Bush, calling himself “kind of a hardliner,” said out loud what other leaders won’t — that he believes there’ll be a temptation for the public to buckle and think peace is an option.

“It’s not going to take long for people [to say]: ‘It’s gone on too long. Surely, there’s a way to settle this through negotiations. Both sides are guilty,'” Bush, 77, said on Tuesday at a private event near Santa Barbara, Calif.

“My view is: One side is guilty. And it’s not Israel.”

[Good for George W. Bush, who goes on to slap at Obama and Biden without naming either for their attempts to “accommodate Iran.” He also warns about the inclination toward negotiations when the fight goes on for a while, which is what led to the last remark in the excerpt. Watch it all. — Ed]