Hugo Chavez’ comments felt like a punch in the gut.

I’m not sure if I would have reacted the same way if I hadn’t had the extraordinary opportunity to spend nearly two hours in a private meeting with President Bush last week. But listening to the Venezuelan president skewer our commander-in-chief from the podium of the United Nations really sickened me.

I’m not really sure what Chavez is trying to accomplish. It seems like he’s pretty cocky, what with all that oil his country controls, and he seems to take some kind of sick delight in calling President Bush things like “the devil” and “a liar.”

Perhaps even more disgusting than his cartoon character-type name calling was to hear the laughter and the smattering of applause he received from the floor of the U.N. I’m hoping it was just nervous laughter, the type that usually results from an awkward moment when someone says something so outrageously stupid that one doesn’t know what else to do but laugh.

After Chavez’s day of outrage at the United Nations, I briefly saw on the news that he was touring Harlem in New York City. The video I watched showed him getting thunderous ovations from people and enthusiastically waving to the adoring crowds. Do you think they were cheering him because he had just called our President a sulphur-reeking devil? Are Bush critics really that ugly?

Once more, Americans are treated to the ugly spectacle of the United Nations hosting some crackpot, U.S.-hating leader. One day, it’s the lunatic president of Iran; the next, it’s the vermin from Venezuela. Adding insult to injury, we apparently provided U.S. Secret Service protection to these creeps. It makes me think that if the U.N. managed to find Osama Bin Laden, they’d invite him to be the keynote speaker and throw him a ticker tape parade down Fifth Avenue.

In the middle of his wild-eyed rant about “El Diablo” and the president’s devil horns and pitchfork, Chavez did manage to utter one idea that I fully agree with. He suggested that the United Nations should be moved to his country. Now that’s a concept we can all support. Americans would stand up and cheer to the mountaintops if we finally rid ourselves of this corrupt, bloated, creaky, ineffective organization once and for all.

One of the callers to my radio show today could barely get the words out, he was so livid. “How dare Hugo Chavez come into OUR country, stay in OUR hotels, use OUR Secret Service, eat at OUR restaurants, and get away with trying to smear President Bush?” he asked. The answer is simple. Because the United Nations lets him.

In this case, fighting back is pretty easy to do. We’re given lots of choices as to where we can go to fill up our vehicles with gas. It’s no big secret that CITGO is owned by Venezuela and that the money we spend at their pumps goes directly into that country. Here’s hoping that every single CITGO gas station goes out of business real soon due to a complete lack of customers.

Yes, I took Hugo Chavez’ comments personally. Meeting President Bush last Friday in the Oval Office was certainly this radio host’s ultimate “once-in-a-lifetime” experience. I was honored to be in a small group of nationally syndicated hosts who were invited to an off-the-record meeting with President Bush. Thankfully, the four other hosts are friends and at the top of our field: Sean Hannity, Neal Boortz, Michael Medved and Laura Ingraham. We were given this extraordinary access in order to gain a valuable insight into what Mr. Bush believes, whether it’s about the war or domestic issues.

If I had a wish that could be granted by some genie in a bottle, it would be that every single Bush critic should have such an opportunity to spend time with the man, like we did. I’d like to believe that even the nastiest, most vile of Bush-haters would walk away from the experience with an understanding that this is truly a good and decent human being.

To the bashers who say that President Bush is out of touch and not really all that bright: you are dead wrong. During that hour and forty-five minutes, we gained an amazing insight into how strongly he loves this country and how truly committed he is to doing what he believes is right for every single American. I was struck by how often he came back to the honor he holds in his heart for the office he holds; how the presidency is all about the never-ending decision-making process; and how dramatically different he is in a relaxed and informal setting than he is in front of the cameras. Not only is he fully engaged and has an amazing command of the many issues he faces, but he deals with them in a manner that should make every American proud. I left this amazing meeting with the complete confidence that President Bush spends practically every waking hour committed to keeping the citizens of the United States safe.

I don’t know why Hugo Chavez says the terrible things he says about our President. But after my Oval Office meeting, I felt like Chavez was not only attacking President Bush, he was attacking me.

Every single American should feel the same way.