Yesterday was the day I first revealed the Republican plan to nominate Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez as their presidential candidate in 2012. Having noticed the enhanced popularity of socialism after the GOP criticized Barack Obama as a socialist, the Republicans now seek to make Hugo Chavez more popular by condemning Obama for shaking his hand. If they condemn Chavez often enough, the Republicans believe they can make him a viable presidential candidate. That way, the GOP won't have to suffer the humiliating defeat that would occur if they nominated Romney, Gingrich, or Sarah Palin.

Today, Republicans have already seen the first signs of progress with their plan.

According to Chris Bowers of Open Left, Hugh Chavez' nation of Venezuela is now more popular than the Republican Party, with Venezuela being rated positively by 42% and the Republicans by 39% (actually a high rating for the Republicans).

This is where the brilliance of Republican planners and consultants can be seen. With admirable objectivity, top Republicans now recognize that the Republican Party is repugnant to most of the American public and that actual Republican leaders like Sarah Palin are unlikely to become popular even if they don't have all the personal problems plaguing Palin.

So they've decided that the only way to be competitive is to nominate someone who has absolutely no connection with the Republican Party.

And who has less connection with the Republicans than a Latin American Marxist like Chavez.

But making Chavez more popular than the Republican Party is only the first step in the plan to nominate Chavez. Now the Republicans need to work on making Chavez as popular as Barack Obama himself.

No doubt, we'll very soon see Republican spokesmen comparing Chavez to Adolf Hitler.

If being criticized by the Republicans is the key to political popularity, this kind of scorching Republican criticism should boost Chavez' ratings even further.

I just hope they don't boost Hitler's ratings in the process.