To Joe Scarborough and Steve Adubato, tell the truth of President Chavez

To Joe Scarborough and Steve Adubato, tell the truth of President Chavez
By Mary MacElveen
March 23, 2007

As I have watched Scarborough Country go after President Bush’s handling of the Iraq War, I must say that I have enjoyed the barbs being launched against this administration. I just wish that shows like Scarborough Country did that many years ago and fact checked this president as he sent over 3,100 soldiers to their deaths and killed thousands upon thousands of innocent Iraqis.

In this piece, I will do my own fact checking in their discussion of Rosie O’Donnell’s opinion of 9/11, but it is not her opinion of that horrific date that I choose to fact check since others have written of it before. I wish to fact check them as they briefly discussed President Hugo Chavez. Their discussion of him comes towards the end of that feed. While I have not written any column lately concerning Venezuela or President Chavez, I could not let this one go unchallenged.

First of all, Joe Scarborough calls Barbara Walter’s interview with President Chavez a “soft ball interview”, but what is not shown is the entire interview. This is where I have a problem with clips since they do not tell the whole story. Scarborough also calls President Chavez a “dictator” and here is the definition of that derogatory term, “a person exercising absolute power, esp. a ruler who has absolute, unrestricted control in a government without hereditary succession.”

In last December’s presidential race, President Chavez was re-elected to a third term by an overwhelming 60 percent of the vote coming from the Venezuelan people. So, how can one be a dictator when people voted you into office? In voting for President Chavez, the Venezuelan people do it by a direct vote and not through an Electoral College. In our elections, we do not vote for a presidential candidate, but for state electors. One question I do have is who are these state electors? Their names are not on the ballot. Yet, they get to decide based upon our votes? If we are to claim ourselves as a democracy, isn’t it about time we do away with this antiquated system?

Also, Venezuela has an assembly which is similar to our congress. They are also a body of checks and balances. While concerned of that 18 month decree given to President Chavez by the assembly, I have learned that it contains certain provisions. He cannot summarily dismiss his congress as Bush has dismissed ours as evident this past week when it comes to Karl Rove and Harriet Miers being able to testify in secret.

Now I will use Steve Adubato’s words to indeed fact check him as he added to this discussion of President Chavez. While he opined of Rosie O’Donnell, he said, “You should challenge someone on that stuff…and go after someone like crazy.” I would also like to challenge Adubato when he said this of President Chavez that he “has done all sorts to things against the United States.” He stated that after that Barbara Walters clip was aired. He also said that Barbara Walters should have asked him of his “oil interests”, again, I will fact check him.

What specifically has the Venezuelan president done against the United States? I have not seen any clear evidence to show he has done anything against us. While the Bush administration suspended sales of military equipment to Venezuela, they had no recourse than to go to other countries such as Russia in order to purchase munitions to defend their country. I do believe that every country has the right to defend themselves against all enemies both foreign and domestic.

Note to Mr. Adubato, you do not make a statement like that without naming the specifics. Please tell us all what is incorporated within, “all sorts of stuff”. Also, I would like to remind my readers and Adubato himself, that Venezuela is a pacifist country. They have not illegally invaded any country as we have done with Iraq. In fact, they do not even practice the death penalty in which we do. Also their Constitution expressly prohibits any form of torture and those found to have done so do face punishment.

Now let us speak of their oil interests. I would like to make it clear that the oil produced in Venezuela belongs to the Venezuelan people. What they do with it is their business not ours.

Through their sales of CITGO oil, the profits are used to better the lives of the Venezuelan people. As we have read such sad stories of people going hungry in this country and who are homeless, through these profits President Chavez opened up 1,100 feeding centers to feed the poor of his nation. Those feeding centers include a well balanced diet of meat, starches, vegetables and milk. Can we say the same? No, life is not perfect for all who live in poverty within that country, but what I do see is them at least trying.

Also as it relates to Venezuelan oil, in December of 2005, I covered the low-cost oil delivery made by CITGO oil and the good people of Venezuela when it was delivered to the Bronx. I can tell both Scarborough and Adubato; those that received this gift were appreciative. In fact, one lady I interviewed said, “God bless, President Chavez.” In fact many of the recipients were carrying both the American flag as well as the Venezuelan flag. As I was interviewing Rep. Jose Serrano, this is what he said, “America is not taking care of its own.” And the Venezuelan Ambassador to the United States, Bernardo Alvarez stated, “We did not create America’s poor.” The oil that is being sold to these recipients is being done at 40 percent below market value.

In a speech given by President Bush a few years back in Tennessee and defending the profits made by Exxon/Mobil he said, "consumers’ socked with soaring energy costs should not expect price breaks." Who is acting against the interests of the United States?

Lately, Joe Kennedy has been put through the meat grinder in working with CITGO and the Venezuelan people in order to deliver low cost oil to the American people where roughly 400,000 Americans have been helped. You may have seen his commercials lately which have resulted in this outrage directed towards him. I do think that he is following his late uncle’s challenge to us all when President John F. Kennedy stated, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” I do think that both his late uncle as well as his late father would approve of him. Joe Kennedy is after all showing what true compassion is and walking the talk. That is the leadership that all Americans should demand. He has done so in the face of such hatred and venom to help defend the weak and the poor. Yet some will defend President Bush as he has done the complete opposite? Well shame on them.

Exactly how is President Hugo Chavez working against the United States as he offered vital humanitarian aid to our citizens shortly after Hurricane Katrina hit our shores? As Bush turned his back on our citizens that aid package consisted of, one million dollars, two mobile medical units capable of attending to 150 people each, ten water purifying plants, eight electricity generators with a capacity of 850 kilowatts each, 20 tons of bottled drinking water, 50 tons of canned food. This aid package also included much needed oil to offset any disturbances to our nation’s supply.

I want to remind all of my readers that this aid package was refused by the Bush administration and no congress member or senator raised their voice to demand that it be accepted. As I was making the calls to any elected official to accept this aid package with both grace and thanks, a receptionist of Nancy Pelosi hung up on me twice. She said this, “I have other things to attend to.” I called Nancy Pelosi’s office after hearing of the story where several residents were found dead in a nursing home.

I also think our concern of President Chavez comes from his friendship with Cuba’s president Fidel Castro. After Katrina hit, President Castro stood ready to send us 1,500 doctors who sat for days at the Jose Marti airport in Havana, Cuba. One cardiologist stated, “I may not speak English very well, but I do have a big heart.” I thought I would throw that one in there as many sat for days in the Super Dome as our president did nothing. One woman by the name of Ethel Freeman died as a result and her picture has been widely circulated as she was photographed dead in a wheel chair.

Lately we have read of Senator Joe Lieberman’s actions towards Katrina victims in which he pretty much said, drop dead.

Another example of his love for the American people can be seen through his ‘Mission Miracle’ program. As 47 million Americans go without health insurance, he had also previously offered to perform free eye surgeries for these Americans. He would provide the transportation and fly these Americans to Cuba in which Cuban doctors would perform them. His plan incorporated providing 150,000 people a year over a ten year period with these operations.

The reason why our media continues to call President Chavez every name in the book including dictator is when he called President Bush “the devil” in a speech before the United Nations General Assembly. President Chavez’s gripe is not with the American people as proven above, but with President Bush. To these news broad casters and commentators, get over it. So, he called Bush a name. I can think of far worse names being used as it relates to President Bush.

In closing, while I have not written any column concerning Venezuela and President Chavez since November of 2006, I just could not let this one go unanswered. In fact, I did send both Joe Scarborough and Steve Adubato an email last night. While they may not pay attention to it or even delete it, I thought I had to set the record straight. It is called fact checking.

Author’s note: Should you wish to email me concerning this article as well as others, my email address is xmjmac@optonline.net

Please go to this link: http://www.marymacelveen.com/blog/_archives/2007/3/23/2828942.html to view the feed I am responding to as well as a picture of Ethel Freeman.