You could be right.
I don't believe their in cahoots and here's why:
If they were in cahoots,they would have rushed the microphones and made their denouncement of Chavez right after his speech.
But they didn't do that...dead silence from them.
Now, the next morning comes around, polling has been done, Bill Clinton style "finger to the wind" and lo and behold, they realize they've got a problem. So Pelosi, Bubba, and Rangel are the appointed "waterboys" to carry the "bash Chavez" message. (Harkin evidently didn't get the memo.)
I think if they were in cahoots, they would have come out against Chavez much sooner than they did.