WHAT REAL HAWKISHNESS...

WHAT REAL HAWKISHNESS LOOKS LIKE. Lest everyone get so entangled in parsing the statements of Democrats that they forget the country contains a lot of people to the right of Iowa caucus-goers, here's what a real Iran hawk sounds like. Here's John McCain on Meet the Press in 2004:

SEN. McCAIN: [T]his is a harsh comment, but at the end of the day, it's the United States of America that may have to act if we act, but I hope that we can dissuade them through other means. Well, of course, the first attempt would be to get the United Nations Security Council to impose sanctions. So we'll see, but it's a very great challenge....MR. RUSSERT: What's our timetable? How much time do we have for Iran to stand down?SEN. McCAIN: I don't know. I would think we're talking about a matter of months rather than years.

Note the complete absence of any call for negotiations, and the suggestion that a military confrontation would be necessary some time in 2005. Or look at his statements on Face the Nation in January 2006:

Ms. JAN CRAWFORD GREENBURG (Chicago Tribune): Senator, Iran appears intent now on moving ahead with its nuclear program. Its president appears to be a dangerous de-stabilizing force. What can we do there? Do you envision a scenario which the United States could take military action? Sen. McCAIN: This is the most grave situation that we have faced since the end of the Cold War, absent the whole war on terror. The Iranians showed their face when their president came to the UN and advocated the eradication of the state of Israel from the Earth. We must go to the UN now for sanctions. If the Russians and the Chinese, for reasons that would be abominable, do not join us, then we would have to go with the willing. This is a very tough situation. There's only one thing worse than the United States exercising a military option. That is a nuclear-armed Iran. Now military option is the last option but cannot be taken off of the table....Sen. McCAIN: It is. I think that the president is faced with no good option, but I think as opposed to the Iranians proceeding and some say as short a period as six months they will have at least acquired the technological capability if not the absolute manufacture of these weapons and the possibility of Israel feeling they may have to act, or them acting against Israel.

Again, no call for negotiations, a willingness to go forward without important allies, and a unambiguous statement on behalf of military intervention, all combined with a suggestion that Iran could develop nuclear weapons within months. That's what a real hawk marching to war (or, to use McCain's more favored and not-loaded-at-all term, "Armageddon") looks like.

--Garance Franke-Ruta