False Populism

Here’s a random note from last night. Bush, talking about a free trade pact with Colombia, said “If we fail to pass this agreement, we will embolden the purveyors of false populism in our hemisphere.” The purveyors of false populism are, I guess, Hugo Chavez and other murky conspirators. But why is it false populism? Chavez is a real populist. Maybe you think he’s a populist peddling fake solutions to Latin America’s problems, but he’s certainly not a secret pro-business neoliberal.

Meanwhile, what about failing to ratify the Colombia trade deal will embolden false populism? This seems like a bizarre context in which to start applying fight them in Tikrit so we don’t need to fight them in Tuscon logic.