Actor Sean Penn attended a candlelight vigil for ailing Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in La Paz on Monday.
"He is one of the most important forces we’ve had on this planet," said a choked up Penn to those assembled. "I do it in love and I do it in gratitude" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
SEAN PENN: He is one of the most important forces we’ve had on this planet. And I will wish him nothing but that great strength that he has shown over and over again. I do it in love and I do it in gratitude…So, I just want to say that from my very American point of view of my friend President Chavez, it is only possible to be so inspiring as he is as a two-way street. And he would say that his inspiration’s the people.
It's an amazing state of affairs when an American actor believes one of the world's leading despots is "one of the most important forces we’ve had on this planet."
How embarrassing to have this man claim to be speaking for this country in such a way about one of this nation's sworn enemies.
