Muted Reaction to Hugo Chavez's Outburst

(CNSNews.com) - Reaction to Hugo Chavez's Bush-bashing tirade at the United Nations on Wednesday drew little or no response in most quarters, except for liberal Democratic blogs, where cheers for Chavez dominated the discourse.

The Venezuelan president, addressing the U.N. General Assembly, insulted President Bush personally -- and repeatedly.

"The devil, the devil himself, is right in the house. And the devil came here yesterday," Chavez said, as he made the sign of the cross. "Yesterday the devil came here -- right here, right here -- and it smells of sulfur still today," he added, drawing laughter from other U.N. delegates.

The attack went on: Chavez accused Bush of wanting to take over the world and he suggested the president needs psychiatric help.

Later Wednesday, in a speech at a New York City college (Cooper Union), Chavez received a standing ovation from faculty, students and others, when he accused President Bush of committing genocide in Iraq.

"The president of the United States should go before an international tribunal" (for war crimes), Chavez said.

On Thursday, major newspapers carried reports about Chavez's Bush-bashing, but most did not include reaction from Members of Congress, Democrat or Republican.

The Boston Globe was among the exceptions. It reported that Chavez's remarks "prompted a rebuke" from one of Chavez's "closest friends in Congress" -- U.S. Rep. William Delahunt, a Massachusetts Democrat, who helped negotiate a deal with Chavez in which Venezuela offers discounted heating oil to tens of thousands of Boston-area residents.

Delahunt called Chavez's comments "silly" and "inappropriate," the Boston Globe said. But according to the newspaper, "Delahunt asserted that the Bush administration's foreign policy deserves some blame for fostering a climate where a world leader could offer such strident denunciations of the American president in front of the General Assembly.

Delahunt is quoted as saying that he will continue working with Chavez to bring cheap heating oil to Boston's poor people again this year.

In its report, the New York Times offered the following understatement: "Mr. Chavez's remarks were translated from Spanish, and while subtleties can sometimes be lost in translation, his feelings about the United States seemed to come through clearly enough."

Good for Chavez

"Who was offended by the Chavez remarks about Bush?" asked the Democratic Underground website.

"I laughed by @ss off and called my Mom so she could laugh, too," wrote one respondent. Other comments: "If others respected our president, it would never have happened." "I'm offended by anyone who was offended by what Chavez said." And so on.

A number of Democrats also have said derogatory things about President Bush. Last year, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid called Bush a "loser" before a group of high school students. "The man's father is a wonderful human being," Reid said, adding, "I think this guy is a loser." Reid later called the White House to apologize.

And Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) -- criticizing President Bush for his response to Hurricane Katrina last year -- told the Congressional Black Caucus, "George Bush is our Bull Connor." Connor, a former police commissioner in Birmingham, Ala., ordered his troops to attack civil rights marchers with dogs and fire hoses during a demonstration in 1963.

On Wednesday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she wouldn't dignify Chavez's remarks with a comment, but she did call the remarks "unbecoming for a head of state."

John Bolton, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, dismissed Chavez's "insulting" comments, calling them a "comic-strip approach to international affairs."

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