On the heels of a geopolitically troubling report by the Washington Post’s David Ignatius that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta anticipates “that Israel will attack Iran over the next few months”, hawkish former UN Ambassador John Bolton spoke with Fox News’ Megyn Kelly about the potential military response if a war between the two nations broke out. “I don’t think we will be able to stay out and I don’t think it’s in our interest to stay out,” Bolton exclaimed.

Washington Post writer David Ignatius is reporting Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s biggest fears are the growing possibilities “that Israel will attack Iran over the next few months.”

Over the weekend, CBS’ 60 Minutes offered an in-depth profile on Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, a man who is, very likely, best known for his role as CIA Director — a role that saw him presiding over the covert operations that resulted in the discovery and death of Osama bin Laden. As Secretary of Defense, Panetta is the person who would be responsible for launching a nuclear missile from the so-called “Doomsday Plane” should the President give the order.

On Sunday’s Meet The Press, David Gregory called out surging Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum on a speech he gave last month to a Republican Jewish Coalition Candidates Forum, comparing President Obama‘s foreign policy to appeasement during World War II. “How can that possibly be accurate, if you take an objective look at the foreign policy of this administration? What on Iran, specifically, separates the approach that President Obama has taken and that of President Bush?”

Newt Gingrich was a guest on Fox and Friends for two segments Thursday morning, live from a diner in Sioux City, Iowa, and while the first half of the interview tended to be more jokey and banal, he managed to take some pointed shots at President Obama and his administration over their handling of foreign affairs when he returned after the commercial break.

Former Iowa Caucuses-winner Mike Huckabee apparently wants to spend his post-Christmas days deleting hate mail from his inbox. In an interview with Fox News Sunday‘s Chris Wallace, Huckabee delivered a fairly blistering assessment of Iowa frontrunner Rep. Ron Paul and his “fanatical believers.”

At this point, Rush Limbaugh‘s offensive against Rep. Ron Paul has become something of a regular feature on his program. So it’s not entirely surprising that Limbaugh’s anti-Paulism has seeped into his commercials, too– or at least in parody. This week, Limbaugh debuted a “pro” Rep. Paul ad that featured the “candidate” arguing “the greatest danger is not from Iran, it’s from us overreacting.” Surely this will go over well with Paul fans.

Rush Limbaugh tore into Ron Paul ‘s statements at last night’s debate — not sanctioning Iran even if they had actionable intelligence that Iran had a nuclear weapon. “We never talk that way about the Russians, the only reason they want nuclear weapons is because we’re making them do it. It’s our fault! If you were in Iran and you had to face these evil Americans, you’d want to bomb too!” mocked the radio talk show host.

During Thursdays Republican presidential debate, Ron Paul and Michele Bachmann came to blows over national security. “With all due respect to Ron Paul, I think I have never heard a more dangerous answer for American security than the one that we just heard from Ron Paul,” Bachmann exclaimed. “Why were we flying a drone over Iran?” Paul responded. “Why do we have to bomb so many countries?”

Rep. Ron Paul got an unexpected shoutout tonight from the other side of the aisle, as Rachel Maddow noted, after her extended interview with Vice President Joe Biden, that only Rep. Paul among the Republican candidates vocally opposed war with Iran. The comment came in response to the “pride” Maddow said she felt in the Vice President when he discussed the end of the war in Iraq, and his opposition to a second attack.

During a press conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, President Obama responded to a question about the downed spy drone that was captured in Iran. “As has already been indicated, we’ve asked for it back. We’ll see how the Iranians respond.”

Rick Santorum appeared on CNN’s State of the Union earlier today, and he addressed his accusation least week that the Obama administration engages in appeasement. The president responded by suggesting people ask Osama bin Laden and other terrorists he’s killed under his administration if he favors appeasement. When Candy Crowley took issue with how Santorum was accusing Obama of appeasement, Santorum incredulously interrupted to tell Crowley she wasn’t being accurate.

Video footage of a captured US drone, called “one of America’s most valuable intelligence assets”, was shown on Iranian television Thursday evening.

As we wind down the clock on 2011 (Guys, why are still using winding clocks in 2011? Go digital!), a lot of people are making predictions about the year to come. With the Mayans already having staked a claim on one of the biggies, most pundits are focusing their predictions on the coming election. Yesterday, The Five‘s Kimberly Guilfoyle predicted that President Obama already had the election “wrapped up.” Today, Donald Trump shared his two dollars (rich men’s thoughts are worth more than two measly cents) by predicting that, to win the election, Obama would launch a war with Iran.

Given that tonight’s CNN debate is focused exclusively on foreign policy, Rep. Ron Paul has been getting many of the questions and answering, predictably, in a much different manner than many of his fellow candidates. On the most delicate foreign policy issue in the Republican Party, however, the defense of Israel, Rep. Paul did not back down on his refusal to intertwine himself in their foreign affairs, telling the audience tonight that he would not support materially an attack on Iran by Israel.

With Rep. Ron Paul consistently near the top of Republican polls since the presidential campaigns started at full speed, the Congressman’s libertarian policies are receiving increased scrutiny. On tonight’s O’Reilly Factor, host Bill O’Reilly and Brit Hume discussed Rep. Paul’s appearance on Face the Nation, where host Bob Schieffer took him to task on his position on a nuclear Iran. Rep. Paul’s answers, O’Reilly contended, were “dangerous stuff,” for someone who would want to be President.

Rep. Ron Paul was on the receiving end of some of the hardest questions he has taken since the 2012 campaign for president began, perhaps not in small part due to his recurring appearance at the top of Republican polls. On today’s Face the Nation, Bob Schieffer pressed Rep. Paul to explain how his attitude towards American foreign policy did not amount to “saying Americans caused 9/11,” and how he would deal with Iran in a way that would guarantee safety.

Are GOP presidential candidates committing treason by openly discussing covert operations in Iran? That is what CNN implicitly suggested in a report today on The Situation Room.

“We don’t have to talk about that, nor should anyone who wants to go into public office. So what we see with current debates and discussions about covert operations, specifically against Iran or other potential nations or entities, should be eliminated. That needs to stop,” said retired Army intelligence general James Marx.

At Saturday night’s Republican presidential debate on national security and foreign policy, co-frontrunner Mitt Romney and others harshly criticized President Obama‘s efforts to prevent Iran from gaining a nuclear weapon, based on a recent IAEA report. At a press conference in Hawaii Sunday evening, President Obama brushed off the “shocking” criticism, and saying that anyone who oversimplifies the issue “is either politicking, or doesn’t know what they’re talking about.”

Who knew that almost fifty years later, the legacy of President John F. Kennedy would arouse such passionate feelings in people? Chris Matthews, who was on Real Time with Bill Maher tonight to promote his new book about the late president, was naturally very defensive of the Kennedy legacy, and went at it rather passionately with fellow panelist Andrew Sullivan over Kennedy’s foreign policy credentials and whether he was a militaristic hawk while in office.

Herman Cain has a lot of problems on his plate, but he is facing the cameras, and tonight did another extended interview, this time with Bill O’Reilly. While he spent half the interview discussing the recent sexual harassment charges, it is the second half of the interview– on foreign policy– where Cain lets out some new views, including the fact that a war with Iran doesn’t seem to phase him, nor does he consider putting warships on the Persian Gulf a “provocation.”

It’s been an earth-shattering week for Middle Eastern dictators, and with the fall of Muammar Gaddafi, many in the region are turning their eyes towards Syria’s Bashar al-Assad and Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, as their people continue to struggle (though less violently) from within to free themselves from their regime. Ahmadinejad, meanwhile, is doing a round of media in America, talking to Fareed Zakaria in an interview airing tomorrow on CNN, and asking that the international community respect Syria’s relationship with its citizens.

Rep. Ron Paul is guaranteed to deliver an offbeat comment or drag in a topic no one else on the stage will during almost any Republican debate, but this time around, he knocked the wind out of the sails of his colleagues by taking a swipe at the most venerated figure in his party. Yes, Rep. Paul asked his colleagues to condemn President Ronald Reagan for exchanging arms for hostages in Iran during his tenure. Naturally, he mostly got crickets as a response.

Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch, a Democrat who endorsed Republican Bob Turner in New York’s 9th District special election for the Anthony Weiner seat to “send a message to Obama to take a stronger position in support of Israel,” told MSNBC’s Rev. Al Sharpton last night that he is “back on board the bus,” and will campaign for the President’s reelection. Koch recounted, for Sharpton’s PoliticsNation viewers, the conversation he had with the President that changed his mind.

To the untrained eye it might seem that Norah O’Donnell of CBS should be buying a beer for White House Press Secretary Jay Carney right now to make up for her hardcore follow-up questioning at this afternoon’s press briefing on how the United States would be reacting to the attempted assassination attempt of Adel A. Al-Jubeir, the Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the United States. Mediaite’s own White House reporter Tommy Christopher assures me this kind of questioning is routine at White House briefings.