Gannon's Spirit Lives On

From yesterday's White House press briefing:

Q: Hugo Chavez of Venezuela has made some extremely strong anti-American statements. Is there a concern that he could turn into the Saddam Hussein of Latin America and be a haven for al Qaeda in the months or years to come?

MR. McCLELLAN: One of the things that was discussed last week with our partners from Mexico and Canada was the importance of supporting democratic institutions in our own hemisphere. And that's the broader issue here, that all of us in the Americas should work together to support the advance of democratic institutions throughout the region and not take steps back from moving forward on democracy.

We've expressed our concerns when it comes to the situation in Venezuela. Those concerns remain. Those are discussions we discuss with others, as well. And it's important to work through the Organization of American States to address some of those issues, as well.

Scott McLellan, as usual, says basically nothing. But look at the question! Is Jeff Gannon back? (Unfortunately, the White House transcript doesn't identify the reporters asking questions--everybody is "Q.")

Holden at First Draft points out at least three reasons why the question earns his "Jeff Gannon Memorial Question of the Day" award:

1) Saddam Hussein was a totalitarian leader helped to power by the CIA. Hugo Chavez is the popularly-elected democratic leader of Venezuela.

2) Hugo Chavez, to my knowledge, has not threatened either the United States or his neighbors. Saddam Hussein did in fact threaten his neighbors Iran and Kuwait (but of course that was more than a decade ago).

3) There is no evidence that Saddam Hussein ever provided safe haven to al Qaeda. I guess on this point Hugo Chavez is like Saddam, since Chavez has not provided safe haven to al Qaeda either.

Of course, McLellan, by (as usual) saying nothing, tacitly approves the multiple lies inherent in the question. His second sentence is perfectly innocuous, EXCEPT in context where it seems to imply that Venezuela is moving away from democracy, when in fact the opposite is the case.

Eli at Left I on the News points out, so I don't have to, that this question and non-answer are just part of a large smear campaign against Chavez, led by the whores at the Washington Post.