An Unexpected Hero

An Unexpected Hero
By Barry Casselman

A few days ago, Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero of Spain hosted a conference of leaders of Spanish-speaking countries in Chile. Among those attending was that democratically-elected gangster Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela (but soon to be dictator).

Mr. Chavez loves to make long anti-American leftist harangues, and when his turn came to speak, he decided to go after former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, a long-time ally of the U.S. who, when in office, supported President Bush in Iraq. Mr. Zapatero, a socialist, defeated Mr. Aznar (and the two remain bitter opponents), but he found himself defending his rival to Mr. Chavez as "a man who was elected by the Spanish people."

Mr. Chavez does not care about this principle (he said he will sidestep the Venezuelan constitution to stay in office beyond the alloted two terms), and kept interrupting Mr. Zapatero (a fellow socialist) in a most boorish fashion.

Finally, a man seated next to Mr. Zapatero, leaned over and in a loud vice said to Mr. Chavez, as if they were two men in a working class tapas bar in the Madrid rastro (flea market), "Why don't you shut up?" ("Por que no te callas?")

The man, of course, was the Spanish head of state, King Juan Carlos, and not one known for crude talk. Nevertheless, his riposte has now become a cheer throughout the Spanish-speaking world, and in not a few other places as well.

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http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/11/an_unexpected_hero.html