Venezuelan Thug Dies, Socialists Mourn

The Foundation

"In a despotic government, the only principle by which the tyrant who is to move the whole machine means to regulate and manage the people is fear, by the servile dread of his power. But a free government, which of all others is far the most preferable, cannot be supported without virtue." --Samuel Williams

Editorial Exegesis

"When Hugo Chávez was elected President of Venezuela in December 1998, the country had endured nearly two decades of political and economic turmoil, including violent rioting, high inflation, huge foreign debts, a president impeached on corruption charges, and two failed 1992 coups -- one of them led, and the other inspired, by a brash and ambitious army colonel named Hugo Chávez. Yet when the Chávez era finally drew to a close Tuesday with his death from cancer at age 58, life for Venezuelans had only become worse. As life stories go, the lesson of Chávez's is to beware charismatic demagogues peddling socialist policies at home and revolution abroad. ... Chávez showed that it's possible to run against the tides of history, at least for a while, and at least if you happen to get lucky with an oil revenue bonanza. ... That kind of money can buy a lot of influence, and Chávez was quick to use it to purchase the political support of Venezuela's poor, the army and a loyal nouveau riche. It also allowed him to become a classic petro-dictator. ... For his fourth election last October, opposition politicians were limited to three minutes of advertising a day, while Chávez could commandeer the airwaves at any time. He permitted no debates. Public workers risked being fired if they voted against him. It was the sort of election only Jimmy Carter could bless -- which our 39th president predictably did. ... [T]he reality of what Venezuela became under Chávez is hard to ignore. On Tuesday the Venezuelan government expelled two U.S. Air Force attaches. Heir apparent Nicolás Maduro also accused the U.S. of poisoning Chávez with cancer, suggesting that the combination of buffoonery and thuggery that Chávez pioneered will continue past his grave. As for Venezuelans, they will have to fight to reclaim the democracy they once enjoyed. ... The Constitution requires that new elections be held in 30 days, assuming Mr. Maduro honors the law. Let's hope Venezuelans seize the chance to bury the tragic legacy of Chavismo alongside its author's corpse." --Wall Street Journal

Upright

"Chavez's lieutenants have been insisting for months that the Venezuelan president would be making a full recovery from his cancer-related operations and that Venezuelans had no cause for alarm -- but they've been getting notably less vociferous about the whole thing recently, and that charade is officially over. ... So, what's next for Venezuela now that their corrupt, destructive, America-hating, socialist leader is no more? Either Vice President Nicolas Maduro or National Assembly leader Diosdado Cabello will become interim president for thirty days while the country engineers a special election -- and without Chavez to figurehead his 'Chavismo' movement, the outcome isn't necessarily a sure thing." --HotAir's Erika Johnsen

"[Chavez] was also in the end an awful manager, who has left Venezuela in ruins. Mind you, Venezuela had long-since been enfeebled and besotted by the curse of nationalized oil and corrupt governments, so it was already in terrible shape when Chavez took over. But he pushed his nation far deeper into indolence and dependency. He never grasped that wealth emerges from labor productivity, not from the ground, and after blowing a trillion dollars in oil windfalls like a personal charity/slush fund, he has left Venezuela much poorer. ... For the destitute and deeply uneducated Venezuelans who live on hunger wages and handouts, Chavez must have seemed like some sort of angel elevated from among their own -- and he practically was. That was the best thing about him. The worst was that in the long run, he has left Venezuela's poor, and their progeny, most ruined of all." --Mario Loyola, Director of the Center for Tenth Amendment Studies

"During his 14 years in power, Chavez made a career out of trashing capitalism and the United States and fomenting unrest and chaos throughout South America. He polarized Venezuela through divisiveness and fear mongering and ascended to power using a brew of boorishness, thuggery, racism and class envy cloaked in nationalistic and socialist rhetoric. ... Throughout his reign, 'El Comandante' pursued his dream of a socialist United States of South America, to be ruled, presumably, by him. He idolized Fidel Castro and sought to emulate every leftist dictator since Lenin by casting himself as the noble David in opposition to the United States as the world's capitalist Goliath. While his sycophants hyperbolized him as the most gifted in a long line of Latin American revolutionaries, he cloaked himself in the typical trappings of a grandiose dictator. His image and slogans are plastered all over Venezuela and he carefully and ruthlessly placed himself at the center of a Hitlerian personality cult, often declaring, 'I am Venezuela,' and delighting when his followers chanted 'I am Chavez.' ... Chavez was a master at promoting deadly sins such as greed, anger and jealousy as badges of honor to be worn proudly by 'the people' in their struggle against the specter of capitalism." --columnist John A. Huettner

Insight

"It is a general popular error to suppose the loudest complainers for the public to be the most anxious for its welfare." --British statesman and political thinker Edmund Burke (1729-1797)

Demo-gogues

From one socialist to another: "Hugo Chavez was a leader that understood the needs of the poor. He was committed to empowering the powerless. R.I.P. Mr. President." --Rep. Jose E. Serrano (D-NY)

That's racist! "Sequestration will impact everyone, but it will have a particularly harmful effect on communities of color who were hit first and worst by the great recession, and have yet to significantly feel the effects of the recovery. Federal budget cuts under sequestration would quickly mean cuts to federal, state and local public-sector jobs, which disproportionately employ women and African-Americans." --Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA)

Bringing the sequester pain: "Due to staffing reductions resulting from sequestration, we regret to inform you that White House Tours will be canceled effective Saturday, March 9, 2013 until further notice. Unfortunately, we will not be able to reschedule affected tours." --The White House

Belly laugh of the week: "The one thing about being president is after four years you get pretty humble. You'd think maybe you wouldn't, but actually you become more humble. You realize what you don't know. You realize all the mistakes you make. But you also realize you can't do things by yourself. That's not how our system works. You've gotta have the help and the goodwill of Congress." --Barack Obama

He doth protest too much: "I am not a dictator, I'm the president." --Barack Obama

Hot air: "We don't need this dirty oil. To stop climate change and the destructive storms, droughts, floods, and wildfires that we are already experiencing, we should be investing in clean energy, not building a pipeline that will speed the exploitation of Canada's highly polluting tar sands." --Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) on the Keystone XL pipeline

Say what? "Any constructive criticism you have, I am anxious to hear. I mean that sincerely, and ask any of your predecessors. They will tell you, I mean what I say. No one's ever doubted that I mean what I say. The problem is that I tend to say what I mean, and that gets me in trouble -- except in Mississippi." --Joe Biden at a meeting of the National Association of Attorneys General on gun violence

Dezinformatsia

Sycophants: "President Hugo Chavez dies at 58; hero to Venezuela's poor" --Los Angeles Times

"Hugo Chavez was a man of many talents: he played ball, sang songs, pulled out pistols, and got down and groovy -- and that is precisely how we'll remember the Venezuelan leader." --The Huffington Post

Never growing up: "We're all socialists from the day we're born. You know, you don't have to be poor or unemployed to be on welfare. We're all at the trough. We're all welfare queens." --Time magazine executive editor Michael Duffy (Yes, and some of us grow out of that!)

The BIG Lie: "Why do [Republicans] want to cut anything? ... The debt is actually starting to go down. We can't have a long run problem." --Democrat strategist James Carville on the national debt, which is $16 trillion and always growing

Blaming the wrong side: "The dumbness of [Republicans] and the lack of strategy and ideas from them have the potential to do to us once again what they have already done before and that is, tank our economy." --leftist talk-show host Randi Rhodes

Wrong question: "Do you all feel that your party is somehow being held hostage? ... Are people on the extreme ends of your party holding the rest of you hostage here?" --CBS's Bob Schieffer to Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham

Newspulper Headlines:

Longest Books Ever Written: "Barack Obama's Defective Public Character" --Commentary website

We Blame George W. Bush: "Filmmakers Blame Current Hunger Crisis on ... Ronald Reagan" --Breitbart.com

Out on a Limb: "Jeb Bush: Romney's Campaign 'Wasn't the Best'" --Washington Post website

It's Always in the Last Place You Look: "More Signs of Intelligent Life in the House" --PowerLineBlog.com

The Lonely Lives of Researchers: "Researchers Want Videos of You Playing With Your Dog" --KING-TV website (Seattle)

Everything Seemingly Is Spinning Out of Control: "Michelle Obama Writes in the Wall Street Journal" --Politico.com

Bottom Story of the Day: "Karl Rove: My 'Posterior Was Shredded'" --Politico.com

(Thanks to The Wall Street Journal's James Taranto)

Village Idiots

More socialist mourning: "Rosalynn and I extend our condolences to the family of Hugo Chávez Frías. ... We came to know a man who expressed a vision to bring profound changes to his country to benefit especially those people who had felt neglected and marginalized. Although we have not agreed with all of the methods followed by his government, we have never doubted Hugo Chávez's commitment to improving the lives of millions of his fellow countrymen. ... We hope that as Venezuelans mourn the passing of President Chávez and recall his positive legacies -- especially the gains made for the poor and vulnerable -- the political leaders will move the country forward by building a new consensus that ensures equal opportunities for all Venezuelans to participate in every aspect of national life." --Jimmy Carter, who didn't have nearly as much to say about the death of Ronald Reagan

"I mourn a great hero to the majority of his people and those who struggle throughout the world for a place. Hated by the entrenched classes, Hugo Chavez will live forever in history. My friend, rest finally in a peace long earned." --filmmaker Oliver Stone

"Today, the people of the United States lost a friend it never knew it had. And poor people around the world lost a champion. I lost a friend I was blessed to have." --actor Sean Penn

"Hugo Chavez declared the oil belonged 2 the [people]. He used the oil $ 2 eliminate 75% of extreme poverty, provide free health & education 4 all. That made him dangerous. US approved of a coup to overthrow him even though he was a democratically-elected President. You won't hear much nice about him in the US media in the next few days. So, I thought I'd say a couple things to provide some balance." --filmmaker Michael Moore

"We are currently not accepting any new requests for tour reservations due to the pending effects of the Federal sequestration beginning on or about March 1. In the event of sequestration all tours beginning in April will be cancelled due to staff furloughs." --U.S. Naval Observatory

Short Cuts

"What is so astonishing about liberals is that they aren't just wrong occasionally or even wrong more often than not. What is truly amazing is that they are always wrong about everything." --columnist Burt Prelutsky

"Say what you like about those Mayan guys, but they only schedule an apocalypse once every 5,126 years. Only Washington would try to pull it off every six weeks." --columnist Mark Steyn

"Congress did not reach an agreement and Congresswoman Maxine Waters said 170 million jobs could be lost. There are only 155 million workers in America. Are you beginning to understand why we're in this situation in the first place?" --comedian Jay Leno

"The White House said that President Obama's salary would not be affected by the looming sequestration cuts. Congress quickly added that their pay is also unaffected. Their salaries are all protected under the Americans with No Abilities Act." --comedian Argus Hamilton

"Secretary of State John Kerry hasn't said anything on Hugo Chavez's death, but he has a long face." --humorist Frank J. Fleming

Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus et Fidelis!
Nate Jackson for The Patriot Post Editorial Team