conservativenoodle.com

CARACAS, Venezuela —  Humbled by his first electoral defeat ever, President Hugo Chavez said Monday he may have been too ambitious in asking voters to let him stand indefinitely for re-election and endorse a huge leap to a socialist state. "I understand and accept that the proposal I made was quite profound and intense," he said after voters narrowly rejected the sweeping constitutional reforms by 51 percent to 49 percent. Opposition activists were ecstatic as the results were announced shortly after midnight — with 88 percent of the vote counted, the trend was declared irreversible by elections council chief Tibisay Lucena. Some shed tears. Others began chanting: "And now he's going away!" Without the overhaul, Chavez will be barred from running again in 2012. Foes of the reform effort — including Roman Catholic leaders, media freedom groups, human rights groups and prominent business leaders — said it would have granted Chavez unchecked power and imperiled basic rights. Chavez told reporters at the presidential palace that the outcome of Sunday's balloting had taught him that "Venezuelan democracy is maturing." His respect for the verdict, he asserted, proves he is a true democratic leader. "From this moment on, let's be calm," he proposed, asking for no more street violence like the clashes that marred pre-vote protests. "There is no dictatorship here." A senior U.S. official hailed Chavez's referendum defeat Monday as a victory for the country's citizens who want to preserve democracy and prevent Chavez from having unchecked power. "We felt that this referendum would make Chavez president for life, and that's not ever a welcome development," U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns told reporters in Singapore. "In a country that wants to be a democracy, the people spoke, and the people spoke for democracy and against unlimited power." Chavez, who was briefly ousted in a failed 2002 coup, blamed the loss on low turnout among the very supporters who re-elected him a year ago with 63 percent of the vote. Seven in 10 eligible voters cast ballots then. This time it was just 56 percent.

Conservative Bloggers Comments:

I am very relieved that Hugo Chavez will be gone in 2012 (barring any further non election related coup attempts). Let's not be confused here, this election was a peaceful coup attempt in Venezuela. The constitutional amendments that were proposed were chocked full of redistribution of wealth from individual and corporate to that of the state. Chavez was looking to use that wealth to buy the votes of those who would be the recipients in order to proclaim himself PResident (dictator) for life. It almost worked. Thankfully the majority of Venezuelans saw this effort for what it was and rejected it. Some of the current efforts of the Liberals in the US resemble (though in a much more subtle way) the objectives of Hugo Chavez. Just last week Bill CLinton while speaking in support of Hillary had some scary socialistic tax thoughts with regard to the wealthy during time of war. We already know Hillary support socialism through her health care plan. These Socialistic thoughts are becoming the main ideas of the Democrats. Do you support socialism?