On the April 20 edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe, host Joe Scarborough suggested that President Obama's smile and handshake with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez were not “the proper way to behave” and stated that “me and Pat [Buchanan] ... wonder if it's really a good idea to smile and shake hands with people who execute those that disagree with them, that shut down newspapers, and that arrest Americans.” However, since making those remarks, Scarborough has gradually walked them back. Scarborough stated later on that edition of Morning Joe that his “bigger concern” was with Obama not responding to remarks by Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega; declared later that day on MSNBC Live that “I don't care about a handshake and a smile”; and ultimately said on the April 21 edition of Morning Joe, “I'm glad [Obama] smiled,” adding that Obama's greeting of Chavez was “not a bad thing.”

Responding to co-host Mika Brzezinski, who defended Obama's interaction with Chavez, Scarborough initially stated during the 6 a.m. ET hour of the April 20 edition of Morning Joe: “Yeah, it's just me and Pat who wonder if it's really a good idea to smile and shake hands with people who execute those that disagree with them, that shut down newspapers, and that arrest Americans. That's just Pat and I. Everybody else thinks that's the proper way to behave.” Scarborough also said during the 6 a.m. ET hour that “some terrorists across the globe” would see the smile and handshake as “a sign of weakness.”

By the 7 a.m. ET hour, Scarborough was beginning to change his tune. During an interview with Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH), Scarborough said:

SCARBOROUGH: Senator, I'm not so -- we keep talking about the handshake, and I suspect that the left will make this all about shaking hands and try to make it as small as possible. I think Pat and I's bigger concern -- and I will guarantee you the majority of Americans concerns outside of Manhattan and Georgetown will be the fact that he sat passively there while Daniel Ortega, a man with a remarkable amount of blood on his own hands, called the United States a tyrannical power, and the president said nothing.

Then, during the 9 a.m. ET hour of MSNBC Live, Scarborough went further, stating, “I don't care about a handshake and a smile”:

SCARBOROUGH: [T]he bigger problem for me -- I don't care about a handshake and a smile -- I think a lot of Americans might be asking in the future why the president sat and listened to a communist, Daniel Ortega, attack the United States as a tyrannical country for 55 minutes and then got up and didn't respond.

Finally, responding to a Boston Globe editorial's statement that “conservatives at home reviled Obama for the handshake with Chavez ... [b]ut Obama had it just right when he” defended the greeting, Scarborough said during the April 21 edition of Morning Joe, “I want to clarify ... that none of us here think it was a problem that he shook hands with the president of Venezuela, and I'm glad he smiled. And I think that actually does have propaganda -- I mean, it doesn't only cut for Chavez; it helps us as far as propaganda inside that country goes. So that's not a bad thing.”

From the April 20 edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe:

SCARBOROUGH: Hey, welcome to Morning Joe. That's a beautiful picture, actually, look how happy they are. It's -- it's great. Welcome to Morning Joe. And Hugo Chavez -- he just -- Pat Buchanan, he just needs to be understood really.

PAT BUCHANAN (MSNBC political analyst): Right. There's been a real misunderstanding.

SCARBOROUGH: There has.

BUCHANAN: Sensitive man.

SCARBOROUGH: There has. And it's kind of like you remember FDR at Yalta -- he thought that his winning personality could --

BUCHANAN: Sure.

SCARBOROUGH: -- convince old Joe to turn things around -- only enslaved a generation of people.

[...]

SCARBOROUGH: Yeah. We really should have been a lot -- we should have been a lot more respectful to, you know, Stalin. That would have changed things, I'm sure. So --

BRZEZINSKI: OK, we'll get to this.

SCARBOROUGH: Yeah.

BRZEZINSKI: We'll also get to --

SCARBOROUGH: Why can't we all just get along? Maybe next time --

BRZEZINSKI: I think we are. Just you and Pat.

SCARBOROUGH: -- next time he goes overseas we'll give him dandelions. Yeah, it's just me and Pat who wonder if it's really a good idea to smile and shake hands with people who execute those that disagree with them --

BRZEZINSKI: Well, what we'll do --

SCARBOROUGH: -- that shut down newspapers, and that arrest Americans. That's just Pat and I. Everybody else thinks that's the proper way to behave.

[...]

SCARBOROUGH: You don't want to have -- and while we're all very reasonable, and you all went to the finest, most open-minded universities in the Eastern establishment -- there are some terrorists across the globe who would see Hugo Chavez calling America's leaders devils, calling the United States an evil empire, and then seeing President Obama smiling and shaking the -- Chavez's hand, and see that as a sign of weakness.

Likewise, I will guarantee you our enemies -- and we do have enemies on the planet; I know this is shocking for some people -- but our enemies also saw Daniel Ortega, a communist leader, brutalize the United States verbally for 55 minutes, and the president sat there and smiled.

[...]

SCARBOROUGH: Senator, I'm not so -- we keep talking about the handshake, and I suspect that the left will make this all about shaking hands and try to make it as small as possible. I think Pat and I's bigger concern -- and I will guarantee you the majority of Americans concerns outside of Manhattan and Georgetown will be the fact that he sat passively there while Daniel Ortega, a man with a remarkable amount of blood on his own hands, called the United States a tyrannical power, and the president said nothing.

GREGG: Well, clearly the president should have taken an opportunity to explain democracy to both Ortega and Chavez.

From the 9 a.m. ET hour of the April 20 edition of MSNBC Live:

NORAH O'DONNELL (host): Joe, I listened to you this morning -- you said the president's got the right idea about improving relations with these countries, but he's going about it the wrong way. Why?

SCARBOROUGH: Well, you know, the president's taking us through so many vertiginous changes, whether you're talking about the economy or talking about foreign policy. It is hard to keep up with him. He said he was going to be a transformational president. He just has to be very careful. I don't care what anybody on the left says. The White House does not like this picture. They would prefer that he didn't seem to be so warmly greeting Hugo Chavez.

As [NBC News correspondent] Savannah Guthrie suggested, it was just a moment in time, but that is -- that could be a problem for him. And also, the bigger problem for me -- I don't care about a handshake and a smile -- I think a lot of Americans might be asking in the future why the president sat and listened to a communist, Daniel Ortega, attack the United States as a tyrannical country for 55 minutes and then got up and didn't respond.

He didn't have to jump up, storm out. He didn't really need to shake his fist. He could just quietly talk about the good things America has done and how we'll face up to the mistakes we've made but -- there was a way to do it, the president remained silent. And I'm sure there are some people in the foreign policy community on both sides that could be concerned with that approach.

From the April 21 edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe:

BRZEZINSKI: Next op-ed: Boston Globe, “Drama and no-drama, together.” But Obama had it right when he answered the critics, saying, Venezuela is a country whose defense budget is probably one-sixth of the United States'. They own Citgo. It's unlikely that as a consequence of me shaking hands or having a polite conversation with Mr. Chavez that we are endangering the strategic interests of the U.S.

If anything, President Obama's approach has hurt Venezuela's ability to blame Washington for the results of Chavez's policies. Obama conceded nothing as a matter of policy but gained goodwill by coming off as civil, reasonable, and willing to hear others out.

And I guess I would add to the argument that he is redefining the presidency of the United States and coming off a president who had a very different approach, one that many people thought was arrogant and perhaps seeing the world in black and white, as opposed to trying to engage.

BUCHANAN: Well, the question is does the behavior, which Joe and I thought was really -- was not up to what a president should do when his country's attacked -- does that really make you great friends down in Latin America? Or do people look at you and say, “What's the matter --

BRZEZINSKI: I don't think that he cares about being --

BUCHANAN: -- ”with this guy that he won't defend his own country?"

SCARBOROUGH: Well, but, I want to clarify, only coming out of The Boston Globe editorial, that none of us here think it was a problem that he shook hands with the president of Venezuela, and I'm glad he smiled. And I think that actually does have propaganda -- I mean, it doesn't only cut for Chavez; it helps us as far as propaganda inside that country goes. So that's not a bad thing.