The much ballyhooed CNN-YouTube debates were of course stage managed into stupor except for one moment in which Barry answered a question about whether he would meet with the leaders of various dictatorships.

Unqualified yes--within a year of assuming office.

Hillary was more circumspect. She'd pursue vigorous diplomacy (whatever that means) but would be cautious about being used for propaganda purposes. She later commented in an interview that she thought Barry's response was naive and irresponsible.

OK--but so what? These two are vying for the Democrat primary nomination and this naive and irresponsible stuff is extremely popular with the moonbats. Eschaton, one of the less nutty blogs, had this to say.

This is just bringing us back into the stupid parameters of debate established by the Bush administration. I don't want the country to stay in that very stupid place. We need leaders who are willing to get us out of that spider hole of stupidity.

I'm not claiming there's a direct contradiction here. In the latest round Clinton's talking about presidential meetings, instead of just standard diplomacy. But these distinctions are rather unimportant. Either in general terms it's important to reach out to the leaders of countries we have disagreements with or it isn't.

Black and white, cut and dried--this is the "reality-based" community. Nuance is foreign concept to these children.

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago after the announcement that North Korea was taking some initial actions to dismantle their nuclear program--even the hyper-partisan Juan Williams (PR) had to admit that the six party talks were the right strategy for dealing with North Korea. The Bush administration--wisely--didn't even want to talk to these guys one-on-one, much less meet with Kim Jong-il.

The left have this idea that if we can just explain it to them, they'll be reasonable and compromise with us. In the real world, negotiations are about leverage. No leverage, no negotiation--its just that simple. Don't believe me? Go ask for a raise. If you have no leverage with your boss, you aren't getting a raise. If on the other hand, you're a major earner for the company, your chances of getting what you want are excellent.

Being seen as an equal with the president of the U.S.A. on the world stage is a major bargaining chip. You've got to have some pretty serious bargaining power to merit it and the economically clueless left just wants to give it away.

Except of course Hillary Clinton.