QUOTE OF THE DAY - AT 5:07 P.M. ET:  From the increasingly important Stephen Hayes of the Weekly Standard:

The fundamental problem with the Obama administration's approach to Iran is that it treats the nature of the regime as an unknown. Back in June, after a week of mayhem and murder by the regime in the streets of Tehran, Obama said: "I'm very concerned, based on some of the tenor and tone of the statements that have been made, that the government of Iran recognize that the world is watching. And how they approach and deal with people who are, through peaceful means, trying to be heard will, I think, send a pretty clear signal to the international community about what Iran is-and is not."

He was right. And the signal was clear to everyone but those determined to ignore it: The Iranian regime is corrupt, despotic, and willing to use terror internally and externally to achieve its goals. And the lesson of its repeated lies about its nuclear program is equally clear: The Iranian regime will stop at nothing to acquire nuclear weapons.

In some respects, the news of the second Iranian facility makes it harder for Obama to pretend that the Iranian regime is something it's not.

COMMENT:  Hayes is correct, but the Obama administration, led by a supreme egotist, is determined to prove that it can negotiate with anyone, and succeed. 

My great fear is that Iran will agree to something we seek, drag out negotiations over details for months, then sign some kind of deal, allowing Obama, umbrella in hand, to return to the United States bringing us "peace in our time."   Meanwhile, the Iranians will cheat, hide and deflect, and do exactly what they would have done with no agreement.

September 30,  2009