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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Hawkmoon who wrote (179562)	1/9/2006 10:31:27 PM
From: geode00	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

Your President Loser used the SC, Diebold, intimidation and various other tools to stay in office. He used pure lies to get back into office. That's not democracy either yet you support it. You also support the redistricting bs and criminal cronyism of Republicans. That's not 'democracy' either so you're obviously not a little d democrat.

To: Hawkmoon who wrote (179562)	1/10/2006 8:21:25 AM
From: sylvester80	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

As I said, Hitler compares to Bush in their rise to power with only a minority public vote. On the other hand, Chavez has had more than 70% support of the public both during his election in 1998 and for the public referendum for the new constitution in 1999. And that is a lot more that can be said for POS lying criminal Bush and Hitler. archives.cnn.com Resounding 'yes' vote expected on new Venezuelan constitution Chavez listens during a news conference with the international press on Tuesday December 14, 1999 Web posted at: 10:42 p.m. EST (0342 GMT) From staff and wire reports CARACAS, Venezuela -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez appeared poised to win an overwhelming public endorsement of his proposed new constitution in a Wednesday referendum, despite warnings from business leaders and the Roman Catholic Church that the document is a blueprint for authoritarian rule. Polls showed about 70 percent of voters planned to approve the 350-article charter, which Chavez has made the flagship of his "peaceful revolution" against widespread corruption and poverty. A simple majority is required for passage. "It is evident that the 'yes' vote is going to win the election," Luis Vicente Leon, of the private polling firm Datanalisis, told reporters on Tuesday. A soldier instructs Venezuelans waiting to pick up their voter identification cards in Caracas 'I know he will listen to me' Chavez, a former paratrooper who headed a 1992 coup and was elected president in 1998, is highly popular with Venezuela's poor, who hope he will use the new constitution to break up political mafias blamed for squandering the hemisphere's largest oil reserves. "I know he will listen to me, that my petitions will reach his ears," said an unemployed former soldier as he dropped a letter to Chavez in a special mailbox set up outside the presidential palace. "With his thinking, he will help our country find its path, return to our culture and our roots," said one Venezuelan woman. Despite the worst recession in Venezuelan history, with unemployment at a record 18 percent, Chavez has maintained popularity ratings of more than 70 percent. "People believe that someone else other than Hugo Chavez is responsible," Leon said. "They think that Chavez is going to resolve their problems, and if he needs a new constitution to do it, then give him it," said Saul Cabrera of the Consultores 21 polling firm. However, business leaders, church leaders and traditional parties fear the new charter will impose a Cuba-style communist regime. Clashes with Catholic hierarchy In the last few days, Chavez has clashed with the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church, accusing several bishops and the Vatican's former representative in Venezuela of allying themselves with the country's "rancid oligarchy." He suggested priests should subject themselves to an exorcism since "the devil has snuck into their clerical robes." The former apostolic nuncio, Cardinal Rosalio Castillo, shot back by saying some of Chavez's tactics are similar to those employed by the former Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. "These concentrations of the masses, using them as instruments of pressure, and these brigades of red berets, is something that was seen in the times of Mussolini and other dictators," Castillo said. A Chavez supporter hands out copies of the proposed new Venezuelan constitution in Caracas The Chavez administration also scuffled with the Organization of American States, which sent a team to Venezuela to observe Wednesday's election. Its head, Santiago Murray, said that Chavez has been using public resources to campaign for a "yes" vote, a practice that is against Venezuelan law. "If he said that, he's an idiot," Foreign Minister Jose Vicente Rangel said Monday. "They can do whatever they want here, say whatever they want, including stupidities. Today, I'm not in a diplomatic mood." The proposed constitution, drafted by an elected assembly packed with Chavez allies, would extend the presidential term to six years from five and would allow the president to stand for re-election once. It would scrap the Senate in order to create a one-chamber National Assembly. Its critics say the proposal is riddled with unrealistic promises of free welfare, discredited interventionist ideology and clauses on the role of the military that would undermine one of Latin America's longest-lasting uninterrupted democracies. "It is potentially dangerous for democracy," said political analyst Teodoro Petkoff. "It could lead to an authoritarian exercise of power." But Chavez says it would bring social justice and presents it as a "birth certificate for a new Venezuela." If the constitution is approved, elections must then take place early next year for president, congress and most governorships -- races which the Chavez camp is expected to win.