Hugo Chavez

News reports are all abuzz over Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's remarks at the UN. He went after George W. Bush with zeal and abandon calling him the "devil" eight times. Condescending Rice, the US Secretary of State refused to comment on the statements other than a terse

"not becoming for a head of state."

I agree with Rice on that score. Comments like these were incendiary and very undiplomatic:

"Yesterday, the devil came here," Chavez said, referring to Bush's speech Tuesday to the General Assembly. "Right here. Right here. And it smells of sulfur still today, this table that I am now standing in front of."

He then made the sign of the cross, brought his hands together as if praying, and looked up at the ceiling.

"Yesterday, ladies and gentlemen, from this rostrum, the president of the United States, the gentleman to whom I refer as the devil, came here, talking as if he owned the world," Chavez said. "Truly. As the owner of the world."

Very unstatesmanlike. I can't imagine what could have prompted a leader like Chavez to be so rude? Was it the attempted coup that Bush financed and organized against him in 2002? I can see where someone might hold a grudge about something like that...

Maybe it was our imperialistic ambitions to make every country in the world do what we want them to do? Perhaps it was our illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq? Our war mongering and sabre rattling? Our massive trade deficits and refusal to recognize the problems of stark poverty, hunger, AIDS, genocide, and global warming?

Who really knows what prompted such discourteous and rude remarks about our President. I simply cannot comprehend why the rest of the world is so angry at America. Abu Ghraib. Guantanamo. Extraordinary rendition. Secret prisons. Torture. No idea whatsoever folks. How could the world be so angry as to turn to a man like Hugo Chavez as their leader and spokesman? And allow him to come to New York, in Bush's back yard, and say such awful things about the (Abdicated) Leader of the Free World?

Do you have an explanation? I'm baffled.

Here's the bottom line, though. The President of the United States was ridiculed and demonized at the UN by the leader of a third world country and everyone sat there laughing and applauding. Not one arose and defended Bush. This is what America has come to. This is how Bush has shamed us.