Brazzil

Simpler put, the PT is a demagogical party lacking competence and ideas to do anything else than just follow on the steps of the previous socialist government, which at least was a bit more competent and less corrupt. Will it ever change? No, because Brazilians behave like political toddlers: they don't want a leader; they want a punishing father. Moreover, their schools and their media can only make things worse by perpetuating a country of brainless Marxist zombies. Brazil is a country stuck in the sixties. To that I say: beam me out, Scotty!

Fernando Henrique, our former president, has a sociology background, but he was not running a socialist government. I know that he liked to be on a big stage and to govern the country from Europe; the only memorable thing I remember about him was when he appeared in public with a woman without her panties. . I am not sure about competence and honesty. Maybe, we just did not look deep enough in their pockets. Or his administration had more connections with the wealthy so they just transferred their money from a Suisse bank account so no one could track it back to them. Mr. Henrique spoke mostly through metaphors; he did not want to explain things bold and simple. He spent his administration years trying to please his friends (his intellectual’s friends) and never touched anything that would faintly annoy the Brazilian elite. He was a fraud!

Lula’s overwhelming electoral win spoke volumes to Henrique's emptiness leadership. I think Lula should distance himself from PT's radical faction but not from the people who elected him years ago. Given our lingering colonial mindset, Lula might have to play the father for awhile. He might have to tell the public over and over again that he still love them but sometimes he will have to make decisions that they may not understand or accept. The country needs some sort of therapy for all the years of abuse and exploitation that it had to endure. The country might be stuck in many different places but at each stop it points toward a different time in the past. On the other hand, the country's economy might be flying ahead of time. Unfortunately, it is leaving a huge percentage of us behind.

To the newsroom: could you please have someone write about Brazilians immigrants crossing the Mexico border? Even if you guys don’t think these immigrants are of interest, it might save one or two miserable kids so they don’t just keep dying in the hands of our very honest Mexicans smugglers! Obrigado!

Hey I have a question, didn't Itamar Franco dance during Carnival with a woman who was wearing no panties? Did Cardoso do that too in his first or second administration?

Right-wingers' constant claim that Lula and Cardoso have presided over socialist governments is just desperate propaganda. They repeat the same bulls**t over and over again, hoping it will stick. Of course, some are just stupid and really believe what they repeat from others.

When it comes to thinking of it... it might have been Itamar who danced with the woman without panties, but I can easily see Fernando Henrique doing that,too. What is the difference between the two, any way?

It was Itamar Franco who was photographed on a reviewing stand with a young woman without panties. He, however, was standing next to her and had no way to see her underwear (or lack of it). Her lack of panties was captured by a photographer standing below. Any politician might get photographed in an awkward situation like that, but fortunately for FHC, it didn't happen to him.

Cardoso is usually accused of being a "neoliberal," this is the first time I've heard him called a "socialist". His government was strongly supportive of a market economy, but he was (and is) also a social democrat who favored strong government social programs. He could be called a socialist in the sense that the British Labor Party or the Scandanavian Socialist Party are socialist, but not in the sense of wanting a government directed economy. The term "socialist" is used to mean so many different things that it doesn't really communicate much today.
Ted Goertzel

Random House Webster:
Social Democratic Party: any of several European political parties advocating a gradual transition to socialism or a modified form of socialism by and under democratic processes.
Cardoso is a socialist by training and by heart. His party is the Social Democratic Party, meaning, socialist. You probably meant that he is not a communist, and that's fine. Cardoso however is very far from being a libertarian or a conservative, and is very far from accepting free market economic principles. Cardoso would never adopt the sound economic policies that were adopted in Chile. For example, he would never privatize social security. He has always being against the independece of the Brazilian Central Bank, and has always being in favor of generous government handouts and all kinds of market controls. He is a socialist. Jose Serra is also a socialist.
Cardoso said that he was not a conservative or a libertarian many times during interviews. There is no true conservative or libertarian party in Brazil, nothing like the Republican party in the USA. The last true conservative/libertarian politician in Brazil was Roberto Campos, and he's dead leaving no successor.
Brazil is now, for all effects, a full-fledged socialist country.