A Whiff of Sulfur…

Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez may be an authoritarian-populist demagogue (Winnie rather than Nelson Mandela) who embarrasses more serious Latin American leftists, but he clearly has had the foresight to hire a comedy writer. That much was apparent in his UN General Assembly address, Wednesday, when he repeatedly referred to President Bush as “the Devil,” comically crossing himself after reminding delegates that “El Diablo” had been in this very room, at that same podium, just the night before. And then came the killer punchline: “It still smells of sulfur in here…”