Showing posts with label president obama hugo chavez. Show all posts

From The Washington Times:

"The whole notion was that if we showed courtesy or opened up dialogue with governments that had previously been hostile to us, that that somehow would be a sign of weakness," he said.

This is kind of a classic straw-man argument. Nobody said you cannot talk to hostile regimes, just that you do not use the office of the President of the United States to do it with. This is however, what you did.

It is a sign of weakness Mr. President, a weakness of principle. You need to stand for liberty and justice, not the tyranny that you, and everybody else, knows Chavez embodies. These principles must never waver.

When you shook Chavez's hand you showed all the political prisoners in Venezuela, and in Cuba, that you don't so much care about the injustices they have endured. You also demoralized the people fighting for human rights and liberty in Venezuela.

You said your chat with Chavez was a good step forward but who took the step? It was not Chavez, Mr. President, it was you. And what did you get out of it? A book written by a Marxist, that bashes our country. You even shot it up to number two on Amazon.com for a brief moment. Nice going. (Mark Levin's book is still number one. This alien highly recommends it.)
So, you took a step forward but Chavez stayed right where he was. It's important to note this because it has been your belief that meeting with these dictators would change their minds. Evidently it has not.

(AP Photo/Alfonso Ocando, Miraflores Press Office)

By BEN FELLER, Associated Press Writer Ben Feller, Associated Press Writer – Fri Apr 17, 10:56 pm ET

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad – Presidents Barack Obama and Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's socialist leader, met Friday and shook hands on the sidelines of a summit of their hemisphere's democracies.

Obama walked across a hotel meeting room to meet Chavez for the first time, said a senior U.S. administration official who witnessed it and spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the details of the event. The official said Obama initiated the encounter.

Chavez has been a fierce critic of the United States during President George W. Bush's tenure.

"It was very, very short," the official said of Friday's meeting. "The president shook his hand, smiled and then went back to his position in the line."

The encounter comes as Obama softens U.S. policy against Cuba, a Chavez ally.

Asked later about the meeting, Obama elicited laughter from reporters with a brief response: "I said, 'Como estas?'"

That's the familiar form of Spanish for "How are you?"

Chavez was more forthcoming with reporters.

"We shook each other's hands like gentlemen, and it was predictable this would happen," Chavez said.

"We don't have any complexes that would prevent us from extending our hands to each other. I'm grateful for his gesture."

Photos released by the Venezuelan government show the two smiling and Obama touching Chavez on the shoulder. Other photos show them with clenched hands in the room next to the main summit ballroom while the heads of state and government were waiting in line to enter the opening ceremony.

The Venezuelan presidency also said Obama initiated the handshake and quoted Chavez as telling Obama he hopes for better relations between their nations.

Chavez told reporters he had a simple message in English for Obama: "I want to be your friend."

Obama's comments were limited to saying that he wanted to introduce himself to Chavez, the U.S. official said. The Obama official would not comment on what Chavez told the U.S. president.

But when a reporter asked if the Venezuelan account of what happened was accurate, the Obama official said: "I wouldn't dispute that."

As recently as last week, Chavez expressed a desire to "reset" relations with Washington.

___

Associated Press writers Frank Bajak, Mark S. Smith and Alan Clendenning contributed to this report.

from Yahoo News

The article fails to mention that this thug has also had some words for President Obama, like calling him an "ignoramus". That came after the President himself accused Chavez of supporting terrorists. In fact, many experts do say that Chavez is working with Hezbollah. So why shake hands with this jerk? What a disgrace.