God Save The King:

'Why Don't You Shut Up?' Spain's King Tells Hugo Chavez

(CNSNews.com) - Spain's king has won widespread praise in his country for telling Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to "shut up" during an Ibero-American summit, a meeting that underscored the strengthening ties among Latin America's cabal of hard-line leftists.

Saturday's rebuke from King Juan Carlos followed Chavez' repeated references to former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar as a "fascist." Aznar was a close ally of President Bush who was defeated in a 2004 election.

As the current prime minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zaptero, scolded Chavez and urged him show respect for the legitimately elected former Spanish leader, he drew a flow of interruptions from the Venezuelan leader, who said he had the right to say what he liked.

Then the king -- sitting next to Zapatero -- leaned forward and said to Chavez, "Why don't you shut up?"

A short time later, when Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, a close Chavez ally, accused the Spanish embassy of interfering in Nicaraguan politics, the king walked out, a gesture Spanish media said was unprecedented.

Video footage of the exchange played repeatedly on Spanish television over the weekend, and media commentators and politicians largely supported the king... the El Mundo newspaper said the king had "put Chavez in his place," something that should have been done a long time ago.

El Pais said the king's response was correct, as Chavez had crossed the line of what could be tolerated in relations between sovereign countries...

The Socialist prime minister, who is no ally of the conservative he defeated in 2004, also won praise for standing up for his predecessor. Spanish media reported that Aznar had phoned both Zapatero and King Juan Carlos to thank them.

The king's remark -- in Spanish, "por que no te callas?" -- looks set to become a catch-phrase. By late Saturday, Spanish Internet users had snapped up the domain names porquenotecallas.com, porquenotecallas.net and porquenotecallas.org.

After the summit, an unrepentant Chavez continued his attack, suggesting to journalists that the king may have had advance knowledge of a failed coup against Chavez in 2002.

"He may be king, but he could not shut me up," he said. "The difference between him and me is that I have been elected three times."

If Chavez has his way, there soon may be no limit on how many more elections he may contest as he pushes ahead his plans for "21st-century socialism." A referendum next month will consider controversial constitutional amendments that include ending term limits and allowing for the suspension of civil liberties during states of emergency.

The planned amendments being pushed by the overwhelmingly pro-Chavez parliament are causing the outspoken leader political headaches.

They have prompted student street protests -- some violently suppressed -- and last week sparked a fallout between the president and his former defense minister, Raul Baduel, who said he would urge citizens to vote against the changes. Chavez in turn called Baduel a "traitor" and accused him of siding with "imperialism" -- that is, the United States.

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The Guardian reports that the king's remarks have generated £1M worth of ringtones in Spanish speaking countries in the past week.

Chavez is a World Class idiot. It was nice to see him get treated like that.

Not only that but the quote is apparently a very popular ringtone now. I don't think anyone likes Chavez. It will be interesting to see how issues like Chavez presents are dealt with with A Dem in the white House. Bush has been demonized around the world but people like Chavez will still hate America with Hillary in office. Should be interesting.