QOTD

Joe Queenan, in the November 19th Weekly Standard:

Men of goodwill dread the moment when an autocrat morphs into a tyrant, when a power-hungry dictator descends into outright madness.

With Robespierre, it was the decision to have himself declared a demigod. With Hitler, it was the homicidal response to the Reichstag fire. With Idi Amin, it was the directive to expel Asians--the linchpins of the economy--from Uganda. Now, in a fearful development suggesting that Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chávez is rapidly transmogrifying from a generic South American thug into a fiend straight from the bowels of Hell, the Venezuelan government has announced plans to bankroll Danny Glover's fledgling career as a producer.