From The Washington Times:

"The whole notion was that if we showed courtesy or opened up dialogue with governments that had previously been hostile to us, that that somehow would be a sign of weakness," he said.

This is kind of a classic straw-man argument. Nobody said you cannot talk to hostile regimes, just that you do not use the office of the President of the United States to do it with. This is however, what you did.

It is a sign of weakness Mr. President, a weakness of principle. You need to stand for liberty and justice, not the tyranny that you, and everybody else, knows Chavez embodies. These principles must never waver.

When you shook Chavez's hand you showed all the political prisoners in Venezuela, and in Cuba, that you don't so much care about the injustices they have endured. You also demoralized the people fighting for human rights and liberty in Venezuela.

You said your chat with Chavez was a good step forward but who took the step? It was not Chavez, Mr. President, it was you. And what did you get out of it? A book written by a Marxist, that bashes our country. You even shot it up to number two on Amazon.com for a brief moment. Nice going. (Mark Levin's book is still number one. This alien highly recommends it.)
So, you took a step forward but Chavez stayed right where he was. It's important to note this because it has been your belief that meeting with these dictators would change their minds. Evidently it has not.