The founder of the Christian Coalition said during the Monday night television broadcast of his religious program, ''The 700 Club,'' that Chavez, one the most vocal critics of President George W. Bush, was a ``terrific danger'' to the United States and wanted his country to become ``the launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism.

``We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability,'' Robertson said.

``We don't need another $200 billion war to get rid of one, you know, strong-arm dictator,'' he continued. ``It's a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with.''

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld dismissed Robertson's remarks.

``Certainly it's against the law. Our department doesn't do that type of thing,'' Rumsfeld told reporters in response to a question.

Both he and State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the remarks were from a private citizen and did not represent the U.S. government position. ``Private citizens say all kinds of things all the time,'' Rumsfeld added.

In Caracas, Venezuelan Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel said, ``This is a huge hypocrisy to maintain an anti-terrorist line and at the same time have such terrorist statements as these made by Christian preacher Pat Robertson coming from the same country.''

The leftist Chavez has often accused the United States of plotting his overthrow or assassination. Alongside his ally Cuban leader Fidel Castro in Havana on Sunday, Chavez scoffed at the idea that he and Castro were destabilizing troublemakers in Latin America.

While McCormack reiterated U.S. concern over Venezuela's ''behavior'' toward some of its neighbors, he added:

``Any accusations or any idea that we are planning to take hostile action against Venezuela or the Venezuelan government -- any ideas in that regard are totally without fact and baseless.''

'CHEAPER THAN STARTING A WAR'

In his broadcast, Robertson said: ``You know, I don't know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it.

``It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war ... and I don't think any oil shipments will stop.''

Venezuela is the world's fifth largest oil exporter and a major supplier to the United States.

A Robertson spokeswoman said he had no further comment at this point.

``Right now Dr. Robertson does not have a statement and he's not doing any media interviews,'' she said.

The Rev. Barry Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State urged Bush to condemn Robertson's comments. ''This is just the kind of religious fanaticism that the world does not need more of,'' Lynn said.

This was the most recent example of Robertson's controversial remarks. Criticizing the State Department in 2003, he said ``maybe we need a very small nuke thrown off on Foggy Bottom to shake things up.''

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher had called the remark ``despicable.''

Late in the 2004 presidential race, Robertson told CNN that during a meeting with Bush prior to the invasion of Iraq, the president told him he did not believe there would be casualties. The White House strongly denied the claim.

Robertson's ``700 Club'' reaches an average of 1 million American viewers daily, according to his Web site. He ran for the Republican Party's presidential nomination in 1988.