Why won’t she say it? Because, and I quote, “The political situation in Iran is for the Iranians to work out internally.” Now, based on that statement alone, what’s the painfully obvious follow-up question? Right: Why that principle doesn’t also apply to Honduras. Reliable O-bot Andrea Mitchell never asks, of course, choosing to toss a softball instead about America’s defense of Zelaya to which Rice replies, amazingly, “A coup is a coup.” Well, no — the whole point of the double standard between Honduras and Iran is that a coup isn’t a coup when acknowledging it would force Obama into a confrontation he doesn’t want. In fact, Iran’s rigging of the election was a vastly more egregious coup than what went down in Honduras given the unified legislative, judicial, and military support for ousting Zelaya. The fact that she can sit here and make two statements like that with a straight face in the span of minutes is proof either of amazing cognitive dissonance or a willingness to lie bordering on the Orwellian. And based on the leaks coming out of the State Department about Hillary begging Obama to get tougher with Iran, it sounds like not everyone in the administration’s real happy about it.

Incidentally, amid possible photographic evidence of what a fraud the election was and Basij threats to have Mousavi arrested and prosecuted, not only Mousavi himself but fellow candidate Mehdi Karroubi are openly calling Ahmadinejad’s government “illegitimate”. Like it or not, The One’s going to end up having to pick a side here and siding with the regime simply isn’t viable politically. The only question is when he’ll throw in with Mousavi. Tick tock.