Eminentoes
Hugo’s Hollywood
From Kevin Spacey to Sean Penn and Danny Glover, they all pillage their hearts for Hugo Chavez.
President Obama may have plenty of vocal defenders in America’s media-entertainment complex, but so does Venezuela’s aspiring president-for-life.
The American friends of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez seem caught in a time warp, spouting foolish Marxist rhetoric to justify the buffoonish behavior of their hero. But Venezuela’s head of state is no fool, and his brand of leftist politics seems to be on the march in Latin America.
Recently an emboldened Chavez called Obama a “poor ignoramus” and handed the beaming leader of the free world a copy of Eduardo Galeano’s Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent. The book is a leftist, anti-American tract from Marxist publisher Monthly Review Press.
It is unclear why Chavez didn’t give Obama Hegemony or Survival: America’s Quest for Global Dominance, by Noam Chomsky, the book he brought to the United Nations in 2006 when he called President Bush “the Devil” and made the sign of the cross.
Conservatives criticized Obama for shaking the Venezuelan strongman’s hand, and naturally, Hollywood leapt to the defense of both leaders.
This should surprise no one. Hollywood is in love with Obama, and Chavez, who has allowed Iran-aligned Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas terrorists to open offices in the Venezuelan capital, is the kind of anti-American that certain kinds of American leftists swoon over.
Take actor Sean Penn, the recent Oscar laureate for Milk.
He’s among those who believe Obama can charm his way through the perilous waters of foreign policy. “With a friend, or an enemy, our president will gain greater strategic position with a smile,” wrote the co-star of Shanghai Surprise (currently 2.5 stars out of 10 at IMDB.com).
“I applaud an American President who’s tough enough…to smile,” wrote Penn, who appears not to know the difference between the verb infer and the verb imply. (“When President Obama today inferred consideration of holding former administration officials accountable to law…”)
However, Penn’s admiration of his own president pales when compared to the love he shows for the man who, oddly enough, considers himself the reincarnation of anti-socialist Simon Bolivar:
I know President Chavez well. Whether or not one agrees with all his policies, what is certainly true of Chavez is that he is a warm and friendly man with a robust sense of humor (who daily risks his own life for his country in ways Dick Cheney could never imagine). To treat such a man coldly is akin to spitting on him. As a country we’ve done enough of that. Say what you will, but it has only resulted in the self-celebration of our smirking spitters, while costing us international respect, American lives, and left wounds in the hands of our children’s future. The Cheneys, down to the O’Reillys and Hannitys and Limbaughs, effectively hate the principles upon which we were founded. They are among the greatest cowards in all of American history.
Penn also previously called the Chavez-crafted constitution of Venezuela, which gives the president the power to rule by decree, “a very beautiful document.”
The Fast Times at Ridgemont High star is hardly the only member of the glitterati to glamorize Chavez.
As Ana Maria Ortiz and I wrote last year in Organization Trends, the oil-reliant Chavez regime enjoys passionate support from actors Danny Glover, Kevin Spacey, Ed Asner, singer Harry Belafonte, and supermodel Naomi Campbell. South American newspapers reported Campbell was having a romantic affair with Chavez — a claim she denies — but there’s no denying she is enamored of him politically. Campbell rhapsodizes about Chavez, speaking of her “amazement” at the “love and encouragement” that Chavez pours into social welfare programs. Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Marxist writers Howard Zinn and Naomi Klein are also proud chavistas.
Chavez’s compliant Congress returned Hollywood’s favor in 2007 by approving at least $28 million in financing for two films by Glover, who has been a business partner with Chavez for years. One of the movies is The General in His Labyrinth, about Simon Bolivar, and the other is Toussaint, a biopic about the 18th-century Haitian revolutionary Toussaint L’Ouverture.
About the Author
Matthew Vadum is an award-winning investigative journalist at a conservative watchdog group in Washington, D.C. Vadum is also author of Subversion Inc: How Obama’s ACORN Red Shirts are Still Terrorizing and Ripping Off American Taxpayers.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (495) | Leave a comment
Related Articles
More Articles by Matthew Vadum
More Articles From Eminentoes
http://spectator.org/archives/2009/04/24/hugos-hollywood
Follow us:
ADVERTISEMENT
SPONSORED LINKS
FLASHBACK TO: 1995
-
Pope Culture
A man of faith in a godless age is hitting Americans where it hurts.
-
Why the GOP Does Not, Like, Totally Suck
Mr. and Mrs. American Spectator Reader, let P.J. O’Rourke talk sense to your kids.
-
Dames at Sea
-
In the Absence of Guns
In Britain, defending your property can get you life.
-
The Metaphysical Martini
-
Counting the Costs of Clintonism
The debacle of this president’s administration is both a cause and a symptom of the decline of American values. Unless Congress impeaches him, that decline will go on unchecked. An eminent jurist surveys the damage and assesses the chances for the recovery of our culture.
-
Chuck McHagel
It won’t take long for conservatives to scratch this presidential wannabe off their 2008 scorecard.
-
The Legacy of Old John and Mother Fresh-Roasted
-
It’s the Best Time of the Year
The American Christmas, like the songs that celebrate it, makes room for everybody under the rainbow. Is that why so many people seem to be hostile to it?
-
The Bush Crack-Up
Was the President done in by the economy, or by the politics of the economy?
Clip of the Day
ADVERTISEMENT
BillyD| 4.24.09 @ 6:39AM
Ohhh MANN! You showed him. What was Obama thinking? You know liberals complain about invading Iraq, abandoning the war and Afganistan and letting the people behind 9-11 go unpunished, but then I read about this and it makes me chuckle. I mean who accepts a book from someone? Obviously Venuzula is a huge threat to the United States. We should alienate them and let them sell their vast reseviors of oil someplace else. I suggest China. What difference does it make? Jesus is coming back soon anyways. Seriously, Chavanistas, what a classic. BAM! I expect nothing less from someone from the Capital Research Center, you guys have so much integrity. Instead of being friends with Iran, why doesn't Obama just sell weapons to them and then take that money and arm a resistance group that could rape and pillage the Venuzualan country side. Where have I heard that idea before? Who cares, it's brilliant, just like you Matthew Vadum, my sweet. Does anyone know how long it takes to get your Master in the Politics of Philanthropy? Was it Villanova? It's such a good school, I don't know if I'd get in there. So competative.
Peter| 3.22.10 @ 8:14PM
I find it very difficult to take seriously anyone who uses "anyways" in their prose. You are as literate as you are intelligent, BillyD.
jack| 4.24.09 @ 6:55AM
whats the difference between these useful idiots and Obama?
how about when Penn said at Academy Awards that Obama was an elegant man. only an elegant man would give an ipod to the Queen or a blockbuster gift set to PM. the man is a world class imbecile.
Pingback| 4.24.09 @ 7:40AM
Hugo’s Hollywood links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 4.24.09 @ 7:48AM
Topics about Hollywood » Hugo’s Hollywood links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
stu.b.con| 4.24.09 @ 7:49AM
Why is it all of the leftarded trolls who post at this site are sneering, nasty, sarcastic, bedwetting f'heads like l'l davey, jharp, and my new friend billyP oh I mean billyD. Go back to kindergarten and start over you buffoon.
Melvin| 4.24.09 @ 8:19AM
Thought for the day and everyday...Since the politicians do not want to adhere to the Constitution of the United States. Then why do we have to adhere to the laws of the politicians?
stmichrick| 4.24.09 @ 9:20AM
Billy;
What a coincidence! Over in the Pancake Red Stone thread I was just referencing leftist/Communist attempts to influence popular in the '50s in an attempt to show how it plays out today.
And here YOU are! Responding to a piece about
Hollywood Hugo! Ridiculing conservatives for noticing current attempts of anti-American fools to influence popular culture.
Small world, huh.
stmichrick| 4.24.09 @ 9:39AM
I like that picture of Hugo on the home page.
He may be a better choice to play the role of Jerome (Curly) Howard in the forthcoming lefty treatment of The Three Stooges.
Anthony| 4.24.09 @ 11:11AM
So when it comes to these high and mighty America hating leftist Hollywood elites, the old axiom "follow the money" still rules. Capitalism for me but not for thee. Can anybody say world-class hypocrites!!
I can't wait for Tim Robbins to appear in drag to play the role of our paranoid, iron fisted, civil rights denier in chief, DHS Secretary Janet "Benito" Napolitano, as she jackboots across the country crushing dissent.
Oh wait, Chavez won't finance that movie, but will the brave and courageous Tim Robbins call out Chavez and his "chill wind" of repression? Naw, that would require real courage, not the phony courage it takes to attack Bush and Cheney while in the comfy confines of Hollywood.
When the left finally pushes this country to revolution, we are going to have a great time cleaning up America. It will be more fun than sex.
sinanju| 4.24.09 @ 11:26AM
I'm seriously disappointed that more of the professional, paid obamabots from the shop of Axlerod don't post here more often. You can tell them because they try to sound reasonable and polite and are far more slick and adept at turning phrases and juggling quotes and statistics.
The name-calling, catch-phrasing and slogan-spewing rants are just plain boring and should be ignored. Only the more interesting lefty comments should be debated.
That said, I had not previously known Hugo was showering money on his hollywood acolytes' pet projects (to the neglect of his own country's film industry). I also never knew that Maria Conchita Alonso ("Moscow on the Hudson", "The Running Man", "The House of the Spirits") was originally Cuban.
I'll also confess to being slightly curious as to what sort of stuff the Venezuelan version of MosFilm is cranking out.
Tim| 4.24.09 @ 12:09PM
One of the big problems in Southern California is the large legal and illegal anti american, pro Chavez, hispanic americans from Latin America.
That said, let me clear, I believe that the vast majority of folks with roots to either Mexico or Latin America/South America are pro USA and swear loyality to our Republic.
But the million or so who are not have infiltrated some of the more left wing Labor Unions and other groups who have actually established serious connections with Chavez and other Anti American rouge despots.
So naturally, with Hollywood smack in the middle of this inferno, these anti american folks have worked some of these artists to their advantage.
Some of the L.A. Labor Union folks were actually in Chavez's back yard helping him with his revolution during the past few years.
If the Consevatives really want to bust this ring up you can start with the so called progressive Labor Unions in L.A and Jimmy Rodriguez.
Have a good week end!
Jason| 4.24.09 @ 12:32PM
Tim, you're dead on, as usual. I've often suspected my house keeper hates America and is secretly out to start a revolution, now I know for sure. Obviously your number of 1,000,000 is accurate. You've clearly done studies and didn't pull these numbers out of your anus. This is not the rantings of a syphylitic brain...no no. We're definately dealing with a college grad here. Keep up the good fight my friend...and remember: They Crucified Jesus.
rdman| 4.24.09 @ 12:42PM
CHAFF-A-ROTI is a Honduran term… a label that is used to describe gangs of marauding Banana Republic street thugs, criminals, thieves and brutal killers.
Chaff - the hard useless shell that surrounds a kernel of rice or grain. It must be removed and discarded before the kernel can be consumed.
Roti – rotten, worthless.
These are unscrupulous, ruthless people who have no conscience, no principles, no morals. These are people who have no sense of country, citizenship, family or humanity.
Marxists in Latin America including Mexico recruit these “Chaff-a-Roti” gangs to organize them into so-called community organizers… brutal gangs to intimidate, rape, pillage and terrorize… the violent ideologies of Banana Republic Marxism.
In Latin American cities, even the most modest homes are surrounded by six foot walls with chards of glass embedded on the wall top and/or strands of barb/razor wire, heavy iron gate entries and snarling, trained–to-kill guard dogs. Successful business people and other professionals of accomplishment hire full time guards to guard themselves and their families from kidnapping. If they are kidnapped, they face almost certain death even after ransom is paid.
From the ranks of these “Chaff-a-Roti” gangs emerge people like Daniel Ortega, Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro, Ernesto “Che” Guevara (Castro’s psychopathic killer), Evo Morales and many more being groomed by Marxists to steal elections and assume brutal dictatorships.
And now, from the community organizers of Chicago…
Jeffw| 4.24.09 @ 2:09PM
I find it interesting that more liberals, sneering, obamabots (James & Billy D) have suddently started showing up just shortly after DM keep getting either ignored or booted off the website. Then again maybe I'm just a paranoid conservative nut. I mean it's not like conservatives have anything to be paranoid about lately is it?
Stan Redmond| 4.24.09 @ 2:24PM
I can not fathom how a unaware love of power blind people like Glover and Penn. Chavez, Castro, Ahneedajihad are among the most vile and evil men alive. They are dillusional. The same power to kill and control without mercy is in the hearts of people like Glover and Penn and should be made to account for the misery and deaths these men cause. Ignorance can be forgiven if one is not educated. But these actors are not stupid people and have no excuse NOT to know the atrocities commited on a daily basis in these socialist paradisos. Why are these actors with superior intellects not willing to live as the ordinary Venezuelan or Cuban? Chavez, Castro, and Obama are all cut from the same cloth. the only difference in America is we have our guns.
Marc Jeric| 4.24.09 @ 2:30PM
Danny Glover, Kevin Spacey, Ed Asner, Harry Belafonte, Naomi Campbell, Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Marxist writers Howard Zinn and Naomi Klein are all proud chavistas and fidelistas. Well, we are now adopting the benefits of socialism; when those benefits prove illusory while plunging all of us into the abyss of general poverty, we will switch through a bloody revolution into a clean communist dictatorship. The first victims will be the same admirers of communist dictators like those listed above, together with the liberal lights of our MSM and the marxist inteligentsia now infecting 90% of the university professoriat. That is exactly what happened in all communist country, and is in fact the sole bright moment I personally see in our future.
JesusLover21| 4.24.09 @ 3:34PM
Danny Glover, Kevin Spacey, Ed Asner are all behind a secret conspiracy to imbue our bodily fluids with Communisism. Did anyone see the movie K-Pax, not only was it the devil's work, but it was also Marxian propaganda. Oh and that Danny Glover! Clearly him and Howard Zinn have teamed up to corrupt our youths. Did anyone see the movie Lethal Weapon 4???!!!! I rest my case. No, were, not crazy people, we're right on target. Yep. There's two kinds of people in this world, God-fearing, capitalism loving Christian, and Godless, Communist sodomites who love tyranny and power, especially that Ed Asner! You're either with us or against us. No red herring here. No over reacting or paranoia. Completely sane. Still fighting that war against Communism because we know that it's still be waged. Sure, the USSR may have collapsed and China has opened its borders to direct foreign investment, but there is clearly one massive conspiracy going on behind close doors. It's either that or we are crazy, which we know we're not.
JeffW| 4.24.09 @ 3:52PM
Set the hook, and reel them in. Dang, caught another liberal sucker.
tjs| 4.24.09 @ 11:40PM
hahaha DM is now BillyD. Do they really pay these people to muck up private conversations between like-minded people...? If they do, it is more serious than we realize..? Our simple task of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is under a targeted and real attack...? Scares me just a little... Then I realize they are just googlebots with moveon. org posts previously typed for distribution...! ahhhh I feel better now.. Signed, a gun-toting, church-going, GOD-fearing, Christian, White man.....! Sorry, I just outed myself as a terrorist..
JeffW| 4.25.09 @ 9:19AM
You should be scared TJS. You don't know about all the FEMA concentration camps we're opening. It won't be too difficult to get you there once we repeal the second amendment and erase all evidence of creationism by planting dionosaur fossils.
Tim| 4.25.09 @ 10:26AM
We are just having conversations here on these blogs. Sometimes their fun, sometimes their plain serious and sometimes we just tweak each others nose all in good humor and in the name of freedom.
Sometimes we share some important information that blows minds and sometimes we are silly.
But the reason why ultimately the far left, marxist uthopian dream will fail....again..... and come crashing down is because there are enough folks in real important positions that know what is really going on and are working toward the socialists demise as we speak.
I couldn't have said this before the information age.....because in those days it took years for freedom and liberty minded folks to figure out what was being done to them by ruthless power hungry facists/socialists.
Look how long it took Russia to bring down the Soviets----70 plus years.
So while all of this or at least much of this is an excercize in free speech, at the end of the day, the far left leadership knows that the only power they have is maintained through ignorance of the truth which while at the moment seems supreme but can and will change on a dime here in the US.
A little harder in South and Central America because the socialist power hungry pigs keep people in poverty and uneducated but that will also eventually change and when it does it will rid us of this false uthopian cancer once and for all.
The last thing the far left wants is for the masses to be educated......if they are, what will Acorn and the Unions do? Exactly my point...Game Over!
pete the mediocre| 4.25.09 @ 3:56PM
I wonder why it is that the left, who gave us political correctness and who preach tolerance, cannot make a post without resorting to name calling and hate-filled sarcasm.
They all display the same kind of hypocrisy that we see in Hollywood when those elitists decry capitalism while raking in millions from that very system.
I enjoy a good debate, unfortunately the leftists who post here are entirely incapable of providing a reasoned dialogue.
Color Crayons| 4.26.09 @ 2:00AM
"But Venezuela's head of state is no fool, and his brand of leftist politics seems to be on the march in Latin America. "
And In America too! Keep in mind you guys got your asses royally kicked last term.
Gorgonzola| 4.26.09 @ 2:02AM
Thats right pete! You guys are only good for mockery, what do you expect? To take your bullshit seriously?
Rick Josey | 4.26.09 @ 9:22AM
Hollywood should send Chavez some Styrofoam Greek Columns to carry around with him. Then Obama would feel more comfortable shaking hands with the guy.
www.PatriotHangout.com
Rick Josey | 4.26.09 @ 9:22AM
Hollywood should send Chavez some Styrofoam Greek Columns to carry around with him. Then Obama would feel more comfortable shaking hands with the guy.
www.PatriotHangout.com
Tim| 4.26.09 @ 11:42AM
Color Crayons,
No one is saying that Chavez is a fool. On the contrary, he and others like him both now and in the past have taken years to plan and study how to keep people enslaved, starving and in a robot like trance so they themselves can stay in control and reap all of the material rewards like power and money. Union Leaders are great at this.
Look at the USA inner Cities and what their so called leaders have done to them since the 1960's.
Many are worse off now then in pre-civil rights days....except of course very few are hung now but the poverty and lack of education is mind blowing.
The only point I made was that as people catch on to the scam of the chavez types they begin to stand up and eventually topple these rougue rulers and their freedom hating ways.
Stalin, Lenin, Hitler, Saddam, just to name a few were not stupid people. Not by a long shot.
To come up with ways to control people and lord over them takes some brains along with their ruthless DNA.
I just believe, and history has proven over the long haul, that freedom and the desire for people to have that freedom trumps anything that these despots have to offer.
Because in the end, these despots only peddle fear. Once people aren't afraid anymore the despots fall.
If Fear isn't the key, why would chavez's opponent feel that he had to flee and go in hiding?
It's all really very basic sociology/antropology 101. But then again, the masses that are being controlled by the Chavez types don't get to go to college. But as they do they see things for what they are.
Now, the educated supporters of chavez are chavez types so that proves my point that these people are not stupid.
Being stupid and being power hungry are very different in that, most stupid people could not last as long as Chavez has lasted without being eliminated.
KevlarKevin| 4.26.09 @ 11:33PM
@BillyD| 4.24.09 @ 6:39AM
Who cares, it's brilliant, just like you Matthew Vadum, my sweet. Does anyone know how long it takes to get your Master in the Politics of Philanthropy? Was it Villanova? It's such a good school, I don't know if I'd get in there. So competative.
Apparently BillyD was stoned when he wrote this.
The Capital Research Center staff list says at
http://www.capitalresearch.org/about/bios.html that Vadum "holds an M.A. in American Studies from Georgetown University." Nothing about Villanova. I doubt BillyD would get into any university program unless it has an affirmative action program for morons.
JimSaxonby| 4.27.09 @ 4:05AM
Michsell Bachmun: "I'm concerned that this president is using the reports of a few isolated cases of swine flu in some other country to justify rounding up U.S. citizens and herding them into concentraion camps under the guise of forced innoculations against this disease. There's no reason for people in this country to be afraid of a disease that only infects pigs. The fact that the CDC is hyping this as some sort of a public health menace underscores the danger in allowing that organization to exist. The Republican party wanted to de-fund the CDC, but Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid blocked us from doing that. I strongly encourage the American people to arm themselves to the teeth, not with weapons of course but with information that my office will provide, to fend off any attempts by this president to use this insignificant health matter as an excuse for taking away all of their freedoms."
BillyD| 4.27.09 @ 4:36AM
Oh yeah, Vadum is a genious, he's a real Einstein, because he got his M.A. in American Studies. The American Studies program at Georgetown is so competative too. All the graduates are just knocking down the door to learn about American Studies. Never mind law school or medical school, American Studies is where the money is at. What the hell is American Studies anyways? It's one of those advanced degrees in liberal arts bullshit that no one cares about. People take civics in the 5th grade, they don't get their masters in it. What do you expect from a Villanova graduate. Don't take my word for it, look at the tape, this guy can't string an argument together to save his life:
http://videogum.com/archives/late-night/lets-help-make-matthew-vadum-bad_031961.html
I majored in Economics with a double minor in International Relations and Modernity. I concentrated in Advanced Competative Theory and Comparative Financial Regimes. I'm currently getting my J.D. from a top school and am in the upper 25% of my class. And for the record, I get stoned whenever the fuck I have time, which is not often. By the way, KevlarKevin, where did you go to school? I'm guessing the words "college" and "Kevin" don't go together, unless you add "community" to the mix, so let's start lower; GED? SAT Scores?
pete the mediocre| 4.27.09 @ 4:32PM
"Competative"
Too bad you didn't take a spelling class somewhere along the line.
Yvelaine| 4.28.09 @ 4:34AM
Sean Penn is an embarassment, don't understand why liberals care about what he has to say. He can't offer a political arguement without elevating the extreme left, and insulting the right.
He should stick to making movies like "I am Sam" where he can drivel endlessly.
Matthew| 4.28.09 @ 9:07PM
A few quick responses- the constitution of Venezuela does not allow the president to rule by decree. Under the constitution, the National Assembly has the power to give decree-issuing power to the President for 18 month periods. This has been given to Chavez, I believe twice in his Presidency. The ability of the National Assembly to do this was present in its predecessor, the Venezuelan Congress, and they did delegate it to other Presidents prior to Chavez.
The Presidency of Venezuela is weaker than the Presidency of the United States in some ways, however- the President of Venezuela lacks veto power, for example.
The other is that Manuel Rosales "fled" Venezuela because he was charged with corruption by the judiciary- a week later, the Chavista former Mayor of Caracas (who had even supported Chavez in the controversial 2007 referendum) was brought into the municipal court of Caracas for corruption as well.
Shyster| 4.29.09 @ 1:56AM
BillyD,
As Pete pointed out, you misspelled "competitive" twice in your rants, including in your so-called "Major". And you minored in "Modernity"???
Yet you make fun of someone majoring in "American Studies"?
Kinda like minoring in arts and crafts or forestry law, Billy...or "women's studies".
And "Comparative Financial Regimes"?
Obviously, you are economically clueless as well as politically clueless.
Incidentally, I noticed that you omitted the Universities you supposedly attended....hmmm.
As an attorney myself, it's patently obvious that your claims are bogus merely because american studies are essential to a proper grounding in the Law. Frankly, you only display your profound ignorance when you post here.
Shyster| 4.29.09 @ 2:01AM
Jason,
Your ramblings might resonate better if you based them on facts, rather than fevered fantasy.
Always remember, as with parody, sarcasm only works when there is at least a grain of truth to the underlying assumptions such sarcasm is based upon.
Pingback| 5.6.09 @ 3:29AM
Rotten Teeth - MILLIONS FACE HOLIDAY ROADWORKS NIGHTMARE - Daily Express « Rotten Tee links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 5.6.09 @ 8:55PM
Rotten Teeth - Trekking With Tim, Day Seven: Star Trek: Generations - Rottentomatoes. links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 5.11.09 @ 12:32AM
Capital Research Center: links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 6.6.09 @ 5:19AM
Capital Research Center: links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 9.30.09 @ 8:00AM
Bertha Lewis’ (ACORN and Working Families Party) Bolsheviks « Romanticpoet’s Weblog links to this page. Here’s an excerpt: