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December 13, 2006

Post: "Hey, This 'Pour Encourager Les Autres' Thing Really Works!"

I think this is my favorite part of yesterday's Washington Post misty-eyed tribute to Pinochet:

To the dismay of every economic minister in Latin America, he introduced the free-market policies that produced the Chilean economic miracle -- and that not even Allende's socialist successors have dared reverse.

Leaving aside the nineteen layers of bullshit about the Chilean economy, I enjoy the implication the policies haven't been reversed because they're just so damned popular. I mean, what other reason could there possibly be? Surely Chilean history shows that progressive politicians have nothing whatsoever to fear except losing an election.

Posted at December 13, 2006 02:40 PM | TrackBack
Comments

see folks, hitler wasn't so bad either. he did come up with the autobahn, and if it wasn't for that we wouldn't have had kraftwerk's great record! unfuckingbelievable! one of these days, pow right in the kisser!
ps: i love kraftwerk. sorry for dragging them in.

Posted by: charmicarmicat at December 13, 2006 03:13 PM

Ah, let 'em have their fun.

It's not like South America gives a fuck what they say anyway...

Posted by: floopmeister at December 13, 2006 04:45 PM

So much good stuff in that editorial it's hard to choose.

Me, I kind of like this line: "Salvador Allende, whose responsibility for creating the conditions for the 1973 coup is usually overlooked"

I thought we were past the rapist's "excuse": the miniskirt made me do it.

Obviously, with the WaPo we are never past anything.


Posted by: Bernard Chazelle at December 13, 2006 06:34 PM

So - three embedded links gets you vetted?

Fair enough.

Posted by: RobW at December 13, 2006 06:39 PM

Jon, as for the WP's "economic miracle" bullshit (and why didn't they just say, "He made the trains run on time"?), watch Greg Palast blow it out of the water here: Tinker Bell, Pinochet and The Fairy Tale Miracle of Chile. (http://www.gregpalast.com/tinker-bell-pinochet-and-the-fairy-tale-miracle-of-chile-2).

As I noted on my link to Palast's piece, "[He] shows that Pinochet's chief role in this 'miracle' was embracing the socialist policies of the predecessor he had murdered, Salvador Allende, and promulgating them with a ruthlessness that Allende never approached."

Posted by: Chris Floyd at December 13, 2006 06:52 PM

"and that not even Allende's socialist successors have dared reverse" - eh, c'est tres drôle.

Posted by: Jesus B. Ochoa at December 14, 2006 11:13 AM