Fact-checking Constantine
The John McGuirk Inaccuracy in Commentary Award this week goes to Constantine Gurdgiev, TCD lecturer and Open Republic Institute think-tank director/spokesman.
Appearing on Newstalk 106's Wide Angle, CG became more than a little flustered while trying to defend Pat Robertson's remarks advocating the assassination of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez.
Presented with the unavoidable harsh reality that Chavez is in fact a freely-elected democratic leader, and that therefore the US killing him is somewhat of a terrorist action, our faithful bearer of the torch of freedom was reduced to claiming that:
As a certain jaundiced US blog might remark, Sadly, No!.
The Nazis never won a majority mandate in a free election, unlike Chavez. The March 1933 election in Germany was rigged, with the Nazi's most implacable enemies banned by Hitler's coalition government from taking part (by excuse of the Reichstag fire).
The continuing right-wing wriggling over condemning Robertson's remarks outright stinks of hypocrisy. It seems that the Monroe Doctrine isn't dead or forgotten, after all.
Appearing on Newstalk 106's Wide Angle, CG became more than a little flustered while trying to defend Pat Robertson's remarks advocating the assassination of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez.
Presented with the unavoidable harsh reality that Chavez is in fact a freely-elected democratic leader, and that therefore the US killing him is somewhat of a terrorist action, our faithful bearer of the torch of freedom was reduced to claiming that:
"Adolf Hitler was elected overwhelmingly"
As a certain jaundiced US blog might remark, Sadly, No!.
The Nazis never won a majority mandate in a free election, unlike Chavez. The March 1933 election in Germany was rigged, with the Nazi's most implacable enemies banned by Hitler's coalition government from taking part (by excuse of the Reichstag fire).
The continuing right-wing wriggling over condemning Robertson's remarks outright stinks of hypocrisy. It seems that the Monroe Doctrine isn't dead or forgotten, after all.
Update: Before anyone emails me about it, yes, I now realise that the man's name in the Roman alphabet is more usually spelled Constantin Gurdgiev. My only defence for my faux pas is to note this.
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