Democratic consultant Doug Schoen is co-author of the new book, The Threat Closer to Home: Hugo Chavez and the War Against America, written with Michael Rowan. He recently took some questions from NRO:

Q: Turkey held up a tanker going from Iran to Venezuela last week. Are you surprised?

A: I am not surprised at all that the tanker was held up. It almost certainly contained explosives. There is ongoing economic cooperation between the two nations with the avowed goal of hurting the United States. There is also cooperation between the two countries on “peaceful” nuclear energy development.

Q: You call Chavez an “unprecedented threat.” What kind of threat? How bad a threat?

A: Chavez is a very real threat. He has directly and indirectly supported terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah. He has voiced at the very least general rhetorical endorsement of the goals of al Qaeda. And he has been a major political and economic support of the FARC in Colombia. He also has done almost nothing to stop the importation of narcotics into the United States.

Q: Why does it still not have official state-sponsor-of-terrorism designation?

A: He should have a state sponsor of terrorism designation. It is most likely because of oil that he has not been so designated. I regard this as a big mistake.

Q: How did this happen right under our noses?

A: It has happened under our noses because many in the US have chosen to look the other way. Others have allowed themselves to be subject to Chavez’s blandishments. Still others have been duped by his public relations initiative here in the U.S.

Q: How potent a weapon is oil for Chavez?

A: Oil was a potent weapon when prices were steadily rising. It gave him revenue to use for nefarious purposes like supporting Iran and regimes that oppose the U.S. in Latin America like Ecuador, Bolivia, and Argentina.

Q: Isn’t this threat all the more reason for Democrats in Congress to have long ago given President Bush the trade treaty with Uribe he wanted?

A: I support the trade treaty with Colombia and believe that we have many very good reasons to support President Uribe’s efforts — not the least of which is his staunch opposition to Hugo Chavez.

Q: Is this an issue the left and right can concretely get together on?

A: Democrats should work on a bipartisan basis to oppose Chavez. He is a bad actor with bad intentions. I am a Democrat as is Rowan. We support a new Marshall Plan for Venezuela specifically and Latin America more generally.

Q: As you know, a Kennedy has been an active Chavez cooperator, in the name of serving the poor. What would you say to him? Have you?

A: Our book makes it very clear that Joe Kennedy was used for self-publicity purposes by Hugo Chavez. We make it very clear in our book that we feel he made a mistake having anything to do with him. At the very least, he should speak out against him now that the program has been discontinued because of declining oil prices.

The purpose of this book is to tell the truth about Chavez and hopefully some small amount of good will come from this exercise in terms of lives saved and American interests advanced.

I wrote this book because I saw first hand what Chavez has done to Venezuela. He cheated in a referendum I worked on in 2004 when the electorate voted overwhelmingly to remove him from office. He got away with that fraud, and after that contest Rowan and I vowed individually and collectively to do all we could to educate people about what he has done and continues to do.

Q: Are you getting grief because of this book? You quote Otto Reich (defender of Elian Gonzalez! “Neocon!” Bush-administration official!) before the book even begins!

A: Surprisingly, not getting grief. Worst criticism we have gotten is for being overargumentative. The book is detailed, focused, and heavily footnoted. And no one has refuted any of our substantive arguments.