In September 2006 when Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called George W. Bush the Devil at the United Nations, the Bush-hating press couldn't get enough of the comment.
On Friday, Chavez spoke to the U.N. climate change conference in Copenhagen after President Obama made his keynote address, and much as he did three years ago, the Venezuelan despot said, "It still smells of sulfur here," referring to the lectern.
Given the attention Chavez's claim got three years ago when he made it about Bush, how will Obama-loving media report such a statement being made about their hero? (video embedded below the fold with transcript, h/t Fausta):
HUGO CHAVEZ: That's why we thank the president for giving President Morales and me a chance to speak.It would have been regrettable if they had attempted to veto us in this meeting. I don't even want to think about it, no, nor suspect it.
As Lula already said, the Kyoto Protocol can not be declared dead or extinguished, which is what the US pretends to do.
Which is why Evo tells a great truth: If Obama, Nobel War Prize, said here, by the way, it smells of sulfur here.
It smells of sulfur. It keeps smelling of sulfur in this world.
The Nobel War Prize has just said here that he came to act. Well, then show it, sir, don't leave by the back door, eh?
Do everything you need to do for the US to adhere to the Kyoto Protocol, and let's respect Kyoto, and empower Kyoto, and respond to the world in a transparent fashion.
Readers are advised that when Chavez made this comment about Bush in 2006, the media were all over it.
A Google search of "Chavez," "Bush," and "Devil" yielded over 40,000 results. There's even a Wikipedia page about it.
This was such a popular media incident that when Chavez told the U.N. the sulfur smell was gone in September 2009 -- a reference to Bush being out of the White House and Obama being in -- the press had another field day with the story.
With that in mind, it should be fascinating to see how the Obama-loving media report this now that the tables have been turned on the object of their affection.
Stay tuned.