Joseph P. Kennedy II has been doing commercials promoting Venezuela and by proxy their America hating fearless leader Hugo Chavez. In case you haven’t seen it Joe talks about how great Venezualla is to give poor Americans free oil. This comes in the wake of calls to boycott Citgo gas in order to punish Chavez.
Despicable, I think, would accurately descibe his actions in my opinion. I feel like I am looking at a traitor who has sold his illustrious family name to a foriegn enemy when I watch his commercial. My question is - could anyone possibly image a bigger scumbag move on Joe’s part, is the that hard up for money?
Well, he’s been running Citizen’s Energy for over twenty years–I used to refer people to them when I worked for the state of MA in the 80s.
I don’t know why the commercials feel compelled to mention Venezuela, though. The program may be pandering but one NY columnist suggested that the Federal government should immediately have matched any funds they provided, leaving Chavez flat-footed.
“Foreign enemy”? How you figure? Now mind you, I have very little respect for Chavez as a leader and I think his over-the-top anti-Bush grandstanding speeches are just :rolleyes:. But to my mind, a foreign country has to do significantly more than stuff like that to earn the title “enemy” and to make a “traitor” out of anyone who says something nice about them.
Is Venezuela taking up arms against us? Are they actively colluding with our enemies? (No, Chavez making grandstanding speeches with Ahmedinejad doesn’t count.) Are they in fact actually doing anything at all to us, other than giving free heating oil to some of our poor people who have a hard time keeping warm in the winter?
Ill-mannered name-calling is boorish and undiplomatic, but it doesn’t make a country our “enemy”. I don’t know anything about Joe Kennedy and hold no brief for his views, but if he wants to thank Venezuela for saving some Americans from freezing in the wintertime, I don’t see why he shouldn’t.
Moderator’s Note: If this is in fact your question, this sounds less like a debate and more like a Pitting. Do you actually want to debate something here, or do you just want to Pit Joe Kennedy?
I guess it does sound contentious, but I was really just curious as to whether my opinion was valid or if i was missing something. The 2 replies so far have been along that vein.
You’re missing something. What it takes to make someone an enemy of America, and what it takes to make a citizen a traitor. Hint: they’re both in the Constitution. Second hint: Ann Coulter doesn’t have a fucking clue about either (or else does, and is a lying scumbag herself).
Hugo Chavez is no fan of GWB, nor apparently of America, and as noted is doing some obnoxious grandstanding. But he has not committed a single act that makes him an “enemy” as the term is defined in law. (Third hint: What previous President had the idea that he could make up a list of “enemies” and use the force of the government against them?)
If you have some reading time to spare, check out Churchill on Stalin, Franco, Darlan, Chamberlain, Halifax, Rommel, and several other people on “the other side” from him at one time or another. You’ll find that being generally opposed does not interfere with acknowledging the occasional good deed, or the move forced by circumstances.
I’ve been seeing Joe kennedy an average of 5 X every morning. apparently, Citizen’s Energy is a springboard for something bigger-I suspect he wants to be president. of course, running CE is a nice touch-he pays himself $850,000/year!
And he doesn’t mention hugo chavez-just the fine people of venezuela.
Of course, you have his alcoholic uncle (Sen. kennedy0 who doesn’t want windmills to provide clean energy-they interfere with his view of nantucket sound.
When did the war between the US and Venezuela start? Also, if Hugo Chavez hates America, why is selling us cheap oil?
Seriously, Venezuela is not a declared enemy of the Unitied States, and praising an effort at economic aid (no matter how transparent the political motive) does not make one a traitor.
Can the OP seriously not imagine a bigger “scumbag move” than someone pbulicly saying, " I decline to jump on the ‘hate Venezuela’ bandwagon"? I certainly could.
Evil Joe, Chavez is merely a hustler, who beats the anti-American drum because he can get votes from the resentful.
He is all hat, no cowboy.
He don’t matter for beans.
Funny, I look at this, in a situation where Chavez is clearly looking for American good press and American allies, and I remember the time Giuliani rejected a check from a Saudi prince for disaster relief because that prince had suggested that America had brought on the attacks through some of its policies.
Chavez is using Kennedy, and I’m wondering if he’s just a dupe, or cares more about the poor people that he’s helping than the fact that he’s obviously being used. Still, it would take a lot of courage to refuse that oil and use that moral capital to get some help from American oil companies.
Does he have that kind of courage? Is there anything Chavez would do that would cause him to refuse the oil? We’ll see.
What I object to is as follows. All of us know Chavez doesn’t give a hoot about poor Americans, and he is using a person he thinks Americans will actually believe that he is being philanthropic. Whether anything good is actually coming out of this collaboration isn’t as blaring to me as how Joe can allow himself to be a spokesperson for this man who has made clear with his words that he feels strongly anti-American. The sad thing is that some ignorant Americans would actually come away from these commercials with a warm and fuzzy feeling about Venezuela’s relationship with us.
Chavez says confrontational things about the U.S., but he and his country are more than happy to accept American money - thus companies here are more than happy to give it to them. Businesses aren’t going to boycott Venezuela, and when it comes to oil money, I suspect American dollars go to people much worse than Chavez. So I can’t get worked up about a commercial here.
Good ,you know what is in Chavez’s heart and why he is doing it. Some might actually wonder.
A lot of national currency is available in slamming our Connecticut cowboy president. There are few places on earth that publically railing at Bush and Cheney would hurt your reputation. Expect more.
What makes Chavez “anti-American,” other than rhetoric on which he is in no position to act? What he’s really hostile to is not America as such, but the Bush Admin and the neoliberal globalization agenda (under which Third-World countries have been taking it on the ear for decades now); none of which hostility is unreasonable, for a Venezuelan nor for an American. I don’t approve of everything Chavez is doing in Venezuela, but WRT his relations with the U.S., there is absolutely nothing treasonous about an American working with him.
Why should today be any different from any other day?
** Evil Joe**: I do not like Chavez very much and he has made Bush his personnel enemy, but then so many of us good patriotic Americans do not like Bush either at this point. I have heard no declaration of war. I have seen no plans that call for our destruction. So how is Chavez an enemy?
His oil move was a brilliant way to embarrass our current admin. So give him credit, he helped poor people while doing it. He is a positive force for his country so far, we have to wait and see how this turns out.
