They Will Judge You By the Company You Keep

Chavez: 'Smell of Hope' Has Replaced 'Smell of Sulfur' at U.N. Dais

After spending the first 20 minutes of his address to the U.N General Assembly asserting that a revolution is under way in South America and promoting an Oliver Stone film that depicts his life, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez began taking political shots at his former rival.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez obliquely praised President Obama Thursday in an address to the U.N., saying he has replaced the "smell of sulfur" at the world body with the "smell of hope."

"It doesn't smell of sulfur here anymore," Chavez said in a clear allusion to an earlier insult he foisted on former President George W. Bush from the same podium three years earlier.

"It smells of something else. It smells of hope," he said, referencing Obama's presidential campaign.

Chavez hasn't appeared at the opening session of the U.N General Assembly since calling Bush "the devil" several times during his remarks in 2006.