Idiot press

I just got a call from an MSNBC booker. She wanted to know if I wanted to go on the air to talk about Hugo Chavez. Apparently, he went off on some rant at the UN.

I said, "Why would I? Who cares about Hugo Chavez?"

The booker said, "well, it's all over talk radio and the blogs." Talk radio, of course, being Rush Limbaugh and company. The blogs, of course, being the wingnutosphere, happily promoting the latest Horrible Dictator Who Says Mean Things About Bush (unlike the ones in the Middle East, Uzbekistan, and Pakistan who are our "allies").

I said, "Well, this is a stupid topic. It means nothing. I am focused on things that actually matter to us."

"Is there another liberal blogger who is writing about it?"

"No. We're all focused on important things."

She was incredulous -- "Really?"

"Really. Do you actually think this is important?" I asked, suddenly incredulous myself.

"I don't have time to talk about this," she sniffed.

I'm on the road, so perhaps I had missed some outpouring of pro-Chavez blogging on the left. But a look at my RSS reader doesn't show much of anything, and I've got about 80 blogs on it. The feeds don't always update regularly, so perhaps something was missed.

But really, this is much ado about nothing. So Chavez said mean things about Bush. Bush and his administration has said mean things about Chavez and about lots of other world leaders.

Who gives a shit what Venezuela thinks about the United States? I swear, for a country that goes around invading countries it doesn't like, it sure has a thin skin. Republicans, Democrats, and the media are all freaking out.

Because the president of fucking Venezuela doesn't like Bush.

Sigh...

p.s. Memo to Chuck Rangel -- if you don't like world leaders saying mean things about the United States in your congressional district, then perhaps it's time to move the United Nations somewhere where people aren't such wilting flowers.