That's odd, usually he's so smarmy

John Edwards, responding to a question from Tim Russert on "Meet the Press" this past Sunday as to whether as president he would accept a nuclear-armed Iran:

"I -- there's no answer to that question at this time. I think that it's a -- it's a -- it's a very bad thing for Iran to get a nuclear weapon. I think we have -- we have many steps in front of us that have not been used. We ought to negotiate directly with the Iranians, which has not, not been done. The things that I just talked about, I think, are the right approach in dealing with Iran. And then we'll, we'll see what the result is ... I think -- I think the -- we don't know, and you have to make a judgment as you go along, and that's what I would do as president."

But as James Tarantino pointed out in an op-ed in today's Wall Street Journal, less than two weeks before appearing on "Meet the Press," Edwards spoke by satellite to Israel's annual Herzliya Conference and stated the following: "Let me be clear: Under no circumstances can Iran be allowed to have nuclear weapons ... To ensure that Iran never gets nuclear weapons, we need to keep all options on the table. Let me reiterate -- all options must remain on the table."

Of course, to the McGovernite wing now controlling the Democratic Party, all options is translated thus: negotiate, negotiate more if this doesn't succeed, call for yet more negotiations (preferably multilateral at this point), and as a last resort -- negotiate really, really hard with a lot of emphasis in what you say, like you mean it and all. That'll show 'em!