaker and quite convincing when he wants to be. With that said there’s an evident problem when gas prices are as low as 0,15$ a gallon while there’s barely enough eggs and bread for people to survive.
I honestly thought he would have pulled that one through but I’m happy he didn’t. There’s a difference between controversial (I do think Georges W. Bush is as quoted “the devil”) and greedy. He’s the bad side of both.
I don’t like Chavez, I don’t like him at all. But he makes people think and talk, that’s always a good thing isn’t it.
JoJO A.’s last blog post..The Art of Deception pt. 03
Link | December 3rd, 2007 at 10:38 am
Mr President wrote,
Wow, I didn’t mean to get you riled up. I actually agree with everything you’ve said. Hugo Chavez reminds me too of the pigs from animal farm, and equally of the real-life Russian counterparts they represented. He, like Stalin, seems more keen on his own power than socialism, communism or any other ideology. For me he’s used the ideology to win power, rather than actually being passionate about it.
Mr President’s last blog post..The Empire Strikes Back
Link | December 3rd, 2007 at 11:47 am
Pribek wrote,
I didn’t intend to come off as riled up Mr. President.
I’ve been writing about Chavez for about as long as I’ve been writing this blog.
My traffic generally goes in the tank when I write about Chavez. As a result, I’ve been half expecting someone to ask me; “Why do you keep writing about this when no one cares?” So, there may have been some stored up angst there.
Link | December 3rd, 2007 at 12:11 pm
Pribek wrote,
JoJO A.: Glad to see you stopped by. I’ve been enjoying you’re blog.
“But he makes people think and talk, that’s always a good thing isn’t it.”
When it’s all said and done, you may be right. I guess I live a sheltered life because, I really haven’t heard many people that I know talking about Chavez. When I do, it seems to be centered around these various celebrity visits he has hosted. Which, to me seems to be a diversion from relevancy.
Do you really think W. is the devil? I mean like in a prophecy fulfillment-anti Christ kind of way rather than Kathy Griffin talking about Jerry Seinfeld type thing.
Link | December 3rd, 2007 at 3:00 pm
JoJO A. wrote,
Well the devil.. my statement was made quite vaguely but he definitely represents a little side of the devilish creatures down on earth… that’s all according to me.
On second thought, he might not be the devil. The devil lures people into traps and that would make him an eloquent speaker. Georgie… not so much.
JoJO A.’s last blog post..I’m Dreaming of a White (and debt-free) Christmas…
Link | December 10th, 2007 at 12:08 pm
Pribek wrote,
“The devil lures people into traps and that would make him an eloquent speaker.”
W. would probably never be accused of having a “Silver Tongue”, that’s for sure. But, have you considered that might be part of the trick? I mean, would Beelzebub play into an obvious stereotype or, would he be sneaky?
By the way, the reason I asked what you meant is; Down here in the Bible Belt I have run into folks who believe that he is the Anti-Christ and they have voted for him in order to push the prophecies along. I find that type of logic utterly fascinating.
Link | December 10th, 2007 at 1:52 pm