I've been pretty critical of Pat Buchanan over the years, mostly due to his ongoing and enthusiastic bigotry. But despite Buchanan's almost unbelievable dislike of Nelson Mandela and Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., the most remarkable thing about him might be who he praises, not who he hates. Throughout his career, Buchanan has demonstrated a remarkable ability to find something nice to say about the most despicable people imaginable.

Take Adolf Hitler, for example. You could give me all week, and I wouldn't come up with anything good to say about Hitler. But not Pat Buchanan: He's ready to offer praise for Hitler at the drop of a hat. You don't even have to challenge him to do so -- he'll just leap to Hitler's defense on his own.

Then there's John Demjanjuk, convicted earlier this year of complicity in the murder of tens of thousands of Jews while serving at a Nazi death camp. Not many people would defend such a person, but Pat Buchanan has, even employing the discredited arguments of Holocaust deniers in order to do so.

Buchanan's kind words aren't reserved for Nazis, though. He praised Klansman David Duke for his staunch opposition to “discrimination against white folks” -- though Buchanan did get a bit peeved when he concluded that the grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan had been “stealing” his ideas.

Then there's Nixon Supreme Court nominee Harrold Carswell, whose outspoken belief in “white supremacy” cost him a seat on the court. Most people wouldn't defend such a man, but Pat Buchanan will.

And just this week, Buchanan argued that Anders Behring Breivik -- the monster who murdered scores of people in Norway last week -- might've had a point.

Again and again, Buchanan has found something to praise or defend about some of the most widely reviled people in history. It's an astonishing track record of providing aid and comfort to mass murderers and white supremacists.