Andrew, the issue may be less the talk and more the who. The U.S. is talking to Iran. Ryan Crocker is leading those talks. I would imagine that Zalmay Khalilzad inserting himself into an ongoing process when he may not be briefed fully on positions and policies could raise some rankles.

And, as the folks at PowerLine pointed out, the fact that he did so after the moderator gratuitously insulted Zalmay’s predecessor, was unfortunate.