Honduras (catch all)

[Steve Blair]

Staying "clear" is very close to essentially agreeing with the coup. It wouldn't have been as blatant as Bush's tacit endorsement of the coup against Chavez, but in the face of a universal condemnation from the OAS, the EU, and pretty much every responding country and organization in the world, it would be a clear signal that we approved of the coup, or at least its results.

Moreover, that members of the coup itself have doubts about its "legality" can be seen in the faked resignation letter and the immediate declaration of martial law, as well as the clampdown on opposition media.

As for "jumping in to his eyeballs", needless to say I disagree. The Administration didn't recall the Ambassador, didn't declare an immediate cutoff of its quite significant military aid to Honduras, didn't call for Zelaya's immediate reinstatement, etc. The Administration did the minimum required to stay in step with the rest of the world.

I'm still not convinced that what we're seeing here is a coup. All the reports I've seen indicate that the army acted at the behest of the Honduran supreme court, which in turn was acting based on legislation passed by the Honduran legislature. That and I wouldn't call Chavez a disinterested or objective observer. Of course he's going to act to keep a potential ally in office.

And is this really necessary?

My own slip/bias may be showing here, but do you also think that FEMA is building concentration camps in Amtrak repair facilities, or that the President was actually born in Kenya?

AT appeared to be simply expressing an opinion, and framed it with a statement indicating possible personal bias. No need to mock that.