In a media call organized by the Center for American Progress Action Fund and the National Security Network, three Democrats attacked John McCain’s speech at AIPAC: Mara Rudman, Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress Action Fund and an Adviser to Middle East Progress; Jon B. Alterman, Director and Senior Fellow of the CSIS Middle East Program; and Rand Beers, President of the National Security Network.

They repeated the Democratic canard that McCain’s speech showed he was “stuck in the Bush administration.” They advocated broaders steps to engage Iran, contended that McCain’s sanctions approach would not work, and called it a “mischaracterization” of Barack Obama’s position that Obama wants to “rush off to Tehran.” They also criticized the speech which they said did not have “a whole heck of a lot” to say about Israel. Apparently, they do not recognize Iran or Iraq as related to Israel’s security and therefore consider those comments off topic.

I asked if the Bush administration had in fact not already gone down the negotiation road, deferring to the Europeans. Beers responded that it was a mistake to allow the Europeans to become the “interlocutors” and that the current talks do not address nuclear issues. He reiterated the view that what was needed was direct talks and that ratcheting up the pressure on Iran simply won’t work.

But when I questioned why it was incorrect to say that Obama was “rushing off to Tehran,” things got a bit hot and heavy. They denied that was his position, pointing to recent interviews. When I asked about his own website and his response in the CNN/YouTube debate, they insisted I quote those comments, not accepting my offer to read them at CONTENTIONS (or the many other outlets where they have been reported). I tried again, asking if the website comments and earlier remarks evincing his willingness to talk directly to Ahmadinejad were “inoperative,” they accused the McCain camp of wanting to muddy the waters. In short, none of the three was willing to acknowledge that Obama still wanted to have direct, unconditional talks OR to acknowledge that his position had changed.

And, as if on cue, with John McCain AIPAC speech we have this report:

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad predicted on Monday that Muslims would uproot “satanic powers” and repeated his controversial belief that Israel will soon disappear, the Mehr news agency reported. “I must announce that the Zionist regime (Israel), with a 60-year record of genocide, plunder, invasion and betrayal is about to die and will soon be erased from the geographical scene,” he said.

And these foreign policy “experts” critiquing McCain don’t see what Iran has to do with Israel? I can understand why they are so touchy about those old YouTube clips.