I'm not exactly a Chavez fan, but anybody that seriously believes he is a "dictator" (and isn't just trolling) moves up a great deal on my idiot scale. Is it the American media?
I'd say 99% of the times Venezuela is in the news here its either Chavez bashing the US, Chavez schmoozing with American enemies who don't tend to have the best democratic records (Putin, Castro, and Ahmadinejad come to mind), or Chavez engaging in quasi-undemocratic behavior, like failing to renew an opposition media's broadcasting license or giving himself power to make laws. I can't think of one thing Chavez has done that would get him positive news coverage in the United States. After all, most Americans would only really care about a small-time South American country for its unusual quirks or its policies that relate to us, both of which would be Chavez and his showy anti-Americanism. And from there its easy to link the dots of 1. He hates us 2. He likes dictators 3. He's not got a perfect democratic record and conclude that he's a dictator.
