by Mark Silva
What would John McCain do?
Certaiinly not what he joked about on the campaign trail more than two years ago: "Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran.''
But the revelation, corroborated by European allies, that Iran has secretly built a uranium-enriching facility underground which, according to Western estimates, goes far beyond any requirements for developing the fuel for civil nuclear power generation, raises, once again, a long-ago asked question that was posed to the Republican who ultimately carried his party's nomination for the White House : When will the U.S. send some "air mail'' to Iran explaining how serious it is about nuclear proliferation?
"That old, eh, that old Beach Boys song, Bomb Iran," McCain said in jest on the early campaign trail in South Carolina, softly singing, "Bomb, bomb, bomb, anyway, ah ..."
The quip was prompted by a man in the audience who asked: "How many times do we have to prove that these people are blowing up people now, nevermind if they get a nuclear weapon, when do we send 'em an airmail message to Tehran?"
When the joking was done, the Arizona Republican went on to explain that he agreed with then-President Bush that the United States must protect Israel from Iran and work to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. McCain had long said the military option should not be taken off the table, but that it should be used only as a last resort. That's what Bush said, at a European Union summit in Brussels, in 2005.
And that, in fact, is what President Barack Obama said today, after a long day in which U.S. allies underscored the severity of the situation in the now-disclosed, though apparently long-known intelligence about Iran's enrichment facility. The military option, that "air-mail'' from the Pentagon, is the last resort in a long-running international camapign to stop Tehran from building a bomb.
Today, what John McCain would do, had he been elected president of the United States, probably is not much different from what Obama did about the newest publicly revealed threat of Iran's nuclear ambitions.
Gordnn Brown, the Briitsh prime minister, said standing alongside Obama today, that "a line in the sand" has been drawn. Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, said that Iran must comply with its obligations to report its developments and permit inspection by the United Nations' nuclear enegy agency by December, or face new sanctions..
None of them are saying what McCain only joked about in 2007, and all of them, including McCain, are probably glad about that today..
Comments
If McCain and the Wingnut mouth-breathers had won the election in 2008 the college Republican chickenhawks would have a third (Iran) stupid war that they would have to dodge...in the name of "freedom".
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFGit_tZDqs
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Posted by: Repugs are idiots | September 25, 2009 11:01 PM
Speaking of Republican foreign policy disasters....
Nobody disses better than the Brits.
"Mangling everything in its path, Typhoon Sarah blows in to Asia"
"Grotesque, unprecedented, bizarre, unbelievable. Sarah Palin was all of that in Hong Kong yesterday. And more. Dressed in a cutesy virgin-white blouse and black skirt with the infamous bee-hive hairdo, she was a blessing to every predicting spectator."
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http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-mangling-everything-in-its-path-typhoon-sarah-blows-in-to-asia-1792305.html
Posted by: I'mAnemicRoyalty | September 26, 2009 12:55 AM
So, Mark you believe that Obama is just continueing the policies of the Bush Administration and that nothing has changed. The same old failed policies as Obama pointed out are now the status quo. "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss." Fooled again, indeed. Either Obama continues the policies of the Bush administration or of the Carter administration. My guess is that he will not support Israel, just like Carter. Will continue down the pathetic path of indecision, and we will lose Afghanistan. The Taliban will then threaten to take over Pakistan, which has the bomb, bomb, bomb you all. And then we end up in a BIG war. It's a pattern that the democrats have. Don't deal with problems until they are catastrophic.
Posted by: Gary | September 26, 2009 3:59 AM
It's kinda hard to make Iran the pariah when Israel has a nuclear arsenal aimed at her, isn't it?
Posted by: Milton Friedman | September 26, 2009 9:07 AM
So, what Mr. Swamp is saying is that Obama is finally coming around to advocate the same as Bush and McCain. Wow. That will sure set well with the anti-American, anti-war-for-any-reason leftwing crowd in San Francisco...and Chicago.
Posted by: Danforth | September 26, 2009 9:36 AM
Milton Bradley: Only a simpleton would try to equate the leadership, governance, or rationality of Israel with that of Iran. Apples and oranges.
Posted by: Liberalsatthegates | September 26, 2009 12:14 PM
Obama the Unqualified can talk all he wants - it's cheap, but it doesn't solve the problem. The Iranian Government looks at Obama as weak. So, they will ignore anything he has to say.
Action is the only way to get through to Iran. Show them how destructive a nuclear weapon is by dropping one on them.
Posted by: Darkwater | September 27, 2009 7:17 AM
Imagine. Just imagine....
A Liberal Democrat goes over to COMMUNIST CHINA, criticizes the policies a sitting president - and gets paid (conservative estimate) a quarter-of-a-million big ones for his or her trouble.
Can you even fathom the stink the right wing crazies would make at such a scenario? It boggles the mind.
I love Sarah Palin. I honestly and truly hope she never, EVER goes away. To a committed Lefty such as yours truly, she's just the gift that keeps giving and giving and giving and giving and giving and giving....
http://www.tomdegan.blogspot.com
Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
Posted by: Tom Degan | September 27, 2009 7:32 AM
Imagine. Just imagine....
A Liberal Democrat goes over to COMMUNIST NORTH KOREA, on a plane provide by DOW CHEMICAL CO overides the power of his Wife the Secretary of State, the President, meets the North Korean representative in charge of North Korea's nuclear program at the airport, secretly negotiatates the release of two "reporters" that work for his former Vice President Al Gore and we don't know what was given or what was negotiated???? And all the press wants to discuss is Sarah Palin's wardrobe.
Posted by: Gary | September 27, 2009 9:30 PM