SCHULTZ: Joining me now is Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana. He‘s a member of the Senate Intelligence and Armed Services Committee.

Senator, do you agree with me on this, or do you think the president should inject himself more in this process?

SEN. EVAN BAYH (D), INDIANA: Ed, I think president has been the right combination of both tough and smart on this issue. He‘s put us squarely on the side of the forces of reform with Iran unequivocally, he‘s condemned the violence, but he‘s done it in a smart way.

The people who would be most elated about us overtly meddling in the internal affairs of Iran would be the reactionaries, the mullahs. They would use it as an excuse, Ed, to change the narrative away from their oppression and the fraudulent election toward imperialism, western influence, and that kind of thing.

And so right now, they are losing with their own people. They‘re losing with world opinion. Let‘s not let them change the subject.

SCHULTZ: Senator, do you think that the Republicans are saber-rattling right now? Do you think John McCain and Lindsey Graham have gone too far? I mean, we‘re in the infancy of this crisis right now in Iran, and here they are playing politics trying to blame the president for not being aggressive enough.

Are they saber-rattling?

BAYH: I think it‘s largely semantic differences. I would love to know from my two friends, what are the magic words?

I mean, the president has unequivocally endorsed the Democratic movement in Iran, he‘s condemned the violence, he‘s said, look, people have a right to assemble, to speak. That should be honored. So you‘ve got to be a little careful. When you go too far out rhetorically, you can run into a situation as happened in Iraq in the early ‘90s when we encourage encouraged the shia there to rise up, then did nothing for them when Saddam Hussein brutally oppressed them and killed thousands of them.

So we‘re for the people there, but let‘s not give the regime an excuse for more bloodletting.

SCHULTZ: Well, you just said something interesting. You said you‘d like to know what the magic words are. So you like the way the president is playing this right now by not overplaying his hand.

What about the Iranian people who want a dialogue with the West? Do you think that they feel that we are doing enough? Do you think that President Obama is doing enough?

BAYH: What I hear-and we get some reports in the Intelligence Committee-Ed, is that is even the reformers in Iran don‘t want us to be overtly meddling in their affairs because they know that would give the regime a pretext for their crackdowns. And look, there‘s a long history there of foreign intervention, and there‘s a deep wellspring of national pride in that country.

So, we run the risk, Ed, of harming the very people we hope to help if we overplay our hand. This is a complex, rapidly evolving situation. We need to speak unequivocally to our values and put ourselves on the right side of freedom and history in that country, but do it in a smart way, not just lashing out in a way that actually undercuts the cause that we hope to advance. I think the president has struck the right balance in a pretty delicate situation.

SCHULTZ: OK. He struck the right balance in this situation right now. But if this violence continues, and if this unrest continues, and there are more lives lost-there‘s 17 to count right now-should the president become more aggressive? Should we do more or should this be our tone throughout this entire crisis?

What do you think?

BAYH: Well, ,you‘ve got to react to events. And clearly if the bloodshed continues, you‘ve got to, you know, go even further by condemning that.

I‘ve been advocating something for some time, Ed, with regard to their nuclear program, that we need to impose really tough economic sanctions when it comes to their imports of gasoline. That could really damage the Iranian economy at a time when they‘re already vulnerable.

And you know what, Ed? By the regime being as reactionary as it‘s been, it has rallied world opinion against them and could strengthen our call for that kind of tough financial and economic action. So I would encourage the president to consider that with regard to their nuclear program.

SCHULTZ: Senator Bayh, good to have you with us tonight on THE ED SHOW.

Thanks so much.

BAYH: Always a pleasure.

SCHULTZ: You bet.

For more, let me turn to Republican Congressman Darrell Issa of California.

There are a number of those in the Congress who think that the United States should be more hawkish in this situation. Congressman Issa is going to be joining us in just a moment.

The president has taken quite a bit of criticism from those on the right who think that he hasn‘t injected himself enough, that he hasn‘t led this potentially revolutionary move. When you have 17 people getting killed on the streets of Iran, obviously these people are making a statement. And some in the Congress think the president should do more. Short of military action, I would think.

Congressman Issa joins us now here on THE ED SHOW.

Congressman, what should President Obama be doing? Many have said that he‘s not doing enough. Where do you stand on this?

REP. DARRELL ISSA ®, CALIFORNIA: Well, the president‘s playing catch-up right now. The biggest challenge is that he didn‘t get into the story earlier.

In the House, Congressman Mike Pence really led having the House denounce the violence against protesters. That‘s really what the president has to do. He has to catch up on that, on the human rights part of it.

Senator Bayh just talked about the fraudulent election. I wouldn‘t go there. I don‘t think the president has to get into the internal politics of the election, but he has to stand up for people being oppressed.

Remember, this is a regime that is killing people in Israel. It‘s caused Palestinians to kill fellow Palestinians. It backed the revolution-the civil war in Lebanon. There‘s 30 years‘ worth of history of this regime helping foment violence around the world. So it is one where we should not be ambiguous about the repression of their own people.

SCHULTZ: Well, Congressman, what are the magic words? What do you want to hear President Obama say or do? You say he‘s doing catch-up. What‘s his play right now? What do you want him to do short of military action, I assume?

ISSA: Well, first of all, I think he should go to the United Nations with a resolution denouncing this, because Iran, for better or worse, does want to be part of the league of our nations, and they do look to the United Nations. That‘s where we could look at the Security Council and even the General Assembly and denounce the violence against the individual citizens there.

That‘s a real threat. It has real teeth to the people running Iran, because they don‘t want to be isolated.

As Senator Bayh said, and rightfully so, we could look at getting with our allies and suspending gasoline as a form of bringing them simply to stop killing their own people on the streets. But, like China after Tiananmen Square, we have to say that this has to change, that people have human rights, that have civil rights, even in this country, and we stand for that.

SCHULTZ: So I‘m hearing you, Congressman, say that you think that President Obama should encourage revolution in that country?

ISSA: No, not at all.

SCHULTZ: OK.

ISSA: He should-just like in China, we did not back Tiananmen Square and talk about the people who gave their lives there from a standpoint of revolution. We talked about the ability for people to express and have freedoms.

And China‘s not perfect, and they‘ve got a long way to go. But after Tiananmen Square, they began looking at a new bargain, a new way of doing business in China.

China‘s still a mess, but at least in China there‘s communication. In Iran, they‘ve shut down communication. They‘ve thrown the American journalists out.

That‘s where we can go to the United Nations and to the countries around and say we only expect you to treat your own people civilly. If they‘re nonviolent, you have to be nonviolent. We can do this and we can do this with the many nations surrounding them.

SCHULTZ: OK. Congressman, good to have you on with us tonight.

ISSA: Thank you, Ed.

SCHULTZ: Thanks so much for your opinion.