ticatfan3
September 22nd, 2006, 4:14:33 PM
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=ed3e07b9-17c6-4889-95d7-e474a14bad90&k=22320
Ian James, Canadian Press
Published: Friday, September 22, 2006 Article tools
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Font: * * * * NEW YORK (AP) - The tabloids are in a tizzy, and Democrats are joining Republicans in condemning Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's speech at the United Nations in which he called President George W. Bush "the devil."
"I want President Chavez to please understand that even though many people in the United States are critical of our president that we resent the fact that he would come to the United States and criticize President Bush," said Representative Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.).
Rev. Jesse Jackson met with Chavez on Thursday night, saying he was concerned by the name-calling and believed both sides need to tone down their rhetoric.
"Of course he feels that the U.S. government is part of trying to pull a coup on him. . . . But my appeal to him is get beyond the anger," Jackson said.
"I think that he should not be calling President Bush devil. President Bush should not be calling him evil or calling him tyrant," Jackson said. "We must cease these hostilities."
House majority leader, Representative John Boehner (R.-Ohio), labelled Chavez a "power-hungry autocrat" and said his UN speech on Wednesday was "an embarrassment and an insult to the American people."
The New York Daily News headline on Friday told Chavez to "ZIP IT!", and the New York Post called him a "JERK!" and the "Caracas Crackpot."
Chavez stood by his comment.
"Sometimes the devil takes the form of people," Chavez told hundreds of supporters in a church in Harlem on Thursday. He called the war in Iraq criminal and said Bush is a "sick man."
Chavez accused the U.S. of keeping his doctors and his security chief from accompanying him to New York by not granting them visas.
"They're attempts to persuade me not to come, because some people would like for me not to come, but I come. I come to say what I think must be said," Chavez said.
Chavez has said he did not prepare a script for his UN speech, but went in with ideas and spoke spontaneously.
Chavez described himself as a friend of the American people, and announced Venezuela would boost sales of discounted heating oil to poor Americans.
But, he insisted, "we're enemies of imperialism" - a reference to the Bush administration and the Washington establishment.
Taking a question from a Mexican reporter Wednesday, Chavez mused he would have liked to be a fighter with the revolutionary Pancho Villa nearly a century ago when he led his men in a raid into U.S. territory.
"They invaded the United States," Chavez said. "The only one who has dared to invade the United States was Pancho Villa."
In his speech Thursday, Chavez repeated his warning that his country would halt oil shipments if the U.S. tries to oust him. He added that he would like to see a U.S. president "who you could talk with."
Rangel noted that Chavez was speaking at a church in his district and that he understood that Chavez would announce an increase in the amount of heating oil Venezuela is prepared to give to low-income people in the district
Ian James, Canadian Press
Published: Friday, September 22, 2006 Article tools
Printer friendly
Font: * * * * NEW YORK (AP) - The tabloids are in a tizzy, and Democrats are joining Republicans in condemning Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's speech at the United Nations in which he called President George W. Bush "the devil."
"I want President Chavez to please understand that even though many people in the United States are critical of our president that we resent the fact that he would come to the United States and criticize President Bush," said Representative Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.).
Rev. Jesse Jackson met with Chavez on Thursday night, saying he was concerned by the name-calling and believed both sides need to tone down their rhetoric.
"Of course he feels that the U.S. government is part of trying to pull a coup on him. . . . But my appeal to him is get beyond the anger," Jackson said.
"I think that he should not be calling President Bush devil. President Bush should not be calling him evil or calling him tyrant," Jackson said. "We must cease these hostilities."
House majority leader, Representative John Boehner (R.-Ohio), labelled Chavez a "power-hungry autocrat" and said his UN speech on Wednesday was "an embarrassment and an insult to the American people."
The New York Daily News headline on Friday told Chavez to "ZIP IT!", and the New York Post called him a "JERK!" and the "Caracas Crackpot."
Chavez stood by his comment.
"Sometimes the devil takes the form of people," Chavez told hundreds of supporters in a church in Harlem on Thursday. He called the war in Iraq criminal and said Bush is a "sick man."
Chavez accused the U.S. of keeping his doctors and his security chief from accompanying him to New York by not granting them visas.
"They're attempts to persuade me not to come, because some people would like for me not to come, but I come. I come to say what I think must be said," Chavez said.
Chavez has said he did not prepare a script for his UN speech, but went in with ideas and spoke spontaneously.
Chavez described himself as a friend of the American people, and announced Venezuela would boost sales of discounted heating oil to poor Americans.
But, he insisted, "we're enemies of imperialism" - a reference to the Bush administration and the Washington establishment.
Taking a question from a Mexican reporter Wednesday, Chavez mused he would have liked to be a fighter with the revolutionary Pancho Villa nearly a century ago when he led his men in a raid into U.S. territory.
"They invaded the United States," Chavez said. "The only one who has dared to invade the United States was Pancho Villa."
In his speech Thursday, Chavez repeated his warning that his country would halt oil shipments if the U.S. tries to oust him. He added that he would like to see a U.S. president "who you could talk with."
Rangel noted that Chavez was speaking at a church in his district and that he understood that Chavez would announce an increase in the amount of heating oil Venezuela is prepared to give to low-income people in the district