Bummer for Romney that Obama is actually the President and going about the business of Presidenting, despite Romney and Clint Eastwood being determined to treat him like a surly teenager.

I’m sure they’ll just paint it as part of the “apology tour”. Negotiating is for wimps, as George W Bush knew when he pulled all inspectors out of Iraq and them came back with guns blazing, since the Iraqis clearly weren’t negotiating in good faith, insisting that they had no WMD.

Folks over in comments at Cole’s site are speculating on how Rmoney-Boo-Boo and his foreign policy brain trust – y’know, level-headed folks like John Bolton and Dan Senor – are gonna handle this grenade. I’m guessing this comment comes closest to what their response will be:

The argument will be that we shouldn’t talk to Iran until they’ve already agreed to everything we want, and that merely talking to them is rewarding them.

If Romney and co. follow the Bush playbook, and with Bolton and Franks et al on board I can’t see why they would do otherwise, even “agreeing to everything we want” wouldn’t forestall attack. Didn’t in Iraq. They agreed, let inspectors in, but Bush claimed they were lying and hiding things, pulled the inspectors, and let ‘er rip.

They’ll be screeching “APPEASEMENT” to the gobshites as early as tomorrow morning.

This is certainly good news for John McCain Dr. Jill Stein.

Aaaand, now the White House is denying that any such talks have been agreed to.

Interesting. The NYT story has a “a senior administration official said” attribution. As it were.

Great. So now we get all of the appeasement-gate hysteria without the diplomatic coup. Or, it’s all trial balloon thing, with one hand denying what the other hand agreed to. Or a good-diplomat/bad-cop thing. I mean toward the Republicans.

So what we really need here is someone from the GOP side who’s known to make hasty bone-headed statements before the facts are known, thoroughly embarrassing himself in the process.

Mr Romney, please proceed.

I’ve got to say, when it comes to Bad Debate Moderation, I think the worst is yet to come. Have you seen a Schieffer interview lately?

Not just Kansas. They have their beady eyes on Oklahoma, too. Now if they could just focus a bit on Mississippi, it would complete the trifecta of revulsion.

Mullahs are smart. Which party do they deal with – Obama or people who believe in this sort of business of secret handshakes, passwords-to-control-your-own-planet and such?

I gave up on Schieffer interviews when the tapioca on his chin became too distracting.

Since 1980, mullahs have been happy to deal directly with out-of-power Republican traitors. They happily dealt the hostages’ fate with GHWB in Paris before the 1980 election. Then, when he was almost President, they were happy to deal with him again for arms. Let’s face it, if there IS an October surprise this year, it’s more likely to come from the treasonous GOP than anything Axelrod and Plouffe can think up.

Well, that’s true. I suppose I have to semi-retract, and refine my remarks to the extent that:

The Mullahs are smart. And they can probably fool the people who believe in this sort of business of secret handshakes, passwords-to-control-your-own-planet and such.

So what we really need here is someone from the GOP side who’s known to make hasty bone-headed statements before the facts are known, thoroughly embarrassing himself in the process.

Tanbark, c’mon down.

Tweet from CBS correspondent Margaret Brennan (edited for clarity – we don’ need no steenkin’ 140 character limit here):

Senior US Official tells @CBSNews that the EU on behalf of P5+1 is reaching out to the Iranians & if they “get serious” a meeting will be scheduled

{Brief explanation on who the P5+1 coalition is can be found here, but basically it’s Germany and the U.N. permanent Security Council members}

Whatev… could be that the Iranians are just fucking with everyone; they do have some experience in this sort of thing (vide infra).

UncertaintyVicePrincipal @6:
Heh, I’ve been thinking about the various scenarios you offered. Upon reflection, why WOULDN’T the Iranian rulers want the GOP in power here? Given their domestic problems – many due to the international sanctions, and aggravated in their severity by corrupt and/or autocratic governance – it would be a welcome distraction for them to have Teh Great Satan led by the same folks who rid them of their hated archenemy Saddam at their western border [and hey, well done, Iranian intelligence asset Ahmad Chalabi! And you too, Iranian intelligence tools Dick "Dick" Cheney, Paul "comb-sucker" Wolfowitz, Bill Kristol, et al.!].

The modern nation of Iran may not be that old, but the Iranian/Persian culture has been around for millenia, and they’ve picked up a lot of survival tricks over that time; I suppose it was kind of a necessity to do so in that historically rough neighborhood. They’ve already shown they can play the membership of the Friends of Chalabi club like the suckers they are, and since those clowns have obviously learned nothing – their “policies” cannot fail, they can only be failed – why not try it again?

The bonus for the Iranian government: our neocons so horrified our Western allies the last time they were in power, that – unless he backstabs his current neocon pals and puts reasonable (hahahaha) foreign policy specialists in place – a Mittbot win automatically drives a wedge between the U.S. and its allies on a lot of foreign policy matters, including those concerning Iran and Israel. A lovely scenario to contemplate, since things aren’t already sufficiently nasty and confused.

IIRC, one of Dubya’s ‘offers’ was to talk to the Iranians, after they agreed to ‘end’ their nuclear ambitions, ie, acquiesce any semblance of negotiation, prior to the negotiationin’.

Didn’t work then, either.

If an October Surprise worked for Ronnie & Co., why not the 11 dimension chess playin’ community organizer? And if it’s a bullshit trick to fuck w/ Rmoney & his Band of Has-Been Bad Boyz, head asplosions are always a fun treat.

I just might watch this debate.

To tell the truth I don’t trust any of these fuckers especially with Bibi serving the booze. But I think Romney/Frank/Ryan/Bolton/Cheney/Wolfowitz is a guaraanntee for war.

Yeah Mitt, please proceed with how you will “handle” this. What is your strategy. What’s that? Tell them right off the bat where your stand and what you expect. And then if they waver, bring the hammer down. Bibi agrees, you say? Hell yes, we can’t disappoint that man.

Yeah, most of that bunch is into turning countries they don’t like into parking lots.

I’m thinking that were a Preznit Romney to order a Mormon Jihad on Iran, it would pretty much guarantee him (at minimum) 72 hot, underage, virgin sister-wives when he finally lands on the planet Kolob. (There’s your “Magic Underpants Contingency” angle, hiding right out there in plain sight. That’s just the way your hard-core Mormon Bishop-Bot works…)

In an effort to throw the election to their Kenyan sleeper agent so they can export Sharia law to Kansas (and only Kansas because the A-Rabs have a real hard-on for the Godforsaken Hellhole State for some reason) the mad mullahs of Iran have ululated a desire to enter into nuclear talks with the US…

Really?

I worry that Mitt will “push the button” because he is guaranteed a place at the table on Planet Kolob.

I can’t believe I just said that.

“and only Kansas because the A-Rabs have a real hard-on for the Godforsaken Hellhole State for some reason the mad mullahs of Iran have ululated a desire to enter into nuclear talks with the US..”

Ummm, Iranians aren’t Arabs.

Don’t tell the people in Kansas that. Would burst their little, tiny bubble.

Excellent point. If you try to make the distinction to one of the wingnuts, they simply refuse to listen. They’re all Mooslims, doncha know, and therefore they’re all the same, and the main point for all of ‘em is that they HATE US FOR OUR FREEDOMS!!! (on edit)Excuse me, “FREEEEEEEEDOOOMS!!!!!”

But most of the people Romney is targeting electorally either don’t know that or consider it a distinction without a difference.

Whatcha drinkin’, PW? It appears I owe you a beverage…almost used the same phrase, “distinction without a difference.”

Hmmmm…secret negotiations with Iran to influence a presidential election. Where have I heard this before? Oh, wait…

Just to keep it real… you know, there really are Kansans from Iran or Iranian descent that have been here since the 70′s. From my vantage point they are neighbors, and good friends, and hair stylists with tattoos quoting Shakespeare.