Honduras Coup, Act III, Day 15/Updated
Posted by Charles II on August 7, 2009
Update: Hey, everyone, warn Harlingen, Texas! The Sandinistas…er, Chavistas are gonna drive up and terrorize the good folks at Boomerang Baba’s Diner! From Ginger Thompson, NYT:
As if taking a page from a cold war playbook, Gen. Miguel Ángel Garcia Padget said the military had disrupted Mr. Chávez’s plans to spread socialism across the region. “Central America was not the objective of this communism disguised as democracy,” he said. “This socialism, communism, Chávismo, we could call it, was headed to the heart of the United States.”
Basically, the military junta that is running Honduras went on TV a couple of days ago to tell everyone that there’s no military junta, everything is all nice and legal like. And there aren’t any death squad killings.
In concealing as much as revealing, Ginger Thompson’s article, BTW, is an illustration of what is wrong with NYT coverage. This suspicious use of the subjunctive suggests she doesn’t think there was a coup: “television viewers could have been forgiven for thinking that [a coup] is exactly what had happened” She says the more the Generals denied it, the “clearer it became that they continued to play a leading role in Honduran politics”… implying, I suppose, that military occupation is what constitutes politics in Honduras. She lets General Vasquez say, “If that’s [coupistas is] what we were, we would have called a national emergency and detained all of those who are out there causing trouble.” without mentioning that most people would consider military roadblocks throughout two provinces an emergency of some kind and 2000 people jailed without charges to be rather a lot. And she lets this go by without mentioning that the “‘death squad’ strategies” are accompanied with actual dead bodies with multiple stab wounds and the like: “Gabo Jalil, the vice minister of defense in the de facto government, said in an interview that international human rights groups have made baseless accusations that the military is using ‘death squad’ strategies against Mr. Micheletti’s opponents.”
Harlingen, to arms!
_____________________________________________________________
Lanny Davis did an interview on DemocracyNow. Appalled by his lies and aggressive demeanor, I had to turn it off. The low point was achieved near the end, where Lanny Davis said, “Could I comment about your being the moderator of this show, Amy? No, I guess you don’t want me to.” He did petty little crap like calling Greg Grandin “Mr. Professor,” and complaining that Grandin wasn’t pronouncing his name quite right. By my count (which could be off by as much as 5%) Amy Goodman used 1,185 words to set up and moderate the segment, Greg Grandin got 1,544 words, and Lanny Davis got 2,948 words!
I can’t believe this is a Clinton associate. He is a despicable person, a liar, and perfectly suited to represent his clients.
One question that arose in a debate on HondurasCoup2009 had to do with whether students had deliberately thrown rocks at bystanders and destroyed several fast food restaurants near the university in the course of the disturbances there. As I said, I had not heard any such allegations or seen any evidence of it, nor did it make any sense. Students destroying their own hangouts? More likely opportunistic criminals or agents provocateur.
After an hour of searching, and well over 24 hours after the streetfights, I finally found one photo and story on Tiempo, and a mention on El Heraldo, though there are many outlets I could have missed. The lag in publishing the photo is suspicious, suggesting to me that there might be a bit more to the story that we aren’t being told.
(Image from Tiempo)
The story states that the stores both inside and outside the university were destroyed in the course of fighting between students and Cobras. It says that the remainder of the stores were left undamaged, proving that the students attacked the stores they did because they didn’t like the politics of the owners (the logic is underwhelming, but it might be true). The photo shows damage to the awning, suggesting a group effort. The angle of bend suggests to me that perhaps the awning was down.
Radio Globo has covered some of the retaliation against government employees by the coup (which is presumably installing its followers in these sinecures) and is reading the nastygrams they receive. “Boca de sapo” (toad mouth) is about as creative as it gets.
7 Responses to “Honduras Coup, Act III, Day 15/Updated”
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
Mike Goldman said
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/story/1175216.html
Charles II said
The Herald is spinning, Mike. This is from State:
It’s a coup. That makes it a crime against humanity. Just as individual Cambodians may have taken “provocative actions” (or whatever), that wouldn’t justify Pol Pot committing his crime against humanity.
Mike Goldman said
I think it was actually a McClatchy report, btw. There seems to be some confusion about what the US position is now.
David Brookbank said
Lanny Davis: Propagandist for Honduras Ruling Class and the Clintons
by David Brookbank
What is great about this interaction between Davis and Grandin is the fact that Davis was dragged out into the open and revealed for the propagandist that he is.
One important thing to understand is how intimately connected Davis is to Hillary Clinton and former president Bill Clinton. The September 3, 1998 New York Times article, “PUBLIC LIVES; Public Defender of a High-Profile Private Life” indicate Hillary and Davis have known each other since their days at Yale Law School in the late 1960s where apparently Davis was an intimate confidant of Hillary Clinton. Now that Hillary Clinton is Secretary of State, the presence of Davis managing her crisis in Honduras as a “private citizen” and propagandist for the Honduran ruling class business elites is not in the least surprising. Davis has managed sensitive crises for the Clinton’s in the past — Davis was Bill Clinton’s White House Counsel and defender during the days of the Clinton’s scandal and personal crisis involving Monica Lewinski.
It is also important to look more closely at the background of someone like Davis who, in the “debate” with Grandin, nearly foams at the mouth calling Grandin a liar and Amy Goodman a propagandist. As to liars, Davis ran for Congress in 1976 as a Democrat from Maryland’s 8th congressional district. He won the Democratic nomination, but after a major scandal over his lying about his academic record at Yale Law School, he lost to the Republican candidate. According to National Review Online from August 13, 2004, referring to Lanny Davis, (quote) [The Washington Post, December 21, 1996] He won the 1976 Democratic primary and was neck and neck with Republican Newton Steers until a controversy erupted over the portrayal of Davis’s academic record in a campaign brochure. Davis claimed he had graduated from Yale Law School cum laude — a designation the school didn’t award in 1970, the year he finished. (end quote).
As to Davis as a propagandist, the National Review Online article continues (quote) And if you think Lanny often sounds like a door-to-door Amway salesman, there’s a reason for it. The same Post article teaches us: After he narrowly lost a 1976 House race, Davis, 51, began evangelizing for the motivational door-to-door distribution company, which markets everything from toothpaste to telephone service. A prominent Maryland lawyer-lobbyist, who refused to speak for attribution, recalled that Davis once invited him to lunch to discuss a “business opportunity.” “We didn’t order yet when he started talking, and it was like a switch went on,” the lobbyist recounted. “He asked, ‘Are you interested in making more money?’ Well, what lawyer isn’t? ‘Do you want to be in control of your destiny?’ And I go, ‘Wait a minute, Lanny — is this an Amway pitch?’ (end quote)
To all the world, Davis sounded in the Democracy Now “debate” as if he was out of control, perhaps similar to what Davis said about himself and his mental health in the above mentioned New York Times article: (quote) “Nonetheless Mr. Davis said he is concerned about his well-being because ”I have pushed myself mentally and physically to a point where I think it was beyond healthy.” (end quote)
President Obama could give Davis a long-needed vacation from the evidently overwhelming stress of his job as a highly-paid propagandist and waterboy for Secretary of State Clinton by coming out in a crystal clear fashion (no more meely mouthed statements, please, Mr. Obama) in declaring, as he did in the beginning, the coup a coup, the Micheletti government as illegitimate, and taking actions which would drive the military backed Honduran government out of office and allow the return of Zelaya. That way Davis could get back to selling Amway or what ever kind of hype he is selling when he is not selling military coups and human rights abuses in Honduras.
Charles II said
Thanks for the reminder of some of these elements of Davis’s past, David. I looked up the Lloyd Groves article. It’s definitely worth keeping in the memory bank.
Mike Goldman said
I have to say that Lanny Davis’ representation of the de facto regime paints them in a worse light than anything else you could say about them.
Honduras Coup, Act III, Day 16 « Mercury Rising 鳯女 said
[…] Comments Charles II on Honduras Coup, Act III, Day…David Brookbank on Honduras Coup, Act III, Day…Stormcrow on Friday Cat BloggingMike Goldman on Honduras Coup, Act III, Day…Charles II […]