"Hitler would be like a suckling baby next to George
W. Bush." No, it wasn't a Massachusetts Democrat who said that on
Saturday. But it was one of the Bay State Congressional delegation's
best friends -- Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez.
We criticized Congressmen William Delahunt and Ed
Markey late last year for accepting an enormous petro lagniappe from
Mr. Chavez in the form of 12 million gallons of cut-price home heating
oil. "To the people of Venezuela, our debt," said Mr. Delahunt, playing
along with this blatant attempt to buy opposition to U.S. foreign
policy.
Leave aside the fact that the "people of Venezuela"
probably have better uses for their prime national resource than
subsidizing America's second richest state. Few leaders also work
harder than Mr. Chavez to undermine bipartisan U.S. interests around
the world. For example: siding with Fidel Castro to support a
resurgence of radical left wing politics throughout Latin America; or
trying to thwart our efforts to stop Iran from acquiring a nuclear
bomb. Only Cuba and Syria joined Venezuela in voting against the IAEA's
referral this past weekend of the Iranian nuclear dossier to the U.N.
Security Council.
Mr. Chavez has been picking other fights too, recently
expelling a U.S. military attache on charges of spying and telling
Venezuelans to gear up for a U.S. invasion. We don't see a compelling
reason for the latter anytime soon. But it seems inarguable that Mr.
Chavez ranks among the worst national leaders in the world today. If
Massachusetts Democrats are having second thoughts about their friend
in Caracas, we haven't heard them.
