For one thing, if you don't realize that a substantial portion of Americans now detest Bush with a passion that rivals that of Venezuelan opposition members, you must interact with very few democrats.
The similarity between Bush and Chavez is one of kind, not of degree. Obviously, the US has many more still-functioning institutions than Venezuela does, and this makes all the difference. But the thrust of both of their styles is to gradually erase the formal separations between leader, office, party, country and flag. The seed of autocratic thinking that runs between the two seems obviously similar to me.
Bushies who resist the obvious comparison would do well to look at this New Republic Notebook entry. TNR can be acussed of many things, but mindless Bushwhacking is not one of them.
