Iran was the topic of the day on the Sunday Morning talk shows. Republican presidential hopeful John McCain laid out the basic problem to George Stephanopoulos on This Week, saying

“This is the most unstable part of the world right now. The Iranians have dedicated themselves to a certain proposition, and that is the extinction of the state of Israel. They continue to foment unrest and terrorism in the region, they support terrorist organizations, so this is a major challenge for America.”

On Face the Nation, Sen. Carl Levin explained how he would take care of the Iranian problem:

“I think the sanctions are the right way to go. A lot of diplomatic pressure, a lot of economic pressure. Most importantly, keep the world together against Iran. Right now we've got most of the world, I think just about every country, that does not want Iran to have a nuclear weapon. It's in no one's interest that they have it, and I think most countries, including Russia, as well as Israel, obviously, but other countries in the region are not going to stand by and just simply watch if Iran gets to the point where they actually are getting to a nuclear weapon.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham wasn’t sure that sanctions are the most effective way to handle Iranian ambitions:

“Well, I have a little different take. I think Russia's sending all the wrong signals to Iran. When the Russian president goes to Iran and does a news conference with the Iranian president, embraces him, calls for other nations not to consider attacking Iran, it sends the wrong signal. I think the United Nations efforts to sanction Iran have been pitiful because of Russian--Russia and China vetoing a resolution. The European Union has some sanctions; they're fairly weak.”

And on Fox News Sunday, Bill Kristol chided Sen. Barack Obama and his Democratic colleagues for his naïve (lack of a) response to Iran’s increased activity within Iraq’s borders.

“Is the position of the Democratic party and Senator Obama that the Revolutionary Guard sends those rockets into [Iraq], trains fighters to fire against and try to kill … American soldiers, and we’re to do nothing. Nothing. No sanctions, no pressure, just talk to them, try to persuade them to be nice guys. Is that really the position the Democratic party wants to take?”

Also on Fox News Sunday, there was this exchange between first lady Laura Bush and Chris Wallace inspired by an item that appeared last week on THE WORLDWIDE STANDARD: