Venezuela's National Animal, Two Versions

Got this neat little comparison from Michael Medved's weekly e-mail newsletter. Good way to end the week. On the left, the Capybara, the world's largest rodent. And on the right, President Hugo Chavez, an even larger rodent.

Full 20/20 interview with Chavez

Hugo Chavez on 20/20

In a couple minutes at 10:00, Hugo Chavez will be interviewd by Barbara Walters. To my knowledge, it's the first major American interview (aside from super-left outlets like Democracy Now!) that Pirate Boy's done.

Watch this space for update and analysis an hour from now.

UPDATE: Alright, so Hugo showed alot of his soft and tender side, knowing full well who the audience would be for an ABC News Interview. When asked about his calling President Bush a "donkey," a "devil" and other such epithets, he said that those comments may have excessive, and even that he "may apologize." Without batting an eye though, he referred to Bush as a "political corpse" when answering the very next question. Talk about diarrhea of the mouth.

After a whole waste of time with Walters asking him about marriage and coffee, the interview ended and we saw her rain him with the compliments in the ABC studio. Like Mike Wallace after his interview with Iranian President Ahmadinejad, where Wallace espoused that Ahmadinejad would be a harbringer of world peace if it weren't for the "Zionist entity," Walters become doughy eyed and swallowed the notion that this tyrannical madman would turn into a dove if only the Democrats were back in office.

Watch the video for yourself.

Terry McAulliffe on Pirate Boy

According to the account of Bryan Preston, McAulliffe blamed the rise to prominence in the South American continent of Hugo Chavez on - well, you guess:

Also during Q&A, several liberals in the audience came at McAuliffe from the left, giving him the chance to burnish his nutroots credentials. He took the opportunity and ran with it. One asked him why the US is so unpopular with Hugo Chavez, prompting McAuliffe’s BDS affliction to come out in full glory. Keep in mind that Chavez is turning all of Venezuela into an armed camp as he cozies up to the Iranian mullahs and turns himself into a clone of Fidel Castro. Keep in mind that Chavez calls himself an enemy of the US, and keep in mind that Chavez currently rules Venezuela by dictatorial decree as he nationalizes (a fancy way of saying “steals”) private companies. Keep in mind that Chavez was kept in power, in all likelihood, by a sham election certified real by Jimmy Carter. Keeping all of that in mind, McAuliffe actually blamed Chavez’s actions and attitudes on George W. Bush.

Which, if he’s being logically consistent, means Castro is entirely the fault of John F. Kennedy.

Read the rest of the article, which is a bit lengthy but worth it nonetheless.

Oh, and just because I feel like it, the best book cover ever:

Giuliani Law Firm Lobbies in Texas for Chavez-Controlled Citgo

If it weren't enough that he has a record of being more socially liberal than Bill Clinton, it has now been revealed that presidential candidate and former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani has ties to Venezuela's Pirate Boy:

March 14 (Bloomberg) -- Rudolph Giuliani's law firm lobbies for Citgo Petroleum Corp., a unit of the state-owned oil company controlled by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, the U.S.'s chief antagonist in the Western Hemisphere.

Bracewell & Giuliani LLP registered to lobby for Citgo in Texas on April 26, 2005, less than a month after the former New York mayor joined the firm and became a name partner, state records show. Citgo renewed the contract in 2006 and 2007 and pays the firm $5,000 a month to track legislation. Giuliani doesn't lobby, the firm says.

The law firm's representation of Citgo comes as Chavez's relations with the U.S. have grown increasingly hostile. He has called President George W. Bush a ``devil'' and a ``madman'' and staged a mass, anti-American rally in Buenos Aires during Bush's trip to Latin America, which ends today.

Not earth-shattering, I know, but hey. We've been running low on Hugo news lately.