Republican Hopefuls Debate but Will They Ever Listen?
December 12, 2007
The Republican presidential candidates are set to take part in the Iowa Public Television/Des Moines Register debate Wednesday but if previous debates are any indication, it's unlikely the American people will hear anything more than the same over-the-top rhetoric and failed Bush foreign policy from the Republican hopefuls. President Bush and his neoconservative advisers first misled us into war in Iraq and have been pushing to go to war in Iran with President Bush warning of "World War III" and a "nuclear holocaust" despite being told months earlier that Iran's nuclear program "may be suspended."
Giuliani echoed Bush saying the new National Intelligence Estimate doesn't change his mind on Iran, Mike Huckabee didn't even know about it despite wide-spread news reports, Mitt Romney doesn't trust the unanimous opinion of 16 different intelligence agencies and Fred Thompson believes that Iran "leaked this." Americans want leaders who will be tough and smart in dealing with Iran and other issues, not just talk tough. It's no wonder that the latest New York Times/CBS poll found that Republican voters nationwide are "uninspired by their field of presidential candidates," with not a single one receiving a positive favorability rating from even half of Republican voters. [New York Times, 12/11/07]
RUDY GIULIANI: CHANGE IN INTELLIGENCE DOESN'T CHANGE ANYTHING (OR DOES IT?)
Giuliani Said Findings in NIE Report Does Not Change His Opinion on Iran. "Giuliani's campaign said Tuesday that the findings in the National Intelligence Estimate report do not change his belief that Iran is a threat. 'Sanctions and other pressures must be continued and stepped up until Iran complies by halting enrichment activities in a verifiable way,' Giuliani said in a statement. On the stump, Giuliani has been more bellicose. He has called Iran a bigger danger than Iraq. He has made it a 'promise,' not a 'threat,' that he would 'set them back 8 or 10 years' if the country was on the brink of becoming a nuclear power. 'We will not take the military option off the table,' Giuliani said at a campaign stop in Central Florida. 'We will not beg to negotiate with them. We're going to make them beg to negotiate to us.'" [Sarasota-Herald Tribune, 12/05/07]
- Podhoretz: Giuliani Agrees With Me On The Need To Bomb Iran Soon. "Norman Podhoretz believes that America needs to go to war soon with Iran. As far as he knows, Rudy Giuliani thinks the same thing. 'I was asked to come in and give him a briefing on the war, World War IV' said Mr. Podhoretz, a founding father of neoconservatism and leading foreign policy adviser to Mr. Giuliani. 'As far as I can tell there is very little difference in how he sees the war and how I see it.'" [New York Observer, 10/23/07, http://www.observer.com/2007/i-podhoretz-mr-world-war-4-tutors-giuliani]
- Giuliani Disputes His Statements to His Foreign Policy Advisor in Post-NIE Interview: On NBC's Meet the Press, Giuliani was asked about his foreign policy advisor's statement that Giuliani's view was close to his own. In the following exchange, Giuliani raised questions about what he told Podhoretz:
Q: Do you believe that, like Norman Podhoretz, that we should bomb Iran as soon as logistically possible?
MR. GIULIANI: No, I believe what I just said and have said consistently, that military options should not be taken off the table. It could be a big mistake to do that, but that that should be an option that would be even thought about only as a last resort. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22170668/page/2/
MIKE HUCKABEE COMPLETELY CLUELESS ABOUT NIE
Huckabee Didn't Know About NIE, But Still Agreed With Bush. "Asked by reporters if he had been briefed on the summary of the report, which was declassified and released Monday, Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor, said 'No.' Informed of its content by reporters, he said he agreed with President Bush, who said that Iran remains a threat. Huckabee's unfamiliarity with the NIE summary and his questioning of the conclusions reached by the 16 government agencies that prepared it could add to questions about whether the new GOP frontrunner in Iowa has the foreign affairs experience needed to serve as president--particular during a time of heightened Middle East tensions." http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/chi-huckabee_webdec05,1,6237740.story?ctrack=3&cset=true
- Tried to Joke About His Lack of Security Experience. Huckabee's ignorance of the news of the day, which not only dominated the Democrats' debate here in town but also prompted a presidential press conference in response, came as Huckabee faced questioning about his foreign policy credentials on Don Imus's new show. Huckabee joked that he's 'not an expert… but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night' -- a play on a current silly ad for a motel." [Hotline On Call, 12/4/2007, http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com/archives/2007/12/huck_nie_come_a.html]
- Huckabee Called on Misstatements in His NIE Ignorance Excuse. In his attempt at a humor-driven dismissal, Huckabee revealed he still doesn't know much about the NIE.
- 1) The NIE was released the previous day, not that morning. The NIE was released to the public in the early afternoon on Monday, December 3rd. The dinner where Huckabee was asked about the NIE took place on the evening of Tuesday, December 4th.
2) Huckabee had more than "four hours." According to the timeline above, Huckabee could have learned about the NIE anytime overnight or during the course of the next day if he had picked up a newspaper. Hotline notes, on the same day Huckabee said he hadn't heard of it, the Iran NIE "not only dominated the Democrats' debate here in town but also prompted a presidential press conference in response."
3) Bush couldn't have seen the report "four years" ago. The NIE was initially completed only a year ago, thus Bush couldn't have had "four years" to see the report. While the intelligence community did eventually learn that Iran shut down its nuclear program four years ago, that knowledge didn't come to the intelligence community until this past summer.
So, in one sentence, a confused Huckabee managed to compound his cluelessness over the NIE and confirmed once again his "ignorance of the news of the day." [Thinkprogress.org, 12/6/2007, http://thinkprogress.org/2007/12/06/huckabee-nie-morning-joe/]
MITT ROMNEY: DOESN'T TRUST INTELLIGENCE REPORTS
Mitt Romney Can't Take A Unanimous No For An Answer
Romney said he wouldn't go just by national intelligence estimate alone. However, in his approach to Iran he affirmed that he would not go exclusively by the findings of the National Intelligence Estimate. "My perspective on matters of importance is that you don't look for a homogenized view," he said, "Were I president, I would not simply read a report and say, 'Oh!'" [Real Clear Politics, Politics Nation, 12/4/07]
- Romney: If No One Disagreed on Unanimous Intelligence Report, I'd Find Someone From Another Agency. "I would instead insist on having people with the most objective and first-hand information presenting their perspectives. And if no one disagreed I'd look for someone who disagreed, even if I had to find them from outside the agency," he said. [Real Clear Politics, Politics Nation, 12/4/07]
Romney Discounts Report because Intelligence Reports Can't Tell Us Everything. However, Romney argued, intelligence flaws have "happened before." While pledging to build up human intelligence capacity, Romney voiced skepticism on the accuracy of intelligence assessments. "Even with that [human intelligence capabilities] being rebuilt, there will always be gaps and flaws," he argued, "You can't know everything that is going on in everyone else's mind around the world." Some nations, "do their best to hide those things from us," Romney explained, "And, particularly in some of the Islamic nations, we have very limited capacity." [Fox News, 12/4/07]
FRED THOMPSON: NIE WAS INFLUENCED BY IRANIAN LEAK
NIE Results Are "Convenient." "It's awfully convenient for a lot of people: the administration gets to say its policies worked; the Democrats get to claim we should have eased up on Iran a long time ago; and Russia and China can claim sanctions on Iran are not necessary," said Thompson in Anderson, SC, today. "Who does it help out most of all? Iran." http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2007/12/05/politics/horserace/entry3579282.shtml
Thompson Parroted Neocon Conspiracy Theory About NIE: We're just going to have to wait and see, why they would start it up and they would move away without telling anybody. Unless of course they have leaked this themselves. So, just a bunch of unanswered questions. …And this is perhaps a weak, faint or weak attempt to cause us to divert our attention a little bit. [PBS Charlie Rose, 12/4/2007]
