It seems that Republicans would rather cut their throats than to offer affirmation to anything that President Obama might do or favor. It’s not just a personal thing. It’s political. It’s spiteful, and in some cases, it’s racist.
Don’t tell me ideological. They have rejected Obama policies that they themselves favored the day before Obama proposed them. Even, Mitt Romney, the architect of Romney Care, which Obamacare was patterned after, rejected/demonized/vilified the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) in 2012, along with every other Republican. It’s not ideological.
So now it is a nuclear deal with Iran. None of the eyes, sporting the baying mouths that are chanting doom and demise, had even read the agreement before their baying began. It reminds you of a poor hound dog which reflexively bays when emergency vehicles scream by. It has nothing to do with principle, ideology, reason, or patriotism.
It is reflexively political much like the decibels reached that the dog objects to. But a more complex brain is also involved in their braying sophistry. It’s a political mix of personal, racist, and posturing to a base.
Consider the state of our political nation, a sorry state brought on by conservative Supreme Court judges and rulings like Citizens United. It begets substance-free baying by some sixteen Republican candidates, many with their own billionaire. Money and media begin to control national attention. For example, the first debate is hosted by Fox News with rules dictated by Fox. Those rules demand winning the top ten sweepstakes with the highest percentage average of national polls.
Now add the state of the media in general, and you get a daily circus sideshow of spectacle each day, though Donald Trump currently is sucking the oxygen out of all media events. However, Republicans did get time to express a kneejerk outrage to President Obama’s preliminary Iran agreement before they had read any of the 109 pages of the agreement. As was said, their objections do not involve reason, patriotism, or thought.
Let me give a sampling of just a few of the rants without substance, which includes all GOP leaders and all GOP candidates.
Jeb Bush denounced the Iran nuclear deal as “appeasement.” Lindsey Graham said, “Iran nuclear deal a disaster. John McCain called the deal “Delusional and Dangerous, built on hope.” All, of course, had not taken time to read and understand the agreement. We know this because the tenor of their rants has not changed over the months of negotiations, including Tom Cotton’s insulting letter to Iran leaders.
Arguments are so incoherent, with no alternative offered by any critic, that a week ago, President Obama felt enough optimism to say in a news conference, “I am really enjoying this,” and went on to say, “The issue of Iran obtaining nuclear weapons is resolved in only two ways: diplomacy through negotiation or through force, namely war.”
The agreement, signed by Iran, the US, China, Russia, Germany, Britain and France, would begin to lift sanctions by the West while inspections assure Iran has halted its nuclear program. With rejection of this agreement, critics, apparently lobotomized, can’t seem to realize sanctions cannot be restarted, drawing back our allies, leaving only war to stop the Iran nuclear program.
The expertise of nuclear physicist, US Secretary of Energy, Ernest Moniz, has assured that the agreement will effectively halt the technical aspects of Iran’s nuclear program. Moniz was in attendance for the bulk of the negotiations, as was Secretary of State, John Kerry.
Meanwhile, conservative forces have lined up funds and fake tax-exempt organizations to highlight attack ads devoid of substance but heavy with attack. They include groups with names like Secure America Now, United against Nuclear Iran, and Emergency Committee for Israel. Lending their names and reputations on the boards of such organizations are familiar neocon names like John Bolton, William Kristol and Joe Liberman. Of course, all are either architects or supporters of the staged war in Iraq.
A barrage of apocalyptic ads has already started with CAPS. United against Nuclear Iran sounded the alarm: “An Iran armed with nuclear weapons would pose a grave threat.” The Emergency Committee for Israel declares, “But now Obama is caving to Iran.” Lies are boldly stated by Citizens for a Nuclear Free Iran. “Iran keeps nuclear facilities. Military sites go uninspected, allowing Iran to build a dangerous nuclear program.”
Fortunately the bar for approval of the nuclear agreement with Iran is low. President Obama indicated he would veto any Senate vote that fails to confirm the agreement. That means that the Senate must have 67 votes to override Obama’s veto. If enough Senate Democrats support Obama, the agreement should stand.
As we indicated, considerable money and power is starting the battle against the agreement. Conservative forces have proven that a strong majority of Americans approving any measure can be defeated with money and power.
The example of the NRA blocking passage of sane gun registration over the wishes of 90% of Americans is still fresh in our minds.