Isn't it ironic that effete liberals, who can't see the reality of evil staring them in the face, reckon that it is realistic conservatives who are reality-challenged?

Indeed, the hard left doesn't seem to think Ahmadinejad is that bad a guy or unapproachable. Remember the swooning of the elitist class when the Holocaust denier wrote President Bush a lengthy propaganda letter disguised as an invitation for a dialogue? It was a "thoughtful letter," they panted.

One would think it self-evident that the dictator, who refers to Israel as filthy bacteria, is up to no good and not approachable through diplomacy absent unilateral forfeiture of our best interests and those of our allies; that a one-on-one meeting with the president of the United States would send an enormously discouraging signal to our Middle Eastern allies, including American-friendly Iranians praying for the overthrow of this tyrant; and that you can't gain concessions from thugs such as Ahmadinejad through words alone -- uncoupled with action or credible threats of using force.

But these things are not self-evident to Barack Obama, who comes from the Jimmy Carter school of resolving all doubt in favor of our enemies, as he did when he blamed the Bush administration instead of NATO for NATO's failure to help us in Afghanistan.

Of a piece with this disturbing mindset of deferring to our enemies or other foreign nations is Obama's recent pronouncement: "We can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times … and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK. That's not leadership. That's not going to happen." Says who? By what authority?

To defeat Barack Obama in November, John McCain won't need to dig up dirt on Obama; he'll only have to introduce voters to the real Obama.