I missed the smackdown on FOX News Sunday this week when Tony Snow revealed Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia as the blithering, nonsensical mope that he is. But here are the highlights:

ROCKEFELLER: Tony, if you listen to that as an average American person would, you and — at least myself included, that is talking about the danger of an immediate attack. And, in fact, the intelligence committee, the one thing they did not say was that there was — we were in danger of being attacked in this country.

SNOW: But, Senator…

ROCKEFELLER: They did not say that there was…

SNOW: I’m sorry, I just — I don’t — we’ve done a lot of research on this. And the president never said — and we’ve been looking for it because you and a lot of your colleagues have said that he’s proposed — he talked about imminent threat. And he never did. As a matter of fact, the key argument — was it not? — that you can’t wait for it to become an imminent threat because then it’s too late.

ROCKEFELLER: No, the argument, Tony, was based upon — I was there, and I heard the speech very close, and he was talking about weapons of mass destruction, biological, chemical and nuclear. And that was more or less signed off on by the intelligence committee, which raises a whole other set of questions.

So Rockefeller is arguing that Americans were duped into supporting the war because the threat was “imminent”. Bush’s point in the SOTU was that it isn’t imminent and that we can’t wait for it to be so. Rockefeller seems to have heard something different.

SNOW: All right, Senator, let me read to you a quote from another speech you attended. As a matter of fact, you gave it a year and two days ago.

You said this: “There’s been some debate over how imminent a threat Iraq poses. I do believe that Iraq poses an imminent threat.” That’s what you said.

“But I also believe that after September 11th, the question is increasingly outdated. It is in the nature of these weapons and the way they are targeted against civilian populations, the documented capability and demonstrated intent may be the only warning we get. To insist on further evidence could put some of our fellow Americans at risk. Can we afford to take that chance? We cannot.”

What made you change your mind?

ROCKEFELLER: That’s correct. And that is what I felt at the time that I cast that vote, based upon the intelligence community’s analysis of the situation, particularly weapons of mass destruction, and what the president said in his speech.

Maybe he suffers from multiple personality disorder. Or maybe he just doesn’t care about things he once said, because no one else does.

SNOW: This is your speech from October 10th, 2002.

ROCKEFELLER: Right.

SNOW: You said, “But this isn’t just a future threat. Saddam’s existing biological and chemical weapons capabilities pose a very real threat to America now. Saddam has used chemical weapons before. He is working to develop delivery systems like missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles that could bring these deadly weapons against U.S. forces and U.S. facilities in the Middle East.”

And that indeed is what David Kay reported to Congress last week, is it not?

Snow kept after him:

ROCKEFELLER: I just go back to — I understand, Tony, that you’re giving me what I said when I made that vote, because when I made that vote, I wanted to, you know, give the president the authorization to go to the United Nations. I fully felt that he would be able to get help from the United Nations. And it turned out that he didn’t really make that much of an effort and hasn’t since.

SNOW: Whoa, whoa, whoa.

ROCKEFELLER: He has another chance…

SNOW: What do you mean, he hasn’t made an effort? I mean, this was a president — you got United Nations Resolution 1441. The resolution that you adopted in the United States Congress mentions 11 different United Nations resolutions, and also mentions the fact that the United Nations had not made good on them, and supported the president in using force.

You also said that the threat of force had made it possible at least for the U.N. to act, and you said the U.N. would not have acted in the absence of such a threat.

What makes you think the United Nations has been helpful on this?

Game, set, match. Snow is an excellent interviewer. Easily as good as Russert, who is also a bulldog. I may have to start watching the Sunday morning talk shows again.