Appeasers Everywhere

James Rubin notes that just a couple of years ago John McCain was talking like Neville Chamberlain:

I asked: "Do you think that American diplomats should be operating the way they have in the past, working with the Palestinian government if Hamas is now in charge?"

McCain answered: "They're the government; sooner or later we are going to have to deal with them, one way or another, and I understand why this administration and previous administrations had such antipathy towards Hamas because of their dedication to violence and the things that they not only espouse but practice, so . . . but it's a new reality in the Middle East. I think the lesson is people want security and a decent life and decent future, that they want democracy. Fatah was not giving them that."

Well, um, times change I guess. And look who wants to negotiate with Iran -- it's Secretary of Defense Robert Gates! Note also the 2004 Council on Foreign Relations Task Force on co-chaired by Gates that released the very sensible "Iran: Time for a New Approach" report. And, yes, the new approach was not a McCain-style "bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran."