Hugo Chavez is a Big Fat Thug

I rarely find myself sympathetic to Pat Robertson's point of view--he seems one of those religious conservative leaders who would do better focusing on helping the unfortunate and strengthening community than moralizing about gays. But a few years back, he got into hot water over suggestion on air that the United States should just go ahead and assassinate Venezuelan Thug-in-Chief Hugo Chavez.

Now, at a time when the Arab World is finding it a perfect moment to jettison their own tyrants, Chavez opens his stupid mouth with the usual inanities about the U.S. trying to use the Libyan revolts as an excuse to invade that country. Because apparently the Iraq invasion was such an upside success--after all, oil prices have been dropping steadily since 2003, right?--that we're just aching to do it again in Libya. Chavez's conspiracy theories might hold water in the most fevered minds of Berkely Burnouts, but does anyone take him seriously anymore?

The sad thing is that this pig-man has a firm hold over what was once a democratic country rich in resources. Venezuela should, by any account, be the jewel of South America. It has long had a larger middle class than many of its neighbors, and its oil reserves give it an opportunity few nations have to buttress its growing prosperity. And this bloated pile of filth has squandered these resources and done more to set back any economic or social progress, all while increasing political violence and causing trouble for its neighbors (notably, Colombia). What a worthless goon--it's telling that Mommar Cadaffi is likely to flee to Venezuela after his people come looking for his head to put on the end of a pike.

So it's understanding that Robertson--not so much as a forgiving "man of Jesus" but as a regular man given to human reactions when faced with injustice--suggested the U.S. whacking this dictator. Not to say such a move would be wise--when's the last time we "took out" a foreign leader without a lot of consequences that made things worse?

Hopefully the Venezuelans will knock this guy off his perch by themselves.