In Caracas reporting on Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez winning an "unprecedented third term" for Monday's NBC Today, reporter Kerry Sanders seemed to be swept up in the excitement: "For Chavez's supporters, his reelection is an emotional moment in history. Fireworks filled the skies as a street party continued well into the early morning hours. A Chavez victory, say supporters, means his brand of socialism is here to stay." [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]
Sanders promoted Chavez as "a star among the poor in South America" and propagandized for his dictatorial regime: "Chavez's socialist revolution has captured the imagination of the poor here, in large part because he's taken this nation's oil wealth and used its profits to give away free homes and subsidize grocery bills."
Hugo Chavez
Gas prices have risen to a nationwide average of $3.80 per gallon, per gasbuddy.com early this afternoon, and an Ohio average of over $3.90.
Is Asjylyn Loder at Bloomberg worried about the effects on drivers' pocketbooks and travel plans over Labor Day? Don't be silly. Loder is worried about its impact on Dear Leader's presidential reelection prospects, and avoids the implications of the ten-year rule of another Dear Leader, Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, on the current situation. Her first three paragraphs in graphic form, plus a few more on Venezuela, follow the jump:
The Associated Press, in a Sunday evening dispatch, reported that the refinery explosion in Venezuela, which has thus far killed "at least 39 people" and injured "more than 80" (as of 10 a.m.; now it's at 41) is "Venezuela's deadliest refinery blast ever." I'm sure that I join all readers here in expressing deep condolences and prayers for the victims and all who have been affected.
Obviously reporting the details as they emerge will for a time be more important, but it appears that the Amuay refinery explosion is the deadliest such refinery incident in world history, and by a wide margin. If so, the press, after determining that this is indeed the case it, should get around to reporting it as such.
As NewsBusters has reported over the years, Venezuelan actress Maria Conchita Alonso is no fan of her native country's current despotic ruler Hugo Chavez.
During a Spreecast interview with Steve Malzberg Wednesday, Alonso said that if Barack Obama wins reelection in November, America would be making a step towards becoming like Chavez's Venezuela "in the near future" (video follows with transcript, relevant section at 17:40):
Venezuelan despot Hugo Chavez is one of America's sworn enemies.
Despite this, actor Sean Penn visited Venezuela Sunday to campaign for one of the world's most despised dictators.
Reuters reports:
If you haven't heard of Barack Obama's newest endorsement, you're seriously missing out! Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez gave his blessing to the 44th president and he should be proud. I'm not at all insinuating that this election and the one to be held later this year in Venezuela are similar at all, but when a Latin American strongman who built his political career and government policies on class warfare rhetoric praises the president of the United States and bashes Mitt Romney, it's certainly newsworthy.
Indeed, although the media are not trumpeting this fact, Chavez equated his race with that of the President Obama calling Mitt Romney a callous member of the capitalist elite. Of course, it should go without saying that Chavez's program of hope and change and left that country hopelessly shortchanged. Under the Chavez regime, there's been an increase in inflation by 27.5 percent, aggravated by a deluge of government spending. And then there's the whole discouragement of private investment thing, which Chavez's nationalizing of industry has tended to do.
Is recent Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, who was freely elected over and over to the U.S. House of Representatives and then elevated by his peers there to the speakership, anything like the right-hand man in a Latin American dictatorship? That's the comparison reporter William Neuman made on Tuesday, on possible successors to ailing Venezuelan dictator (merely called "president" in the Times) Hugo Chavez: "Chávez Forces Venezuela To Contemplate a Void."