Castro-Loving Commie Bastard's™ New Fellow Travelers

Anne Applebaum writes in today's Washington Post:

... Fast-forward 90 years, and surprisingly little has changed. True, the Russian Revolution itself is no longer much admired, not even by [American journalist and fellow traveler John] Reed's heirs on the far left. But the impulse that drew Reed to St. Petersburg remains. The Western weakness for other people's revolutionary violence, the belief in the glamour and benevolence of foreign dictators, and the insistence on seeing both through the prism of Western political debates, are still very much with us.

... Not surprisingly, [supermodel Naomi] Campbell did not mention the anti-Chávez demonstrations held in Caracas the week before her visit; proposed constitutional changes designed to let Chávez remain in power indefinitely; or Chávez's record of harassing opposition leaders and the media.

But then, that wasn't the point of her visit, just as it wasn't the point when actor Sean Penn, a self-conscious "radical" and avowed enemy of the American president, spent a whole day with Chávez. Together, the actor and the president toured the countryside. "I came here looking for a great country. I found a great country," Penn declared. Of course he found a great country! Penn wanted a country where he would win adulation for his views about American politics, and the Venezuelan president happily provided it.

In fact, for the malcontents of Hollywood, academia and the catwalks, Chávez is an ideal ally. Just as the sympathetic foreigners whom Lenin called "useful idiots" once supported Russia abroad, their modern equivalents provide the Venezuelan president with legitimacy, attention and good photographs. He, in turn, helps them overcome the frustration Reed once felt -- the frustration of living in an annoyingly unrevolutionary country where people have to change things by law. For all of his brilliance, Reed could not bring socialism to America. For all of his wealth, fame, media access and Hollywood power, Penn cannot oust George W. Bush. But by showing up in the company of Chávez, he can at least get a lot more attention for his opinions.

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(emphasis added)


Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
Castro-Loving Commie Bastard™ "Ashamed" of "Morally Unacceptable" Catholic Bishops

Monument to Che Guevara, Erected by Castro-Loving Commie Bastard™ Hugo Chávez, Destroyed

HUGO’S EGO - Chávez Steps Up His Attacks on Venezuela’s Catholics

Castro-Loving Commie Bastard™ Makes Himself "President for Life"

Castro-Loving Commie Bastard™ Replaces Statue of Virgin Mary with Bust of Che Guevara

What I Got at the Revolution

Hollywood's Love Affair with Commie Thug Dicatators Continues

Venezuelan Cardinal Tells Castro-Loving Commie Bastard™: "Your Way Has Been Tried and Found Wanting"

Castro-Loving Commie Bastard™ to "Build Heaven Here on Earth"

Going Off On Citgo

Castro-Loving Commie Bastard™ Pounds Shoe on Podium at U.N.

Venezuela's [Castro-Loving Commie Bastard™] Chávez Urges Pope to be More Careful With His Words

Venezuela, Syria Join Forces Against "American Imperialism"

Castro-Loving Commie Bastard™ Hugo Chávez Says Israel's Action in Lebanon "Worse" Than Hitler

Israel's Critics Hail Castro-Loving Commie Bastard™ Hugo Chávez

Pro-US Candidate Wins Landslide in Colombia

Saint Hugo - the Religious Left Begins its Embrace of [Castro-Loving Commie Bastard™] Hugo Chávez

Pope Tells Castro-Loving Commie Bastard™ to Get With the Program

Robertson's Remarks On Chavez Shock Baptists