DODD ON MTP. On NBC, Meet the Press host Tim Russert decided to communicate with fringe candidate for the Democratic Presidential nomination, Chris Dodd. The Connecticut Senator explained that there were two versions of the resolution declaring the Iranian Revolutionary Guard to be a terrorist outfit, allowing the United States to take actions against their finances and business operations. Republican Senator Gordon Smith introduced the Democrat version, which, Dodd said, relied on diplomacy; while Senators Kyl and Lieberman plugged their own version, which ultimately passed, which Dodd called a recipe for military action by the Bush Administration.

Dodd asked: “What didn’t we learn from October, 2002?” Dodd said that no one thought that President Bush would actually invade Iraq after Congress told him that he could. They was snookered, dammit!

He boasted that Jim Webb favored the Smith bill, and he said that the Kyl-Lieberman version would be used by President Bush as justification to invade Iran; he added that we were “precariously close” to invading Iran.

He said that Bush has done well with North Korea “in the past few months” and urged him now to do the same with Iran.

On the matter of Iraq, Dodd intimated that he has “come to the conclusion that this is not going well.” He stated that “we’re more vulnerable and isolated than at any time in recent memory,” what with the civil war thaang we’re doing. “We’re a bouncer in a bar brawl.”

Dodd said that he met with soldiers last year who told him that it wasn’t working in Iraq and that “we have to change policy.” It’s been done, Dodd.

Russert, looking at the great quagmire, asked Dodd: “What did our soldiers die for?” Dodd hemmed, hawed, and said that we might have bought the Iraqis more space to try to make this work. Russert pulled out a vid clip explaining last April that this war “is about oil.” Russert asked why it took Dodd so long to say this when it should have been obvious all along, but Dodd wouldn’t bite. He would not make the assertion that he thought American troops in Iraq had died for oil, which would have put him in a special category of the tin foil brigade, with Mike Gravel and Ron Paul.

Dodd said that he did not think we are safer, and Russert quoted Dodd from December of 2003, saying that we were safer. Dodd explained that circumstances change, which really means that he changed his tune when it became clear that he’d need political contributions from the unstable set.

When asked what would be the first thing he did after taking the Presidential oath of office, Dodd answered: “Restore the Constitution.”

JOHN MCCAIN ON TW. On ABC, This Week host George Stephanopoulos’s headliner was Republican Presidential candidate John McCain. He led with a clip of Joe Biden telling Stephanopoulos last week that invading Iran would serve only make them mad at us. McCain agreed that you had to be careful when you make threats, because you have to make them up. He cited the Israeli attack on the nuke site in Syria and said that we cannot sit around and wait for Iran to get the bomb. Steph countered that experts tell him that the Iranians have learned the lessons of the Osirak Attack, when the Israeli’s attacked one of Saddam’s nuke sites in 1981, and perhaps this latest attack in Syria. Iran, Steph posited, has spread its nuke facilities around the country. McCain said he’s not going to discuss tactics but that you need not remove all sites. He added that Joe Biden did not discuss this, but nukes would proliferate throughout the region if Iran required a bomb.

McCain said that we cannot allow Iran to acquire a weapon, but that it was not smart to discuss attacking and bombing this or that.

Steph asked him about Putin calling the United States “a madman with a knife.” McCain said that he’s seen through Putin since the beginning. He would not invite him to be in the G8. He would treat Putin for what he is: “a totalitarian dictator” who wants to consolidate his power and create another Russian empire. He accused Putin of “aberrational behavior” and of making the United Nations Security Council a “toothless” institution. (Erstwhile Paris Mayor Jacques Chirac helped to accomplish this years ago.)

McCain said that “before we continue to talk about the military option” with Iran, we ought to get other countries to help out with the sanctions. He said that Iran’s “economy is not great, because they’ve got a lousy government.”

Steph quoted from that Rick Davis memo which argued that nominating Rudy Giuliani would put at risk the coalition of Fiscal and Social conservatives at the base of the GOP. (”His nomination would have devastating results for our party.”) McCain said that he doesn’t believe that the GOP would nominate someone who has “fundamental disagreements” with the party. He said that he imagines he’ll support whomever is the nominee, but he still finds it difficult that Republicans would nominate someone who disagreed with them.

McCain argued that national polls show that he is the GOP nominee who would be “most likely to defeat” Hillary in a head-to-head matchup.

Steph mentioned that Barack Obama called Hillary a liar in today’s New York Post. Does McCain think he’s right. McCain said that he didn’t know, but that he respects Senator Clinton and they will have a debate only about the fact that she’s a liberal Democrat while his is a conservative Republican. He faulted wasteful government spending, saying that the American people are “sick of” it.

Steph asked him about attorney general nominee Michael Mukasey, who had told the Senate that he did not know if waterboarding were torture, a “similar answer” to Rudy’s. McCain answered that anyone who doesn’t know that waterboarding is torture has no experience in the conduct of warfare or in national security. This is about America, not about an interrogation technique. He said that because waterboarding was used by Pol Pot in Cambodia and against the Buddhist monks in Burma, it is torture. (”Waterboarding is torture” is no longer debatable, it seems; it is now a KNOWN FACT.)

Steph asked him if he has enough cash to compete against in Iowa and New Hampshire, and if accepting public financing will smash him in that period between February and “the conventions in August. (The GOP convention will be in September of next year.) McCain said they’ve looked at it, and they won’t have the same problem as hampered Bob Dole in ‘96, because there will be a more active party involvement at the various levels. He said that retail politics are the way to campaign in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, which is not only good for the party but also for his campaign. He reports seeing enthusiasm. He plans to do well: “I think we’ll have enough money to be competitive.”

LAURA BUSH ON FNS. Appearing live on the set with FOX News Sunday host Chris Wallace, first lady Laura Bush talked about Breast Cancer Awareness in the Moslem world. He explained that because of the stigma attached to anything having to do with a woman’s body in these countries, the detection and diagnoses often came late, leading to a greater mortality rate.

On Burma, Mrs. Bush explained that 90% of its citizens make less than $1.00.week. Wallace asked her if she advises the President on these matters. She said that they talk about it, but these policies are his own.

Wallace asked Mrs. Bush if experience as first lady qualifies someone to be President, as that woman, Senator Clinton, has been telling anyone who will listen and might contribute. Laura explains that it prepares you for events which might occur, citing September 11.

Wallace asked Mrs. Bush if she were at all torn by Mrs. Clinton’s candidacy, and Laura said that she wasn’t. She hopes to one day soon vote for a female Republican to be the next President, but that will vote for the Republican nominee.

She said that there were still things she wanted to accomplish and complete in the remaining months of her husband’s term. The same is true of President Bush, she explained. He’d like for the Iraqi situation to come together and stabilize, and: “I think we are starting to get there.”

BOBBY JINDAL ON FNS.Louisiana’s Governor-elect Bobby Jindal was next up for Wallace. Jindal allowed that he wouldn’t mind being one of the most efficient and boring governors. Wallace told him that the largest job facing him will be the rebuilding of New Orleans. Jindal explained that he would free the allocated Federal funds from their accompanying red tape. He added that the storm had given them the opportunity to fix problems which there in New Orleans before Katrina, not rebuilding the failed schools, etc.

Jindal said that he would speak to President Bush about the Federal government encouraging the private sector to invest in south Louisiana. He argued that there should be federal money to “grow the private sector.” He added that though he is a fiscal conservative, he favors forcing the federal government to give away the taxpayers’ money they have committed to hand out.

His argument for why the GOP lost badly in the 2006 elections? “The party stopped being conservative.”

LEVIN AND GRAHAM ON FTN. Over on CBS, Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer talked to Senators Carl Levin and Lindsey Graham about war with Iran. Levin said he hope we’ll not go to war if the sanctions don’t work, as the sanctions are the way to work. And most countries won’t “stand by and watch” if Iran builds a nuclear weapon. He thinks “we ought to tone down the rhetoric,” as talk of war “plays into the hands” of the “fanatics” in Iran.

Schieffer pointed out that despite what Levin says, Vlad Putin is “standing by and watching,” with Vlad going so far as to say that Russia could live with a nuclear-armed Iran. Levin countered that he didn’t mean it, really, and that Iran would not stand by and watch. Honest.

Graham countered that Russia was “sending all the wrong signals” to Iran and that the U.N. was ineffective in dealing with “rogue regimes.”

Schieffer played a clip of President Bush saying that the Iranians might start World War II if they were to nuke Israel; Graham explained that the President had to wake up our allies.

Levin said that it is important to keep the military option on the table, but we cannot “play into the hands of the fanatics.” In attacking President Bush, Levin, however, said that he thinks it is okay if Iran were to “have the knowledge” to build a nuclear weapon, provided that they did actually build one.

Graham explained that “at the end of the day, the Iranians are their own problem.” He’s willing to help Iran to have nuclear power so long as someone else controlled the fuel cycle.

Schieffer asked about the price of oil if the President were to attack Iran. Graham explained that we need the EU, Russia, and China involved in the diplomatic sanctions process.

Schieffer asked Levin what is Iran’s capability right now. Schieffer explained that they could fire missiles with “heavy effect,” shut down the Strait of Hormuz, and release a massive Hezbollah response. Levin added that we must not attack Moslem countries, because it “plays into their hands.” Crazy Carl is scared!

Graham said that military action against Iran looks to be inevitable if the world does not come together on the sanctions against Iran.

Lindsey said that waterboarding is illegal torture, and that you don’t really have to know much to accept this. Levin agreed. Both said that attorney general nominee Michael Mukasey had better agree with them or he will be deemed unfit for office.

MOHAMED EL BARADEI ON CNN. Oh, it’s that IAEA guy, Mohamed El Baradei, and this time he was Wolf Blitzer’s first guest on CNN’s Late Edition. Wolf first wanted to talk about the “perceived threat, which the U.S. perceives” of Iran. El Baradei countered that Iran doesn’t have nuclear weapons and they’re not going to get one anytime soon. He’s talking about “risk assessment” of Iran getting the Bomb in the future, which calls for “creative diplomacy.”

El Baradei said that his IAEA team has seen no evidence of clandestine nuclear programs in Iran. He suspects that Iran “might have the intention,” but again he argued that Iran has no nuclear weapons program and the United States government has provided him with nothing.

El Baradei thinks sanctions alone will not lead to a solution.

He said that having the capability of building a nuke is a long way from actually having a nuke.

El Baradei says that there is distrust between the Western world and Iran.

He talked of use of force as a last resort but insisted that we are a “long way” from that point.

Wolf quoted Ahmadinejad as saying that all of Iran’s nuclear activities were peaceful and the case was now closed. El Baradei said that in no way was it closed. There was work to be done.

El Baradei is “very disturbed” that the Israelis bombed the site in Syria, because no one told him that Syria had a nuclear site based on a North Korean model so they must not. He said that Israel should have come to the IAEA first, had them look at it, as they are “the eyes and ears of the world.” He accused Israel of taking the law into its own hands. (All occasions of national self-defense must be approved by a U.N. outfit, El Baradei makes clear. They are not only impotent; they’re laughable.)

He said that North Korea was not proliferating its nukes, because he has seen no proof that they were. He said that they cannot just trust anyone without proof. He cited “President Reagan”: “Trust yet verify.”

Blitzer said that El Baradei had lots and lots of cred because he had told the United Nations that he had no proof that Iraq had nuclear weapons. Does he “feel vindicated”? El Baradei said that he did not feel vindicated; it wasn’t a game, and he was glad that Iraq did not have nuclear weapons.

BOXER AND LOTT ON LE. Next up, Wolf had Senators Trent Lott and Babs Boxer, Wolf asked Lott about El Baradei’s rejection of “ratcheting up the rhetoric,” and Lott said that El Baradei was thoughtful but the rhetoric is merely pressure. Boxer said that El Baradei had a lot of credibility and that we are talking about attacking Iran “when we haven’t gotten out of Iraq yet.” She explained that the tough talk only makes the enemy mad.

Lott explained that the “most heated rhetoric has been coming from the Iranian leadership.”

Boxer said this the first of four Administrations with which she’s worked which “hypes the rhetoric” to lead. She said that this just makes the jihadists want to attack us. She’s scared.

Boxer said that President should not have said that the missile shield would be useful if Iran were to send a nuke to Europe.
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Have at it, then.