APpalling

A couple of lines from the AP report on Rummy's visit to Peru (emphasis added):

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, seeking to promote stability in Latin America, met with Alejandro Toledo on Thursday just two days after the Peruvian president swore in a fresh Cabinet.
...
The United States wants to ensure that Cuban President Fidel Castro and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez do not steer other Latin American countries away from democracy.

Does "AP" simply stand for "American Propaganda?" Rummy may "say" that he wants to promote stability and pretend that it is Castro and Chavez, not he and his cronies, who are trying to steer Latin America away from democracy, but that doesn't make it so. In fact, given Rummy's and the Bushies' track record, AP should generally assume they are lying, and not tell us as fact what their motives are, but rather report what they claim their motives to be. Because these guys lie. All the time. About everything. The Bushies don't want democracies in Latin America. They want colonies.