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April 24, 2007
Hugo Chavez and Joe Kennedy Offer a Taste of Socialism
Posted by Dave Blount at April 24, 2007 3:34 PM
Joe Kennedy's willingness to participate in the propaganda stunt whereby Hugo Chavez tried to make the USA look bad by supplying free heating oil to the poor may have been despicable and borderline treasonous, but at least it gave some Americans an educational lesson in socialism.
Due to bureaucratic incompetence on the part of Kennedy's Citizens Energy Corp., actually getting the free oil delivered proved more difficult that it would have been to scrape up the money to buy the stuff like everyone else. Beneficiaries were led to believe that their dealers would automatically bring them the oil. However, not all dealers were actually taking part, and calls to a toll-free help line went unanswered.
Complains 63-year-old Harford County resident Bonnie Chandler, who was told she would get 100 free gallons:
If I waited on that Joe Kennedy for my heating oil, I'd still be here sitting in the cold. When I called, none of the fuel distributors do it around here. […] I tried calling the 1-800-JOE-4-OIL number that the letter tells you to call if your dealer hasn't been notified, but I couldn't get an answer. Thank goodness my son helps me. But what if I was dependent on this and needed this free fuel? I feel like it's a ploy.
But so long as Joe Kennedy got in a few photo ops, and Chavez was able to broadcast his message that America stinks and only socialist dictators care about the poor, the program met its objectives, regardless of how many homes were actually heated.
On a tip from Charles.
