Newsweek's Eleanor Clift and National Review's Rich Lowry got into quite a heated debate on PBS's McLaughlin Group this weekend.
With the topic being President Obama's Middle East policy, after much back and forth, Lowry scolded, "If you’re honest about it, that is your bottom line. You are okay with [Iran] getting a nuclear weapon" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
ELEANOR CLIFT, NEWSWEEK: And that message was received. Netanyahu went back to Israel again to a divided public. They don't want to go ahead without American support. And you cannot, you can make the case…
RICH LOWRY, NATIONAL REVIEW: So what do you do?
CLIFT: Excuse me, it's my turn now. And rational people can make the case that there is nothing about the Iranian regime that suggests they are totally irrational players. They care about their own power and control, and you can't just assume that the minute they get a bomb they're going to attack.
LOWRY: So what do you? What do you do if sanctions fail? What do you do if sanctions fail? What do you do? Answer. Answer. I’m letting you talk. What do you do if sanctions fail?
CLIFT: I'm answering. You are operating on the one percent Cheney doctrine. How well did that work out in Iraq?
CLIFT: I didn't say that!
LOWRY: …that is also, yes, did you! And at the end of the day, that’s the administration’s policy as well.
JOHN MCLAUGHLIN, HOST: Refresh us on this one percent doctrine. What’s, one percent of what?
CLIFT: If there’s a one percent possibility that Saddam Hussein has a nuclear weapon, you go in. Look how well that turned out for us. We are now going back into negotiations. There is time to be bought, and…
LOWRY: And you’re okay with them getting a nuclear weapon. That is your bottom line. If you’re honest about it, that is your bottom line. You are okay with them getting a nuclear weapon.
CLIFT: Would you please stop putting words in my mouth, Mr. Lowry.
LOWRY: Well, what are you going to do? If sanctions don’t work, what are you going to do?
CLIFT: Stop howling like a war dog.
LOWRY: I’m not howling like anything.
CLIFT: Yes you are, you certainly are.
MCLAUGHLIN: He’s a macho man here.
CLIFT: Right, all these macho men, it’s ridiculous.
No, actually what's ridiculous was Clift's position that was nicely exposed by Lowry.
If you're not for doing everything possible to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, then you are indeed okay with that nation possessing one.
How else can one read Clift's statement that "rational people can make the case that there is nothing about the Iranian regime that suggests they are totally irrational players...you can't just assume that the minute they get a bomb they're going to attack?"
So the totally insane proclamations by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and supreme leader Ali Khamenei regarding Israel suggest to Clift that these aren't "totally irrational players?"
Exactly what about this psychotic duo makes anyone on the Left believe they're rational?
And once you say "you can't just assume that the minute they get a bomb they're going to attack," you are clearly stating that it's okay with you that Iran is a nuclear power.
As such, rather than all the pretense, why can't media members like Clift just admit as Dr. Strangelove did that they've learned to stopped worrying and love the Iranian bomb?
