President Barack Obama recently attended the Summit of the Americas.  While there he met that Venezuela wacko President Chavez.  President Obama has been criticized by the conservative media for his graciousness in the face of evil.  We do not dispute the atrocious behavior of Chavez – but we would remind all that diplomacy is not always easy – and being gracious in the face of nasty people is difficult.  Here are a few examples in recent history.

President Richard Nixon, a master of foreign policy while a domestic policy disaster, graciously met with some of the top ten nasty people of the 20th Century.  Specifically we might mention Leonid Brezhnev of the Soviet Union and Communist Chairman Mao of China.  Premier Brezhev was a secret collector of classic cars and President Nixon gave him a Lincoln Continental.  Sarah Palin might call this palling around.

Nixon got around quite well when needed.  He met with Chairman Mao and other Chinese leaders and seemed to be enjoying himself – if we are to measure only by the pictures taken.  Even President Ford met with Brezhnev – he also seemed to be enjoying himself.  But what are you gonna do – they did not have 24/7 cable news.  In any case, Fox would have thought of these men as crafty and wise for playing along with the ruse of deception.  Shawn Hannity would have been salivating at the opportunity to congratulate these great world leaders.

But wait – even the great Ronald Reagan laughed it up with a Soviet Premier.  Remember this – it seemed to work out well for him.  Ronald Reagan was probably thinking, “I wish had my chain saw.”  You can see how easy it is to impose a sinister thought as a caption for a picture.  It is very easy to interpret these images in any manner that suits one’s needs.  That is what some are doing with Obama’s meeting with Chavez.

Personally, I thought Roosevelt meeting with Stalin and Churchill was a little much.  Joseph Stalin is credited with killing up to 20 Million Russians during his tenure as the Premier.  He was a particularly nasty little fellow (He was five foot four).

It is important to note that Chavez has a big mouth and called President George W. Bush ‘the devil.’  Chavez is a crude, if democratically elected, country leader.  But we in America should know from the past eight years of the Bush Administration that voters do not always pick the right guy.   So Chavez calls people names.  Stalin killed 20 Million of his own people.  Brezhnev invaded other countries.  And how about President Bush palling around with Valdimir Putin – Shawn Hannity thought this was a great day in America.

To top it all off, former Vice President DICK Cheney finds President Obama’s meeting with Chavez to be ‘disturbing.’  Now this about takes the cake.  Cheney and Rumsfield were buddies in the Nixon and Ford White Houses.  Palling around with the most nasty of people was OK on their watch, but when Chency is not privy to the real story he shoots off his mouth like someone else we just mentioned.

We just thought a little clarity on Presidential greetings of nasty people should be put in perspective.

Here is an offensive interview of DICK Cheney with Shawn Hannity: