The Devil's Excrement

And I clearly have to mention the news that the Chavez administration has hired the Washington law firm of Patton Boggs to “improve’ US-Venezuela relations. As Wall Street Journal columnist Anastasia O’Grady tells it (by subscription only)(there are also copies of the letter in the Miami Herald but have not had time to look for it):

“Venezuela has retained the Washington law firm Patton Boggs to give its image a Washington make-over. “We are advising them to improve U.S.-Venezuelan relations,” a consultant at the firm says.

This is hilarious. Imagine all the suits in the boardroom thinking real hard about how to get Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to lose the red beret and stop referring to George Bush, on national television, as an uncomplimentary part of the human anatomy.

Of course that’s no small job, which may be why Patton Boggs, which says it signed up the Embassy of Venezuela in September 2003, is raking in a fee that annualizes at more than $1 million a year. The firm wouldn’t speak about that obscene figure. “That’s your job,” I was told when I asked the price. But U.S. Justice Department filings show that, in the last three months of 2003, Venezuela coughed up $309,992 for Patton Boggs’s help.”

“It’s pretty clear, though, that Patton Boggs sees Senate Democrats as the flabby, soft underbelly of U.S. foreign policy, starting with Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd. As the ranking member on the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee for the Western Hemisphere, Mr. Dodd defended Mr. Chavez in April 2002 when the Venezuelan military removed him rather than follow his orders to attack a crowd of civilian demonstrators. When an Inspector General’s report cleared the Bush administration of any role in that event, Mr. Dodd retreated in silence on the subject of Venezuela.

Dispassionate observers give chances for the Patton Boggs mission long odds. U.S. policy makers will balance the lobbyist claims against all the evidence that trusting Hugo Chavez is a bad idea. Nevertheless, it’s an election year and Democrats have a mighty interest in restoring their power. That means they need money and they need to show that George Bush is in trouble in the world. What is worrying is that Mr. Chavez might be able to help them with both.”

Such a caring Government, spending all that money in a hopeless effort.

This entry was posted on April 12, 2004 at 11:56 pm and is filed under Venezuela.