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A Scholar Is Alive, Actually, and Hungry for Debate. I love the way Chávez thumbs his nose at Bush, and I certainly don’t think he is any sort of physical threat to the US. Bringing Noam Chomsky into the worldwide spotlight, however, earns huge bonus points in my book.

“I have been quite interested in his policies,” Mr. Chomsky said. “Personally, I think many of them are quite constructive.” Most important, he said, Mr. Chávez seems to have the overwhelming support of the people in his country. “He has gone through six closely supervised elections,” he said.

The other day a colleague who didn’t seem to know who Chávez was asked rhetorically, “What does Chávez have against the US empire?” Those were pretty much his exact words, and I calmly resisted the urge to scream out something rather indignant and inappropriate in the office.