Bridget Johnson’s article today is well worth reading. But, not to beat a dead horse too much, she forgets Chavez is yet another Arlen Specter success story. Specter met with Chavez on August 17, 2005, and gave him a stern talking to. Wrote Specter afterwards, “It is clear that the United States and Venezuela are at odds over many different issues, but there are areas of interest, such as drug interdiction, where our two countries can work together. These common interests can perhaps serve as a catalyst to construct a dialogue on our differences.” The problem was not Chavez. On August 19, 2005, Specter wrote Rumsfeld, “it may well be helpful to, at least, have a moratorium on adverse comments on Venezuela.” Indeed, words matter. After all, hadn’t Madeleine Albright proved when she changed State Department parlance from “rogue regimes” to “regimes of concern” that nice words alone might stop Islamic Republic and North Korea from pursuing nuclear weapons?