Monday, July 16, 2012

Maria Anastasia O'Grady on Venezuelan election

This is as clear and concise an analysis of the current Venezuelan election as you are bound to find in foreign press (Reuters lately is the example on how it should not be covered). But then Maria Anastasia O'Grady has been on Chavez since day one and I doubt that any current observer of Venezuelan election is as well informed, as knowledgeable, and to the point as she is.



(Hat Tip AM. Nice to find that in my mail box as I resume the coverage chores!)

10 comments:

  1. Welcome back, Daniel. And what a treat it is to receive this presentation from WSJ/MAOG, though it's softer than is her wonderful hammerhead writing. WSJ wraps up by giving the odds of winning to Chávez. I hope they're wrong.

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  2. I love O'Grady's communication skills, but most of all I love her clarity.


    - firepigette

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  3. In short, we are waiting for a miracle. Oh, men...

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  4. Island Canuck1:50 PM

    Is there a date on this interview.

    So much has happened since the start of the campaign - 51 pueblos in 15 days for example. Critics of the MUD back in May were saying that this was a necessary action to win the fringe votes. Well, it's happening.

    It appears that this interview was at the start of the campaign.

    The momentum that Capriles is building will be hard to stop.
    It's not conceivable that someone will suddenly become a Chavista after 14 years however it's very conceivable that some Chavistas will vote for Capriles.

    The secret, as everyone knows, is safeguarding the tables & the votes

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    1. Isle, the live interview of 3:37 min. was posted by the WSJ on 7/15/2012 at 1:26pm. The video clip accompanies MAOG's article (subscriber content preview) titled "Chávez's War on the Media", posted on the same day. The video and the comments to the article are not subscriber content preview. If you have a little time to kill, you can easily search for the article and go to the comments tab. The first few, as is the custom, are reflections from US readers, most of them pretty incisive. Those who get easily bored could spend a lot more time sifting through the comments.

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    2. "The secret, as everyone knows, is safeguarding the tables & the votes" That's exactly the problem.

      As Alek Boyd commented recently in his blog, "the hurrican" Capriles is not a new phenomenon. We also saw huge rallies for Rosales ca. 2006 and he lost by a large margin (>15%?). It's not about hopes and public opinion. It's about votes and preparation.

      Unfortunately, as O'Grady points out, ballot-stuffing is just ONE of many concerns. It's about unfair conditions, unfair rules and an unfair arbiter. It's about Chavez using state resources for his campaign. It's about an arbiter not interested in enforcing the rules. Everything is a fraud...

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  5. I liked the interview and how they managed to put what's going on in a nutshell, except when it got to the end and they laughed when he mentioned Hugo Chavez, as if it was going on is a joke. He is a joke, agreed, an embarrassment I would better say and the damage that Chavez has done to the country is very serious. No reason to laugh.

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    1. agree on the laughter aspect, that there's no reason for it. I suspect it's part of the silly banter that has invaded post-Cronkite newscasters, in order to fill time and to ensure that their infotainments end on an up note. Unfortunately, the WSJ flirts with this formula in its AV shorts, though less so than others. I still embrace their print media and the diversity of information, seriously presented.

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  6. Milonga2:09 AM

    I don´t trust Chávez and no way he is going to lose this election. What is being done to avoid his tampering the numbers?

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  7. Gosh, I dunno, but MAOG to me is like nails on a blackboard. She basically says there is no chance Capriles can win, which is an extreme point of view, one that not many Venezuelans subscribe to. Sorry, but I'm not a fan.

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