Tuesday, Sep. 23, 2008

Devil's Advocate

Before embarking on a rant against President Bush and the U.S. in 2006, Hugo Chávez took the opportunity at the podium to enlighten his fellow assembly members. With a Spanish-language edition of Noam Chomsky's Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance, Chávez lauded Chomsky as a great intellectual and the book as an "excellent work" that would help the world understand "the greatest threat that looms over our planet." He went on to call President Bush, who had spoken the previous day, "the devil" and complained of a lingering stench of sulfur in the assembly hall. Sales of Chomsky's book exploded following the speech, perhaps making Chávez the Oprah of the General Assembly.