WILD FOR BUSH

IF GEORGE BUSH THOUGHT the Summit of the Americas was going to go his way on free trade, an entire continent has told him no.  Hugo Chavez, the thorn in Bush’s lion’s paw, has pricked a huge response from both South American political leaders and the people protesting in the streets [story] 

Mr. Chávez, who has tried to use the summit meeting to stage a showdown with Mr. Bush, pronounced dead a free trade accord backed by Mr. Bush, the Free Trade Area of the Americas. Left-wing groups throughout Latin America have long opposed the agreement, and some governments want more generous terms from Washington, so Mr. Bush had come here with hopes of jump-starting the stalled negotiations. . . . "Every one of us has brought a shovel, because Mar del Plata is going to be the tomb of F.T.A.A.," Mr. Chávez said. "F.T.A.A. is dead, and we, the people of the Americas, are the ones who buried it."

Several hundred rioters, separate from the crowd at the stadium, smashed windows, looted stores, chanted anti-Bush slogans and threw rocks at the police. Others lobbed gasoline bombs into a bank, causing a fire that destroyed the interior of the ground floor.

GEORGE BUSH LEARNS ignoring a problem doesn’t work, when the people with the “problem” won’t be ignored.  Big Brother Bush to the North doesn’t get it [Time]

After pledging during his 2000 election campaign to correct Washington's indifference to Latin America, the President is viewed as having all but turned his back on the region after most Latin American capitals declined to back his invasion of Iraq. . . . Far from being the mejor amigo he promised to be, Bush today is arguably more unpopular in Latin America than any U.S. president in history.

IN WHAT HE CONSIDERS his own backyard, Bush doesn’t play well with others.  To the south, other Americans won’t play by his rules and the way Bush would play them is condescending.

Fuel was added last summer when conservative televangelist Pat Robertson—a high-profile supporter of President Bush — publicly called for Chavez's assassination. (Robertson has since apologized.) Chavez is a democratically elected president, but his close friendship with Cuba's Fidel Castro, his own flirtations with autocratic government and his recently declared interest in acquiring nuclear technology have Washington bristling.

THE OTHER AMERICANS have had enough homegrown dictators, often supported by Washington.  They don’t need a Dick, Cheney, or anyone else telling them what they “must” do. 

PREVIOUS HERETIK POST ON SUMMIT OF THE AMERICAS [Bush Faces Critics]

OTHER VOICES, SOME IN PROTEST
PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITiON [Joe Gandelman/ The Moderate Voice] President George W. Bush has been a riot in Argentina. . . .It's too early for a definitive reading on this trip, but the imagery hasn't been pretty: rioting in the streets, Chavez's ringing declarations, and Bush being peppered with questions by reporters who want to know about things such as Karl Rove's legal problems in Plamegate and GWB's own sinking poll ratings.

THE HERETIK KNOWS a picture is worth a thousand words.  Pictures of thousands of protesters in the street in Argentina may be followed by pictures of protesters in the United States soon enough.  Bush in the dark doesn’t get the big picture that ignoring those living people with differences from you may develop out of the dark room into more front page problems in living color.  His presidency is dying all around here, abroad and at home.  He seems to be the last one to know.  Expect his polling numbers to take an even more funereal look.

BUSH IS SURROUNDED BY "LOVE" [Maha] Some on the Right Blogosphere noticed the protests and the fact Cindy Sheehan was there, somewhere–it’s not clear to me if she did much but show up. The rightie Gateway Pundit quotes Mexican President Vincente Fox as rebuking Chavez on F.T.A.A. . . . . But Argentina, Brazil, and Venezuela are the big guns, economically speaking, aren’t they?
It’s not just Latin Americans crabbing at Bush. He’s also taking potshots from Canada.

BUSH’S GREATEST “STRENGTH” so often cited is that when people are against him, he just keeps on going.  Stubborn and stupid start with the same letter.  The results may not have the same end. 

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT [Unclaimed Territory] Distorted media accounts notwithstanding, isn't it painfully obvious what is going on here? These are hard-core Communists. Fidel Castro is one of their heroes. This has nothing to do with opposition to the war in Iraq or specific free trade agreements. Those are thinly disguised pretexts. These demonstrators hate the United States because they are genuinely opposed to economic freedom and individual liberty, and they seek to impose the collectivist authoritarianism of Fidel Castro onto the entire Latin American continent. It really is that simple. We know this because they said (and showed us with pictures) that that's what they want. 

THE HERETIK NOTES the false dichotomy of Bush vs Castro, as well as a Platonic fear of rule by the mob.  Whether Bush wants to admit it or not, a less far left voice than Castro appeals to South American political aspirations.  And in contrast to Castro, Hugo Chavez presides over a democracy in Venezuela.  Chavez doesn't need to stick his hand out to Bush for money. With his access to his own vast oil supplies and a full wallet, Chavez can stick it to Bush.

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A RETURN TO EARTH? [BBC] Venezuela's leader Hugo Chavez, a key opponent, told protesters: "Here, in Mar del Plata, FTAA will be buried!"
Addressing the rally in a football stadium, Mr Chavez called for help to beat the US-backed free trade proposal.
"Only united can we defeat imperialism and bring our people a better life," he said.  . . . Mexican President Vicente Fox has said 29 of the 34 summit nations are willing to move forward with free trade negotiations without dissenting countries.
Apart from Venezuela, those nations opposed to the creation of a huge free trade zone include Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay.

YOU AND WHAT ARMY? Bush’s security needs are abundant. The BRITISH GOVERNMENT Heretik has learned Bush is travelling with a security detail of two thousand [Clarin (Spanish) via Firedog Lake]

UPDATE: TALKS DEAD? [AP]Leaders from across the Americas, wrapping up a two-day summit overshadowed by rampaging protesters, faced a deadlock Saturday over the future of a U.S.-backed free trade zone spanning the Western Hemisphere. . . . the battle over the future of the FTAA dominated the summit. Fox said the 29 countries want a version adopted that sets the April dateline for negotiations, but the dissenters were holding out for language that mentions no date and says "conditions are not right" for an FTAA because key issues like agricultural subsidies for American farmers have not been addressed. The declaration must be approved by all member nations.

Comments

[DuWayne]

Ignoring them, yet he doth seem a bit stressed about something. His lips seemed a little tight, his "smile" a little forced. By gods I think the insulation has worn to thin - or maybe it's the booze. . .

[DuWayne]

Or should I say the mix of booze and high dosage Zanax. . .