Well, It’s About Time

November 13, 2007 at 4:37 pm (And now for something completely different, Just for Fun, Kiss The Ring, Pest Control, Politics, Village Idiots)

Somebody told that blow-hard to shut-up. Fausta has the goods….

Quoting the Investor’s Business Daily,

Spain’s King Juan Carlos delivered the repartee heard ’round the world Saturday by ordering Venezuela’s abusive dictator to “shut up” at a summit. Drawing the line there may mark a turning point.
That’s because Spain isn’t just any country, and its monarch isn’t just any figurehead. In asking “why don’t you shut up” to Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, Juan Carlos signaled that time has run out on democracies’ tolerance of anything a boorish dictator seeking to dominate the region can dish out.

That’s no small thing. Chavez’s manners reflect his leadership. At the Ibero-American summit of Spain, Portugal and their former colonies in the Americas in Santiago, Chile, he unloaded a raft of loutish insults. Meanwhile, Venezuelans rioted in the streets back home over his ongoing domestic power grab.

Waltzing into Chile, Chavez began by provoking his host country, saying it should give up land for his ally Bolivia to give it sea access. At a separate rally, he announced that Chile’s president, Michelle Bachelet, who maintains cordial relations with the U.S., was “sleeping with the devil.” At a plenary session, Chavez spoke for 26 minutes instead of his allotted five — a Castro-like breach of etiquette.

[…] Not only does the smack-down from Spain’s beloved king undercut Chavez’s pretense of being a respectable democratic leader, it provides some first points of unity in Europe about how to deal with Chavez. Many western European nations now signal they’re getting tired of Chavez’s antics. The king expressed what many were thinking. Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, recognizing how badly Chavez had blundered, leapt to his defense with damage control.

[…] The Spanish king’s smack-down may have other reverberations.

For one, it sets a precedent. From now on, it will be easier for anyone to rebuke Chavez next time he starts talking out of turn or steps beyond democratic norms. He no longer will get away without comment when he abuses democracy of any kind.

That may lead to less pretense among real democracies that Chavez is a legitimate leader and then some hard questions about why this lout is considered the leader of a democracy like any other.

Ultimately, it may lead to questions about whether he really belongs in power. The answer is, he doesn’t, and it’s an impressive irony that it took a king to say it.

I just love that banner. In fact, it gives me an idea. Let’s start an Internet Banner of “Why Don’t You Shut Up?” in all different languages. Like those banners at Christmas with “Merry Christmas” and “Feliz Navidad”. Add your phrase down in the comments… And keep it clean, please.

I’ll start – in Italian –

Stai zitto!

And here it is in Irish –

Bí i do thost!

Meanwhile, HotAir has the video. My spanish is a little better than Bryan’s, but not by much. But you can get the gist of it just by watching the body language. In other words, shut your trap, you little weasel.

Webutante says Muchas Gracias!

Previously: The Red Hat Society, Little Ears, Oh My, What a Smell of Sulfur