. "If it were not for for Rush Limbaugh, the Washington Times,and Fox News -- those organizations, entities, have finally managed to break the dam," Collins said. "Ph.D. pieces could be written about this subject, dozens of them."***
The six months of talks between Chavez's government and Venezuela's opposition have produced just an agreement in February to end verbal insults and political violence. And even that pact has been forgotten. The mudslinging reached a new low after an opposition general strike curbed Venezuelan oil production and cost the economy $6 billion but failed to oust Chavez.
When a protester was slain during an opposition May Day march, Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel blamed the opposition and said that government adversaries were obsessed with "necrophilia." Interior Minister Gen. Lucas Rincon told cadets at a police academy graduation that opposition leaders were "brain-damaged" because of excessive expectations on fighting crime. Carlos Ortega, a labor boss granted asylum in Costa Rica after leading the general strike, said Chavez was "not well in the head." Chavez routinely assails what he calls a "fascist," "terrorist" and "coup-plotting" opposition.***