Posted on 05/08/2012 1:49:39 PM PDT by Kaslin
And by "we," he means "Bush," natch. Mindless blame-America-firstism at its hyper-partisan worst:
Biden On Iran: The United States Was The Problem
We were the problem."
It's sometimes tempting to shrug off virtually anything this clown says -- there goes crazy Uncle Joe again! -- but we cannot lose sight of the fact that Barack Obama's hand-selected running mate is just one heartbeat away from the presidency. His outrageous and idiotic pronouncements on foreign policy matters should be distressing, not chuckle-worthy punchlines. This latest item is especially offensive. The Vice President simultaneously lets Iran's repressive, theocratic authoritarians off the hook for, well, everything, while implicitly blaming the previous American administration for the Iranian menace. The US State Department has classified Iran as the world's "most active state sponsor of terrorism" for years -- spanning multiple presidencies. Iran has aided, trained, and equipped terrorists who have killed Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan. Its leaders have called for our great ally Israel to be "wiped off the map." It has aggressively pursued an illegal nuclear program, and was recently discovered to have constructed a secret facility to develop weapons without the international community's knowledge. It stones women to death, persecutes gays, and brutally crushes internal uprisings. With all due respect, Mr. Vice President, the United States of America is not, was not, and has never been "the problem" in Iran.
As Jim Geraghty asks, were we "diplomatically isolated" when President Bush's US delegation helped pass broad UN sanctions against Iran in 2008? (Click through for other instances of US diplomacy on this front during the Bush years). And what, exactly, has this administration done to deny Iran the nuclear weapons its leaders crave? I'll wait. When the regime in Tehran claimed victory in 2009's sham elections, throngs of pro-democracy protesters took to the streets. The government and its henchmen slaughtered, beat, and imprisoned the demonstrators. The current administration dithered, dodged, and hung them out to dry. It's that record in particular that makes Biden's new boast even more bizarre and insulting. Phil Klein says that the Vice President is "a problem" for Team Obama. Indeed. He's wandered off the messaging reservation even more than usual in recent days -- providing a sufficient pretext for the president to dump him from the ticket if he so chooses. I'll leave you with three items. (1) Obama griping about Uncle Joe's rhetorical volatility in 2008:
Obama himself was growing increasingly frustrated with his running mate after Biden let loose with a string of gaffes, including a statement that paying higher taxes amounted to patriotism and criticism of one of the campaign’s own ads poking fun at John McCain. But when Biden, at an October fundraiser in Seattle, famously predicted that Obama would be tested with an international crisis, the then-Illinois senator had had enough. “How many times is Biden gonna say something stupid?” he demanded of his advisers on a conference call, a moment at which most people on the call said the candidate was as angry as they had ever heard him.
(2) Video of Iranians chanting "death to the filthy and accursed America!" in 2007 (Remember we were the problem here):
"Death to America" chants in Iran
(3) A flashback to one of Joe Biden's greatest hits on US-Iranian relations:
At the Tuesday-morning meeting with committee staffers, Biden launches into a stream-of-consciousness monologue about what his committee should be doing, before he finally admits the obvious: “I’m groping here.” Then he hits on an idea: America needs to show the Arab world that we’re not bent on its destruction. “Seems to me this would be a good time to send, no strings attached, a check for $200 million to Iran,” Biden declares. He surveys the table with raised eyebrows, a How do ya like that? look on his face. The staffers sit in silence. Finally somebody ventures a response: “I think they’d send it back.” Then another aide speaks up delicately: “The thing I would worry about is that it would almost look like a publicity stunt.” Still another reminds Biden that an Iranian delegation is in Moscow that very day to discuss a $300 million arms deal with Vladimir Putin that the United States has strongly condemned. But Joe Biden is barely listening anymore. He’s already moved on to something else.
One. Heartbeat. Away.
UPDATE - The Romney camp unloads in an emailed statement:
“All too often, President Obama and his administration have sought to blame America first, yet Vice President Biden’s reckless statement today blaming America for – of all things – the progress of Iran’s nuclear weapons program, has reached a new low. The problem is not America. It is the ayatollahs who oppress their people, threaten their neighbors, and are pursuing nuclear weapons. President Obama’s naïve approach to Iran has given the regime valuable time to get closer than ever before to a nuclear weapons capability. Vice President Biden’s comments are wrong and completely inappropriate. Mitt Romney will stand up for America and our allies, and he will not apologize for America’s leadership role in the world.” –Lanhee Chen, Romney Policy Director
Joe, you were in the senate back in the late 70’s and you voted for Carter. Yeah, you were the problem!
“WERE”!? As though the problem is past tense!? Is the Obamanable Obamadministration going to claim Victory over “the problem”!? It certainly appears they are setting us up for the “good news” that there is “Peace in our time”.
SHEESH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Joe is just upping the “anti”, it used to just be the Jews but now, kill all the American and all the Jews and we’ll have whirled peas.
Losing one for the Gaffer
>>”The Vice President simultaneously lets Iran’s repressive, theocratic authoritarians off the hook for, well, everything, while implicitly blaming the previous American administration for the Iranian menace.”<<
No different to Madeleine Albright apologizing to the Islamic Republic for the US ‘interfering’ in Iran’s affairs during Mossadegh. Never mind the fact that the Mullahs’ Regime (Islamic Republic) can’t stand Mossadegh, nor Iran as a nation-state.
>>”The US State Department has classified Iran as the world’s “most active state sponsor of terrorism” for years — spanning multiple presidencies.”<<
Really?! Then since when does the US negotiate (bargain) with terrorists?! Clinton administration certainly tried to.
It shows you they haven’t learned a thiing
In the late 1980s I used to ride the same Amtrak train with him outta Washington on Fridays and even back then it was OBVIOUS there was something wrong with him—mentally wrong, I mean.
In an unrelated story... Al-Qaeda preferred Biden to Obama
Interesting point.
Should they not have a psych test/assessment before they qualify to run for office?
I mean similar to Aptitude tests (problem-solving, pattern-recognition, logical reasoning/inference)... SHL tests would do.
Is Biden a Paulbot?
HHmmmmmmm Please do tell us more ....
Insanity, thy name is Biden.
Don’t know what you think about it, but they really shouldn’t be referring to “Iran” “as the world’s most active state sponsor of terrorism for years”.
The name “Iran” ceased to, officially, exist when the Khomeinist regime came to power in 1979. It is now called “Islamic Republic of Iran”. Although the mullahs’ regime is in charge of the nation of Iran. But Iran as a nation-state is different to the Islamic Republic.
It is not a well-known fact in the West, but soon after Khomeini came to power, he had the idea of renaming Iran “Iranistan”. Many Iranians protested against it, since the name Iran goes back many centuries before Arab-Islam invasion, linguistically & historically. So, the alternative was to add “Islamic Republic” as a prefix to Iran, to show the nature of the Regime ruling it.
It is the Islamic Republic that is sponsoring terrorism, not Iran. Prior to 1979, IRAN never sponsored terrorism, and was never was known to be one.
Well, he is, of course, quite stupid....but this statement is not a product of his stupidity.
This statement is a Kool-Aid statement.
This is Jimmy Carter accepting blame because our embassy was taken hostage in Iran...this is the Liberal equivalent of blaming America for 9/11.
This is Obama's careless tossing of his rose on the memorial at Ground Zero during the election of 2008 (even McCain noticed...and never had the guts to speak out about it).
Slo Joe has been snatched by the alien body snatchers. This time the aliens wasted an otherwise valuable pod!
Slo Joe ain't worth snatching...he's a DUD!!!
IIRC, Senator Blowhard Joe interfered with President Bush’s threat to use force against the Ayatolla thugs.
HHmmmmmmm Please do tell us more ....
I know I talked to him on the train once or twice but don’t really remember the substance—just that he seemed to be a guy with a tic, or carrying on an unending internal conversation with himself. Not really connected to anyone- or anything else outside of himself.
Years before, when I lived in NYC, I used to eat lunch in Grand Central Station and I remember there were one or two really well-dressed men there everyday who sat in the waiting area all day long and talked to themselves. At Union Station years later Biden seemed a lot like them—a well dressed loon.
I’m sure there’s something wrong with the guy. A shrink well practiced at studying body language would probably be able to make out his problem.
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