Asked whether the administration now recognizes Mr. Chávez as Venezuela’s legitimate president, one administration official replied, “He was democratically elected,” then added, “Legitimacy is something that is conferred not just by a majority of the voters, however.” re. Chavez, a “Senior Administration Official”, NY Times, April 16, 2002
Ah, Democracy and Freedom. America’s greatest virtues, at home, if not abroad.
This is an official of the Bush Administration declaring that just because President Chavez, was elected by a majority of voters doesn’t mean he has “legitimacy”. Shades of Salvatore Allende and Kissinger’s famous remark about those irresponsible Chilean voters!
It’s not new for Republican politicians to define democracy primarily as something that benefits big American vested interests. It would not be enough, for example, for Cuba to hold free elections. The problem is, a la Kissinger, that the people might very well elect the “wrong” leader– Castro. Even some pretty hard-edged American foreign policy “experts” know that in a free election, Cuba might well elect Castro. So it’s not democracy that we want. What we want is another crony to American corporate interests.
We want our casinos and bordellos back.
Jeb Bush, George’s brother, is governor of Florida. Bush barely won Florida in the last election. Florida has a sizeable Cuban expatriate population. These are people who fled Cuba because they hated Castro.
2 + 2 = 4.