Joe Conason: Reagan Talked to Dictators, Too

[babylonsister]

http://www.politickerny.com/3172/reagan-talked-dictators-too

Reagan Talked to Dictators, Too
By Joe Conason


Few aspects of American politics are as ridiculous and dangerous as the right-wing urge to substitute macho posturing for foreign policy. That irrepressible habit surfaces constantly now that President Obama is in the Oval Office, most recently when he shook hands with Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez at the Summit of the Americas, a smiling moment that provoked calls for impeachment among the most deranged conservatives.

Such emotional excesses arise from deep insecurities, of course, and almost always involve bouts of amnesia, hypocrisy or both. For if the wingers could be honest for even a moment, they would have to admit that all of their complaints about Mr. Obama’s diplomatic style could have been lodged just as easily against his Republican predecessors.

snip//

Now, Mr. Gingrich was once an adjunct professor of history somewhere, so he ought to have a firmer grasp of the realities of the past. His hero Ronald Reagan certainly did rush over, smile and warmly greet the Russian dictator Mikhail Gorbachev more than once during his second term as president, much to the irritation of critics on the right (even if many of them pretend to forget those instances now). Eager to achieve landmark arms-control agreements with the Soviet leader, Reagan wisely ignored the carping of conservatives like Howard Phillips, who denounced him passionately as a “useful idiot fronting for Soviet propaganda.”

But then Reagan’s peace offensive only followed the pattern set by Mr. Buchanan’s old boss, Richard M. Nixon, whose most lasting achievement as president was to establish official relations with the People’s Republic of China. Was Nixon too friendly when he met with the rulers of the most blood-soaked Communist dictatorship on earth? Search Google for “Nixon China” and you will immediately find a nice old black-and-white photo of him gripping and grinning with Mao Zedong, an enemy of Western democracy and a remorseless executioner of the innocent. No doubt many conservatives watched that tableau in fury and astonishment, having spent decades in ideological battle against the Chicoms.

So it is permissible to yawn when the likes of Buchanan, Gingrich and the howling bloggers of the right claim that President Obama’s polite behavior toward any leader he encounters is a betrayal of America. He represents a nation sufficiently secure in its values to greet the world with malice toward none. His policy will be tested in practice, not bar-brawl theatrics.

[zipplewrath]

1. Chavez isn't a dictator

You had to love it last night when Maddow pointed out that Hannity called Chavez a dictator. It's most funny because of course he was just RE-elected, and he was originally elected while having to run against an opponent that was fiscally backed by Bush II.

[babylonsister]

2. That's the point of this article. The r/w is screeching about

nothing/everything, even though facts get in the way.

[Captain Hilts]

3. So long as they aren't preening jerks. Ahmeni... and Chavez are jerks. nt