Atlantic magazine’s Jeffrey Goldberg has just published a story on the prospect of Israel launching a military attack on Iran. In that article, Goldberg reveals that Vice President Cheney urged Bush to attack Iran, but that Bush vetoed the idea, and also “discouraged the Israelis from carrying out the attack on their own.” Not only that, but Bush would apparently often mock his aides and commentators who wanted him to attack Iran, referring to neo-con columnists Charles Krauthammer and William Kristol as “the bomber boys.” It’s scary that we had to rely on George W. Bush to be the person to show some common sense in the White House, but thank God he wasn’t swayed by the neo-cons in his midst whose answer to any international problem is always “bomb, bomb, bomb."

• Stalwart defender of common sense in the White House, Pres. George W. Bush