# President Chavez Insults Angela Merkle **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 12, 2008, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-chavez-insults-angela-merkle/449104 "2008-05-12T23:20:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2008, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-chavez-insults-angela-merkle/449104/21 "2008-05-16T15:56:19Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] If so, it’s not necessarily a bad thing for the Venezuelan economy, as **mswas** assumes. Depends on how big a bite it puts on the budget. [/QUOTE] It is also a senate election plan for Joseph Kennedy (Joe wants to be senator, when Uncle ted’s liver final craps out). Plus, joe nets himself a $800,000/year salary from this good work! pretty nifty! ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2008, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-chavez-insults-angela-merkle/449104/22 "2008-05-17T06:10:18Z")
I’m not surpised by this. Chavez is trying to be the new Fidel. Arming left-wing rebels goes with the deal. He’s going to be a real pain in the ass for a long time. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2008, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-chavez-insults-angela-merkle/449104/23 "2008-05-17T06:56:51Z")
[QUOTE=Evil Captor] First Bush grabs her then Chavez insults her. She’s gonna avoid this hemisphere entirely. [/QUOTE] Dude, those are some SERIOUS hemispheres and you get to A Certain Age and, despite a lady’s, er, POLITICAL prominence, a straight, old, fart cannot keep his hands off such SERIOUS boobage. Bush is 60, Chavez is a month and a half younger than I, which is close to all of us, and Merkel, well, I get confused trying to figure out how old she is. They must be tested, though most of us would prefer it to be in a pretend “loving,” not political, manner. Aw, who am I kidding? There’s tits and there’s votes, and they COMPLETELY overlap! You kids need to go get ice cream while Mom, Dad, Hugo, Angela, and several of our other elderly pals fuck. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2008, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-chavez-insults-angela-merkle/449104/24 "2008-05-18T12:08:33Z")
[QUOTE=Captain Lance Murdoch] You haven’t arrived until Chavez has taken a shot at you. [/QUOTE] Phew that makes me feel better! cos he called me a tight fisted cunt. I dont FEEL important though. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2008, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-chavez-insults-angela-merkle/449104/25 "2008-05-18T18:12:24Z")
[QUOTE=ralph124c] It is also a senate election plan for Joseph Kennedy (Joe wants to be senator, when Uncle ted’s liver final craps out). Plus, joe nets himself a $800,000/year salary from this good work! pretty nifty! [/QUOTE] [shrug] However you cut [that issue,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Patrick_Kennedy_II#Controversy_Involving_Citizens_Energy_and_Venezuela) Kennedy is right and his critics are wrong. > [@](#): > > Citizens Energy Corporation has provided affordable heating oil to low income families in the Northeast since 1979. These charitable efforts were funded largely from profitable commercial ventures and donations. Beginning in 2005, CITGO, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Venezuelan national oil company, PDVSA, has been the primary donor of heating oil to Citizens Energy. The Wall Street Journal and others have criticized Citizens Energy for continuing its relationship with the Venezuelan government and Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, who has been a harsh critic of U.S. President George W. Bush.[5] In response, Kennedy has argued that it is hypocritical to criticize a non-profit from accepting oil from Venezuela while numerous other American businesses are profiting from robust trade with Venezuela and at a time when the U.S. government has cut low-income fuel assistance.[6] > > During the winter of 2006-2007, CITGO donated 40 million gallons of home heating oil, which served an estimated 170,000 families in 16 states.[7] ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2008, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-chavez-insults-angela-merkle/449104/26 "2008-05-18T18:16:07Z")
[QUOTE=smiling bandit] I’ve been watching this myself. Chavez seems to have been deep in bed with Columbia’s worst elements. I’d say “rebel” is too kind a term here. [/QUOTE] Who, the [FARC?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farc) Cocaine dealing and Marxist ideology notwithstanding, they’re still better than [their enemies.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colombian_paramilitaries) ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2008, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-chavez-insults-angela-merkle/449104/27 "2008-05-18T18:39:39Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] Who, the [FARC?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farc) Cocaine dealing and Marxist ideology notwithstanding, they’re still better than [their enemies.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colombian_paramilitaries) [/QUOTE] Except those have more or less calmed down. FARC’s big enemy is democracy itself these days. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-chavez-insults-angela-merkle/449104/28 "2008-05-19T00:08:56Z")
[QUOTE=TJVM] The Joe-4-Oil phone number is for a [subsidized oil program](http://www.usnews.com/articles/business/2008/01/10/calling-joe-4-oil.html) supported by Citgo, the state-owned Venezuelan oil company. In other words, the government of Venezuela is providing aid to poor(er) Americans. Many view this as a bit of political theater by Hugo Chavez, intended to make the U.S. look bad. [/QUOTE] That program has been in place since the 1970’s, when Citgo was private and Venezuela was still “ours”. I am unaware of Chavez, or any entity larger than Citgo or Joe Kennedy, claiming credit for it here in the US; are you? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-chavez-insults-angela-merkle/449104.md?page=1)