Given the size and pace of events this week, I actually forgot to mention that five former Secretaries of State urged America to directly engage with Iran and eschew belligerent rhetoric towards Russia and China. Colin Powell, Madeleine Albright, Warren Christopher, James Baker, and Henry Kissinger all appeared together and agreed that America's petulant stance towards perceived enemies and threats was ridiculous. Put sightly differently, they agreed that John McCain's petulant stance towards perceived enemies and threats was ridiculous. That level of unanimity from most all the living representatives of America's executive-level foreign policy tradition is a big deal, and the sort of thing that it would be interesting to see John McCain asked about at the debates.
