Dept. of Feigned Democracy:
Sorry Hugo; try again next year
We could make an awful joke referring to Chavez, his
69 proposed amendments and Castro. But we won’t.
So Chavez lost the constitutional referendum last night, meaning his attempt to change the Venezuelan constitution for a second time in the last nine years has failed. Just how close was the vote? Just 51 to 49 percent. I wonder what the hell the margin of error is…
Chavez’s concession is the stuff that publicists’ wet dreams are made of. When the OEA is no where to be found (Jimmy? Where are you Jimmy?) and when you’ve managed to lose throes of supporters, what else are you going to do but lose by an almost impossibly narrow margin that the electoral group refused to release on time, despite Chavez’s lackeys going an air and publically saying that things were looking very good? I mean, c’mon. Am I right?
Now the apologists have come out crying that the results should be no surprise because elections and Chavez, who has been in office since 1998, and his presidency have always been legitimate. I’ll concede that there is no conclusive proof that this election was manipulated in any way. Hell, I’ll even go a step further and say that no court of law in Venezuela has found any sort of proof of electoral fraud in the last nine years of Chavez’s presidency. But very similar claims are still made about the 2000 elections.
Amercia has a little more than a year with Bush. We’ve got Chavez till 2013. Wanna trade?
Featured Song: “No Love Lost” by LCD Soundsystem
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Sources:
Venezuela Hands Narrow Defeat to Chávez Plan NY Times
Do Dictators Lose Elections? Huff Po
Fear of Chavez is Fear of Democracy Greg Palast
Previously:
Marrying Up Dept: The World’s Most Eligible Leaders
Dept. of Lost in Translation: King of Spain tells Chavez to shut up
Beer Goggles Dept.: Venezulans vote for Chavez…as fifth sexiest man
