Name calling goes too far. . .

I have been following the relations between left-wing Venezuelan president and the U.S. government for a while now, and I have mostly been in support of Hugo Chavez and his policies and critique of the U.S. But now, both the U.S. and Chavez are going too far, trying to "one up" each other, with name-calling and retaliation at each other:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4679266.stm

I naively and vainly hope for some kind of redemptive politics that will come along, but everyone is simply looking out for themselves. Selfless political relations are unheard of. What is our world coming to?