Republicans blow their stacks over Iran deal.
Surprise! Republican presidential wannabes—and a defeated GOP candidate from 2008—are ripping the agreement with Iran and the negotiators who produced it.
First off, there's this guy, known for singing "bomb, bomb, bomb Iran" during his campaign for the presidency seven years ago:
Senator John McCain of Arizona, the Republican presidential nominee defeated by Obama in 2008, said the pact was built “on the belief that somehow the Iranian government will fundamentally change in the next several years.” That is “delusional and dangerous,” McCain said.
Has-beens aren't the only objectors. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the guy oddsmakers give the edge to for the GOP nomination,
had this to say:
The nuclear agreement announced by the Obama Administration today is a dangerous, deeply flawed, and short sighted deal.
A comprehensive agreement should require Iran to verifiably abandon – not simply delay – its pursuit of a nuclear weapons capability. [...]
This isn’t diplomacy—it is appeasement.
More of this jingoist spew can be seen after the fold.
Once you've seen what they have to say, please join us in urging Democrats to defend the agreement and block Republican opposition.
There's this guy:
GOP presidential hopeful and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told Bloomberg on Tuesday morning that the Iran nuclear deal announced by President Obama is “akin to declaring war on Israel." [...]
“If the initial reports regarding the details of this deal hold true, there’s no way as president of the United States I would honor this deal,” Graham told Bloomberg. “It’s incredibly dangerous for our national security, and it’s akin to declaring war on Sunni Arabs and Israel by the P5+1 because it ensures their primary antagonist Iran will become a nuclear power and allows them to rearm conventionally.”
Graham says there is no way the deal will pass Congress, failing to mention that there's no way Congress can override a presidential veto of congressional opposition.
And there is this guy:
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker panned the forthcoming Iran deal as he announced his presidential run on Monday evening. “We need to terminate the bad deal with Iran on day one, put in place crippling economic sanctions and convince our allies to do the same,” he said.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee
tweeted:
Shame on the Obama admin for agreeing to a deal that empowers an evil Iranian regime to carry out its threat to "wipe Israel off the map."
Sen. Marco Rubio
said:
"I have said from the beginning of this process that I would not support a deal with Iran that allows the mullahs to retain the ability to develop nuclear weapons, threaten Israel, and continue their regional expansionism and support for terrorism," Rubio said in a statement.
"Based on what we know thus far, I believe that this deal undermines our national security." [...]
“It will then be left to the next President to return us to a position of American strength and re-impose sanctions on this despicable regime until it is truly willing to abandon its nuclear ambitions and is no longer a threat to international security.”
The only Republican woman in the presidential contest so far also
trashed the agreement:
Carly Fiorina cited opposition from U.S. allies to dispute Obama’s claim that the deal reduces the chances of a nuclear arms race in the Middle East.
“Our Arab allies have said just the opposite, so has Israel, so there is reason for suspicion here that’s not partisan,” Fiorina said on CBS This Morning.