Herr Marx, someone needs to read your books

Last night on "The 700 Club" Pat Robertson made an ass of himself once again. He stated that Hugo Chavez, the president of Venezuela, has expressed concern that the US is seeking to overthrow him or assassinate him. Well, this is true. And Chavez has reason to feel that way, since the US had already backed a couple of attempts to overthrow him in 2002. The US doesn't like Chavez because he's a populist and socialist, and he's been cozy with Fidel down in Havana.

So Robertson continues to ramble about Chavez. Says that Chavez is causing the price of oil to go up. This is so not true. The last time oil prices were up because of events in Venezuela was during the coup attempts in 2002, and it peaked around $35/barrel, then dropped back afterwards. As I have pointed out in the past, the price rises right now are more a result of King Faud's death than anything else. And the price rises due to events in Venezuela resulted from US-backed interests trying to overthrow Chavez, not because of Chavez himself.

Robertson moves on to then suggest that it would be in the best interests of the United States to overthrow or assassinate Chavez. He says that allowing Chavez to remain in power would allow a base of operations for the spread of communism and Muslim extremism over the continent (assuming Robertson meant South America). That's right, Robertson equated communism and Muslim extremism! Has Robertson ever read the Cliff's Notes of The Communist Manifesto even? Communism doesn't brook with religion of any sort, let alone religious extremism. Remember that "godless Communist" epithet of the Red Scares, Patty-boy? So why would a "communist" leader in Venezuela be okay with Muslim extremism in his country? And, likewise, the Islamists wouldn't have anything to do with communists; this is why the Mujahideen who fought the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s became the Taliban after they got the Soviets out. They were anti-communist Muslim extremists. Fascism has long been the opposite number to communism.

Now the Venezuelan embassy has responded. The little bit of the response that I caught was pretty terse. The ambassador pointed out Robertson's political credentials; former Republican presidential candidate, strong supporter of President Bush, and someone who has taken credit for some of Bush's political successes in 2000 and 2004. The ambassador also referenced the remarks having been made on the Christian Broadcasting Network. Then he wrapped up by equating Robertson's comments to terrorism. And he's absolutely right. But, of course, it'll be different in the eyes of many Americans.