Did Hugo Chavez legitimately win?

[minionofmidas]

My definition of "democracy" is: "it is theoretically possible for the regime to change in an election."

So "consensual democracy" as in Libanon or Switzerland doesn't qualify?

[minionofmidas]

Poor Venezuelans and the international far left love him despite (or perhaps because of) the devastating impact of his rule on democracy and the rule of law in Venezuela,

It`s not as if these things were in a better state than they now are before he came around, you know...

Anyways... I like Chavez' campaign.

"Re-elect Chavez President.
Vote against the Devil. Vote against the Empire."

[minionofmidas]

Poor Venezuelans and the international far left love him despite (or perhaps because of) the devastating impact of his rule on democracy and the rule of law in Venezuela,

It`s not as if these things were in a better state than they now are before he came around, you know...

Anyways... I like Chavez' campaign.

"Re-elect Chavez President.
Vote against the Devil. Vote against the Empire."

Proving strangeland's point for him, are you?

Same thing as when Ronald Reagan or George W Bush go around calling their bogeymen of choice "Evil" - you might not agree, but if you dislike said bogeyman more than the person saying it (or if you just feel that said bogeyman gets what is still way too good a press) you're delighted to hear someone in power say something crass like that out loud...