do you think Chavez is still alive just because he is so

[QuestionAll...]

outspoken?

I do.
If anything suspicious happened to him now... I think there'd be hell to pay, and even the Despicables know and respect this.

Perhaps this is the way for critics, politicians, dissenters, etc., in the US to ensure their safety. Let'er rip, no holds barred. Keep your name out there is unrelenting big block letters by daring to say out loud and in public what Chavez said at the UN and what we say here.

time for the gloves to come off. It is, afterall, a matter of life and death.

the only problem is finding that voice (Kucinich would be my vote - he seemed to be on the ball all along) and a venue - as the government run media will certainly not be lending a hand with the message.

[SteppingRazor]

1. Kind of a chicken or egg question...

You say he's only alive because he's so outspoken.

But if he wasn't so outspoken, who would want him dead?

[QuestionAll...]

2. I could be wrong but...

Chavez didn't have the spotlight he does now - before the last failed CIA coup.

Seems he got a whole lot more vocal after that incident.

[redqueen]

5. I think you're right- he was not that vocal before the attempted coup n/t

[SeveneightyWhoa]

10. Nobody wants him dead or overthrown because of what he says.

Frankly, I doubt the Bushies could care less what Hugo Chavez says in public.

What really matters are his leftist politics (and his new alliances), his nationalization of key Venezuelan industries, and -- you guessed it -- OIL.

[bobbolink]

11. Who would want him dead? The same folks who wanted nameless

people in Central America dead, during the vaunted Raygun years.

Think about it.

[Rude Horner]

3. The administration and right-wing media

have been demonizing the guy as some kind of 3rd world nutjob whacko for a long time, therefore when he says stuff like his most recent comments, they all merely nervously chuckle and say "See? We told you he was crazy."

They do the exact same thing with Michael Moore, Cindy Sheehan, and Moveon.org. Portray them as far left whacko's, over and over and over again, until it's burnt into the psyche of brain dead Americans. Then when those people/groups say something, people dismiss them. Not ALL people, mind you. Just the easily-led.

[StClone]

7. Cindy Sheehan did visit Chavez and lauded him

The overt and stealth wacko-ization of Chavez and Cindy will surface. Problem is she is not running for office. Demonization of Castro will tossed into the mix, too.

[Vidar]

4. Probable hypothesis.

[StClone]

6. Outspoken by U.S. Corporate Media standards

But, Chavez is saying what much of the world is thinking and it both protects and attracts attention to him. After the failed (likely CIA) coup, he is most definitely a marked man. Bush's bomb'em ways and his radical and winger friends make statements against the French, Muslims, minorities and as Colon Powell stated we are losing our moral authority seem to indicate Chavez is giving voice to a building tide of Anti-Americanism.

[rocktivity]

8. I happened across a climatic scene in a Nightmare On Elm Street movie

A damsel in distress was about to be vanquished by Freddy Kruger when she said something to the effect of, "It's all over, Freddie. I get it now--this is a dream, and you only exist in dreams. YOU CAN'T SCARE ME ANYMORE BECAUSE YOU'RE NOT REAL TO ME ANYMORE." Freddy folded like a cheap tent.

Chavez absolutely refuses to be afraid of Bush, and he knows that Bush knows it.

:headbang:
rocknation

[jokerman93]

9. Definitely

I think the attention Chavez draws with his public bombast makes it difficult for his enemies to "leverage" him quietly. Pat Robertson's fatwa against him (a year ago was it?) was such an obvious reveal of the Bush syndicate's desired outcome, I think Chavez has been wise to use political theater as a defensive weapon. Some of what he says and does is actually quite comical. He's also a student of Chomsky which places him more or less in the good-guy camp for me.

J