Chavez Surprised
Posted by Ginny on December 3rd, 2007 (All posts by Ginny)
Was anyone else pleasantly surprised at the results from Venezuela? The Devil’s Excrement, Gateway Pundit, Drudge. Russia, of course, was less surprising.
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December 3rd, 2007 at 7:23 am
I’m very surprised he lost.
December 3rd, 2007 at 9:55 am
I was indeed surprised that Venezuela’s electoral system, allegedly controlled by Chavez, didn’t cheat on the results, though they took a little while and it raised concerns.
I am happy for Venezuela’s opposition, they won this one time after losing many other times against Chavez and if they manage this victory correctly it could lead them to overthrowing Chavez eventually.
I am also happy to see that Venezuela’s majority didn’t buy Chavez’ nationalistic rhetoric, hopefully it is a sign that some Latin American nations are learning how to deal with populists like him.
December 3rd, 2007 at 10:19 am
Very surprised. How does a dictator lose a referendum? I suspect that the actual result was much more favorable to the opposition than the close official result suggests. Perhaps Chavez miscalculated out of overconfidence, as the Sandinistas did in allowing an election that they lost.
At about 8:00 yesterday morning I passed the building that houses the local Venezuelan consulate. There was a small crowd in front. I assume they were there to vote. When I passed by again at around 5:30 there were still a few people standing around.
December 3rd, 2007 at 10:26 am
Well, the polls said he would lose. In fact, they said he would lose by a bigger margin than he did.
But I have no idea how good the polls are in Venezuela.
So I thought he might lose. And, of course, I hoped he would lose.
December 3rd, 2007 at 10:53 am
Upside: Democracy is still alive in Venezuela.
Downside: Chevez will now blame every problem on the failure of the referendum and will try to sneak in his power grabbing legislation a piece at a time.
On the whole, however, I think this indicates a good trend. I think the vote represents a wide planetary phenomenon where cultures long ruled by despotic strongmen still gravitate to strongmen but at the same time the people want to maintain a say in who that strongman is. Call it authoritarian democracy. People get to elect their dictator.
The real test of Chevez as a democratically elected leader will come when we see how if he accepts the vote. As Steven Den Beste once observed, being elected doesn’t make one a democratic leader, it’s being unelected and stepping down that makes one a democratic leader.
December 3rd, 2007 at 11:08 am
Regarding Chavez, Pat Robertson was right