SENATORS TO BAMA:  GET TOUGH WITH IRAN - AT 7:51 A.M. ET:  Now members of Congress, apparently sensing Obama's rapid decline, are pushing him to toughen his stand on Iran, writing instructions into legislation.  We'll see if liberals can stop this, or will even try:

Republican Senators Jon Kyl and John McCain, Independent Senator Joseph Lieberman, and Democratic Senator Evan Bayh urged the president to prepare sanctions targeting the Central Bank of Iran in the case of a diplomatic stalemate.

The four lawmakers introduced a bill calling on the president to act if Iran does not accept his offer of direct talks before a late September summit of the Group of 20 or fails to freeze uranium enrichment and reprocessing activities 60 days after that.

"Whether one believes 'engaging' directly with the regime in Teheran will accomplish anything, there is no question that time is of the essence," AFP quoted Kyl, the chamber's number two Republican as saying.

"Every day that passes is time that the Iranians use to perfect a nuclear weapon and stockpile nuclear weapons material," said Kyl.

COMMENT:  Good move.  Let's see if the White House is smart enough to encourage passage rather than demand its prerogatives in foreign policy.  Someone must be looking at the poll numbers.  You can be sure Hillary is, at whatever hotel she's in today.

July 21, 2009