Bloodthirsty Liberal

Well, whaddya know: Tubby the Two-Bit Dictator has a heart after all (albeit one dangerously clogged with pork fat):

President Hugo Chavez will keep donating heating oil for poor American families in a costly decision that suggests the Venezuelan leader wants to keep to his pledges — and buttress his image — in spite of falling oil prices.

Venezuela’s Citgo Petroleum Corp. announced the aid program would continue on Wednesday, just two days after its partner nonprofit group, Boston-based Citizens Energy, said Citgo had halted the free fuel shipments due to the world economic crisis.

“Chavez decided that it was a mistake,” said Larry Birns, director of the Washington-based Council on Hemispheric Affairs. … He then “began to understand that the cutbacks of the U.S. program were very damaging in terms of image,” Birns said.

God love ya, Hugo. Somewhere under all that Latin blubber there’s the soul of an Irishman trying to break free. Not that it’s ever going to happen. It’d be easier to break out of Ft. Levenworth.

What a surprise: President Bush leaves office, and Hugo Chavez withdraws his free oil to shivering Bay Staters:

Joe Kennedy announced yesterday he’s laying off 20 employees and temporarily halting most of his winter fuel-assistance programs due to Citgo yanking $100 million in support for the nonprofit Citizens Energy.

Citgo, owned by the Venezuelan government led by leftist loudmouth president Hugo Chavez, recently informed Kennedy that it was “temporarily” suspending its oil donations for the low-income program.

Kennedy, who was clearly distraught by the unexpected decision, said Citgo’s move is apparently tied to the recent dramatic fall in crude-oil prices.

…

The Citgo donations have been controversial because of the perception that Chavez, a notorious anti-American, was using the program for propaganda purposes. Kennedy has countered that the U.S. gets much of its oil from far more controversial nations, such as Saudi Arabia.

…

But Kennedy said Citgo’s support amounted to about 90 percent of the funding for Citizens’ fuel-assistance programs nationwide.

So the imbecilic “Joe-for-Oil” commercials are a complete sham. Joe Kennedy does nothing for shivering shut-ins; he’s merely a front for that international criminal, fat Hugo Chavez. Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, does it?

Except, unlike his namesake, Joe II collects $400,000 for his shameless shilling. The patriarch did it for nothing. Which is somehow nobler.

PS: Ed Morrissey notes:

Instead of fronting for a socialist nutcase trying his best to become a dictator for life, perhaps Joe Kennedy could use part of his family fortune to replace the oil. The Kennedys didn’t get to where they were at through socialism, after all. Acting as an apologist for a confiscatory wanna-be dictator from Kennedy’s position is hypocritical on a couple of levels.

Quite.

But Bush Derangement Syndrome is an equal opportunity affliction, respecting no borders, races, creeds, colors, or sex.