The Washington Post's Greg Sargent has a scary look at the plans of two GOP presidential contenders regarding Iran. My God, these Republicans are a bloodthirsty bunch:
A dispute has erupted between Scott Walker and Jeb Bush over how to handle the task of undoing Obama’s Iran deal as president, with Bush hinting that Walker is approaching the issue with a lack of maturity, and Walker suggesting that Bush is not zealous enough about confronting the enemy.
Walker is also saying that it’s “very possible” the next president will have to take military action on Day One of his presidency — though it’s unclear whether he means against Iran in particular, or more generally.
The argument says a lot about the two candidates’ differing calculations with regard to the level of nuance GOP primary voters are prepared to entertain about the Iran deal, and more broadly, about foreign policy in general.
But I think the dispute also underscores the point made by David Axelrod last week: That for all the professed GOP confidence about the domestic politics of the agreement, it could prove to be more of a political problem for the GOP presidential candidates than for Hillary Clinton.
The Weekly Standard reports that Bush said this to a voter in Nevada:
“One thing that I won’t do is just say, as a candidate, ‘I’m going to tear up the agreement on the first day.’ That’s great, that sounds great but maybe you ought to check in with your allies first, maybe you ought to appoint a secretary of state, maybe secretary of defense, you might want to have your team in place, before you take an act like that.”
That was a shot at Walker, who has said he would undo an Iran deal on Day One of his presidency, regardless of what our allies have to say about it. Bush subsequently stood by his remarks, noting that on Day One, he would not yet have had the intelligence briefings required to make an informed decision. Bush added: “If you’re running for president, you know, I think it’s important to be mature and thoughtful about this.”
Yes, mature and thoughtful -- before you do the same thing, only slower.
