Romney Blasts Paul For Minimizing Iranian "Threat"
By Nicole Belle Friday Jan 11, 2008 5:38pm
Download | play 
Download | play (h/t Heather)
At the FOX GOP snoozefest...er, debate, interesting moments were few and far between. But this moment does clarify exactly how disinterested the Republican party is on substantive discussion as opposed to mindless fear-mongering.
When Ron Paul points out that the whole trumped up Iranian speedboat threat in the Straits of Hormuz has a whole Gulf of Tonkin smell to it and that we need to be careful before posturing aggressively over a non-existent threat.
And Mitt Romney's reply?
I think Congresman Paul should not be reading as many of Ahmadinejad's press releases.
Nice. Why let pesky little things like facts get in the way, right, Mitt? Even though the Navy is backing down and saying the speedboats posed no threat and there's some question as to the voice on the recording, let's not stop fearmongering ourselves into a huge conflict with Iran too--all our dealings in the Middle East have worked out so well, haven't they?
(h/t The Aristocrats)
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furst!
They are both creepy.
"no student visas from terrorist nations"-Ron Paul's immigration ad http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2T-iJKwskH4
It was only two debates ago that Mitt the Flip was whining to the other Republicans to stop the personal attacks.
Now Mitt launches personal attacks on Ron Paul. Flip-Flop!
For a supposedly brilliant businessman, this investment in the presidency is loss leader.
-GSD
Vampires for Mitt!
Iran is not a threat to anyone. When was the last time they attacked another country?
Republicans are liars and simply cannot be trusted.
The Mittens wants to nuke Iran. No doubt about that one...if we welcome Mitt into the White House...we can kiss our @sses good-bye.
I disagree!.
Romney is ACTUALLY....MINIMIZING the POWER of USA......
USA is the MOST POWERFUL NATION in the WORLD.......IF any......USA is MORE OF A THREAT to USA.
WE HAVE THE MILITARY MIGHT. WE HAVE THE BIGGEST ECONOMY IN THE WORLD THAT EXPANDS BEYOND THE BOUNDARIES OF OUR HUGE NATION.
FEAR has become the primary tool of the REPUBLICAN PARTY..........THEY ARE THE MESSENGERS of FEAR. THEY ARE THE COWARDS.
WE ARE THE a notion of the BRAVE and the FREE.
AMERICA .......act like it......
WE will not give-in to the power of FEAR but rather fight with the power by the willingness to do what is GOOD and RIGHT.
And Mitt Romney’s reply?
I think Congresman Paul should not be reading as many of Ahmadinejad’s press releases.
Ain't nobody reading Mitt's press releases anymore. I think he's jealous.
Proud American @ 8:
correction:
USA is more of a threat to IRAN than the other way around.
Bush the Liar @ 6:
Not in the last couple of centuries. It is certainly not out of the realm of imagination for a false flag attack "Remember the Maine"
The threat that don't exist?
http://www.docudharma.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=3710
Administration ‘Gets Smart’ on Claim of Iranian Speedboats
When will Mitt realize that echoing Chimpy's war will only make him look even more like the fool he is? He's nothing more than a
pompous stooge for the soon to be defeated republics.I kinda wish his 5 sons could be drafted,that'd shut his forever flapping
flip-flopping mouth.
Waving their oars at our battleships and mooning our sailors is going too far. How provocative can they get?
You can't really blame Romney, there's no way to win the GOP nomination without a little blatant pandering to the fear and loathing crowd.
Not that it seems to be doing him that much good.
Bush the Liar @ 6:
Actually Iran is a threat to peace everywhere. Don't get me wrong, we have no right to attack them. They do give money and arms to Hezbollah and they are financing insurgents in Iraq. The latter we've been told. But regardless if this administration has told us this or not it doesn't take a brain surgeon to know this. It's Iran Liberal or not. They want to see Americans dead. I'm liberal and I know this but but I think there are other ways to deal with Iran other than attacking them like conservatives want and making up stories. Something simple like...dialogue? Remember, we've had other enemies that we didn't use military force to gain a goal. But we still have conservatives in this country and they think the only way to deal things is death.
jitter @ 16:
exactly.
like any good comedien, mitt has to play to his audience.
Speedboat threat a fake? No problemo. Crocker and Petraeus report an increase in attacks using Iranian supplied weapons over the past 10 days. Squeezing the Bushies is like squeezing a water baloon.
Ron Paul is minimizing the threat that we pulled out of our ass? How un-American of him!!! Everybody is supposed to get on board, like the entire "liberal" media already has, and hype it up so enable us to bomb Iran when we want to. What??? Surely you don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud, do you?
Greg @ 17:
So they give money and arms to Hezbollah, which in the course of being attacked by Israel laid waste to large swaths of civilian neighborhoods and infrastructure in Lebanon, then they have their neighboring country of Iraq attacked and occupied by the United States, also seeing large swatchs of civilian neighborhoods attacked, bombed, and otherwise destroyed.
I doubt much of the world, and none of the Muslim world, views Iran and its allies as the threat. That (dis)honor goes to the United States and Israel.
Also, neither of those links appear to work.
Greg @ 17:
I'm sorry but it seems like you are reading and watching too much of the MSM news. Lots of the media news about Iran has been disproven. It doesn't make it go away. You have to remember, they have been lying to us.
Shockers! A rare posting on C&L that portrays Ron Paul in a positive light. Maybe there's some semblance of fairness and balance in the liberal blogosphere, after all. We can cross our fingers and hope...
Not that he is one, but does Ron Paul have a sign on his back saying I'm really in the DNC.
What ever happened to the 11th commandment, Never speak bad about another rePUG.
These guys are start showing up to their little debates with hard hats and knee pads.
billy bob tweed @ 24:
He is still a creep!
Here's another version of events from The Navy Times.
And, here's the translated test of what was said in the Iranian's video.
I find what showed up on the MSM news very fishy. I think Bush shouldn't be making so many threats and doing so much posturing for something that is at best, patched together. At worse, manipulating propaganda. They have made no bones about the fact that this administration wants war with Iran. They didn't hesitate to lie us into Iraq. Why would anyone be surprised at the same tactics being used again..? The timing of this 'incident' is too convenient to Bush's trip. This isn't a game. This is deadly serious with deadly consequences.
#27: text, not test.
Proof positive that Crooks and Liars is a left wing gate keeper. Is some of the info they provide important? Yes, very.
They never post any of the positive messages about Ron Paul.... I come here every day hoping to see some of the great things he has accomplished. But no.... Just a negative post....
They never any talk about the unconstitutional money system that turns control of our gov to outside interests.
Dems are fake... Reps are fake.... The message of Ron Paul is real.....He was my hero WAY before the run for pres... He was talking about corrupt money system in congress way before I understood how they control our gov and lives... I will continue to come to this site........ But it is a puppet site..... Just like FoxNews..... Rep against Dem... Two sides of the same coin... People must be at odds.. Fighting each other on many levels.... Thats how they get away with destroying our country.
odanny @ 21:
I doubt your last statement. I am agreeing with everything else you said. Israel is as much to fault for the conditions in the Middle East as Iran is as is Hezbollah, Hamas and the USA. Iran is escalating the situation as is the USA and Israel. You're looking at my point the wrong way. To view Iran as a non threat to this world is simply naive and by calling them a non threat is pandering to the left. You're taking my post the wrong way. AS I said, they're other ways other than attacking Iran. You can be against military action and still see a country as a threat. The Soviet Union was a threat for how many years to all of Europe and the USA? We never attacked them but you can't say they weren't a threat.
John McCain said in the same debate that he was tired of "trading burkas" with Muslim countries when Ron Paul said he would treat every Middle Eastern country equal and trade with all of them. Fred Thompson said we should send them to their virgins. These are suppose to be the moderate Republicans!
Why does Ron Paul have the courage to stand up to 5 Republicans throwing insults at him for a hour while Fox News trying to discredit him, but our Congress won't impeach Bush? Our frontrunners don't even have the courage to tell the truth when they are surrounded by people that agree with them.
Ron @ 23:
As I said, as a liberal, you are being naive by thinking Iran is not a threat to peace in the Middle East. I NEVER said we need to attack them. But you cannot deny that this country is controlled by religious freaks (the minority of the country) who want nothing but the destruction of the USA.
Somebody needs to blast Romney for hyping the Iranian "threat!" Remember, folks, Romney is on the record stating that he places a higher priority on "his right to be kept alive" (his words) than he does on protecting America's constitutional rights.
I don't support Ron Paul, but I watched that debate, and Ron Paul was the ONLY person on that stage that showed reasoning skills and demonstrated knowledge of issues and how things work, and offered clear answers and solutions. He is the ONLY one who actually answered questions directly instead of going off on rhetoric, canned soundbites, personal attacks and the rest of the garbage the others on that stage spewed.
Especially on the question of what did or didn't happen in the Strait of Hormuz. If I had to choose from someone that was standing on that stage, I would have had to say Ron Paul.
I couldn't believe how unprofessional the questioners were, and how rude and undignified the candidates were (except for Ron Paul). I couldn't believe my ears when I heard Huckabee start spouting scripture about how women should submit, and then ask if he could pass the plate..
The lowest moment for me was when Mitt Romney turned to Paul and said that he should stop reading Ahmadinejad's daily press reports.. I couldn't believe my ears.. None of those men have the skills, wisdom, experience, or temperament needed to lead this nation (of the GOP, only Ron Paul).
Again, I don't support Ron Paul.
Gary H @ 29:
Gary H ask yourself why no libertarion has been elected beyond where Mr Paul is now. Could it be because most people realize the nation and the people of this country would go down the tubes very soon without attention payed to the common good of the nation. If you are a libertarian how do you expect to get the road with out a highway system or go without pure food laws or the Laws that protect individuals in society.
And he still is a Crook!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKjhNa6PGLk
Includes the part FOX cut from the rebroadcast, where Ron Paul is asked if he is electable!
Although I don't agree with everything Ron Paul says, he is the only republican candidate with any intelligence and much of what he says is correct and factual. The other republican candidates and fox noise hate him because he knows the facts, and as you know republicans can't stand facts. He owned that last Fox noise debate. He received the most applause and won the Fox polls (again) at the same time the fox noise chart spinner was turning the applause chart upside down after the debate trying to spin everyone into believing the lines on the graph went straight down when Paul answered the questions. Good for Ron Paul for standing up to them!
I teach music(guitar) on friday's in Dana Point California, and was chatting about Dr. Paul with one of my bro's at the school, when a young violen student, her father and her uncle came in. They perked in interest to our conversation. And it was obvious
that here in SoCal Dr. Paul's message is sympatheticly vibrating with people's dissatisfied overtones. When I mentioned some of the odd number's in New Hampshire they said "aww not this shit again..." so obviously more mainstream.
Mitt - "Come on Ron! We have to scare people to get them to vote for us. Get with the program!"
Ron Paul - "If I want to scare people all I have to do is talk about my domestic agenda."
Mitt - "True".
What did you expect from Mr. "Double Guantanamo?"
Romney is a douche bag.
natisman @ 26:
No shit!
Ron Paul is a racist creep.
John McCain is a straight-shooting maverick.
Rudy Giuliani is the hero of Sept. 11.
Mitt Romney is a member of a cult.
Hillary Rodham Clinton is a manipulative witch (who ordered a hit on Vince Foster).
Barack Mohammed Hussein Obama was tutored in a madrassa.
John Edwards is a $400 haircut.
Joe Lieberman is a Democrat.
Love these Fox News narratives! Keep 'em comin'...
What a bunch of deranged mofos. Every last one of them. And God botherers to boot. Where's all that smiting He used to do?
Gary H @ 29:
Ron Paul is still a Republican, no matter what his "message" happens to be.
Sarah @ 43:
Lieberman.
I am willing to bet that Obama's response would be identical to Romneys.
Fritz @ 37:
Ron Paul is a true Republican, which is why I shudder to think what would happen to this nation if he ever became President - and I'm talking on BOTH the international and domestic front. Libertarian philosophy usually doesn't translate into reality very well.
Sarah @ 43:
You've bought into Rupert Murdoch, Roger Ailes and Karl Rove's phony left-right paradigm. Nero's tuning up the fiddle, and I'm luvin' it!
Hahahahaha........heeheeheeheehee.......sorry...hahahaha....how can ANYBODY take ANYTHING seriously that comes from someone named MITT???!???
Brad @ 44:
Attacked for being a conservative Democrat, which is shameful.
prospero @ 47:
Uh, did you miss the debates or what? Ron Paul refuses to run as an independent and has declared himself a Republican time after time.
Sarah @ 46:
example?
Gary H @ 29:
I think John tries to be fair, and obviously everyone of us has a bias. He's said what he's for and it's his site soo....
Go to the Ron Paul Forums and you'll get a bit more deliberation on substanative issue's.
Controlled opposition groups riding the emotional tribalism of partisanship. People are seeing beyond it.
milquetoast @ 51:
"Libertarians are self-governors in both personal and economic matters. They believe government's only purpose is to protect people from coercion and violence."
Having said that, how can someone that is Libertarian run for President? It's against his beliefs.
prospero @ 47:
Did you use a dart board and darts with that last sentence, cuz it do not make too much sense. Oh I forgot your probably a Livertarian!
Sarah @ 46:
please tell us sharon what "usally" happens when libertarian philosophy "becomes reality"
Mitt is the plastic , phoney ,predictable , scripted , fear-monger , poll-watching , ....did I say phoney....you get my drift. IMPEACH the CHIMP NOW .
Allrighty...to all you Goebellian peep's that insist on calling Ron Paul a racist I challenge you to go to and listen to
any of his 3 minute monlogues on WHY RON PAUL IS NOT A RACIST http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=getonid
But if you wanna get your name callin on I'm down..
Democrat's=Capitualing Cowards
Democrat's=Sniveling Snipey Spineless Sellouts(FISA,MC,Kyle/Liebermna,Patriot Act's I, II, Funding for Genocide)
Talcott @ 58:
Um....libertarians do not believe in social programs or government programs that help entire groups and not themselves. So with that in mind, why the hell would someone that does not believe in that system, want to be top dog in that system? What, is he going to dismantle social programs? That would be a nightmare.
No surprise Romney would try to defeat reason with fearmongering nonsense. He's even more clueless and aggressive about the Middle East than Bush.
His "Nuclear terrorism" page on his campaign website looks like an attack Iran propaganda piece with a big map of Irans nuclear facilities in the centre. "The Romney plan" (I guess his Middle East policy?) is just a list of demands to Iran, Palestine and the Arab states to support USA and Israel or face the consequences. Not one word about Pakistan or IAEA
Scary, scary image of Mitt. http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/724/gallery/307499-a307482-t2.html
While you're there, check out some of the other scary sandy republicans.
Ron Paul is not likely to get any votes from Democrats so why all the hating? All he is doing with his foreign affairs stance is speaking the truth.
Sarah @ 50:
Uh, did you miss the last election? Joe Lieberman ran as a VP candidate and has declared himself a Democrat time after time.
Gary H @ 29:
"Left wing gatekeeper." Libertarian meme, it's wearing thin. Worn out. It's like canned music. Same crap over and over again.
This is not a Libertarian site. And if you'll actually take the time to read the policy on commenting, there IS a claim in there that this is not a neutral site. And there's not much positive to post about Ron Paul-other than he walks upright-if that's a plus.
Here's a thought-why don't you Paulbots take all the energy you're flinging willy-nilly around the internets and start your "Nothing but positive posts about St Ron Paul" website. You could call it "Schnooks (as in the people who follow RP are 'Schnooks') and Buyers" (as in the people who follow RP are 'buying into the bullshit')
"Schnooks & Buyers." You can have that one. You can also razz and insult anyone who drops by to disagree and post long rambling tributes to the dude.
grab up some Decartes. You might not figure out why any Cartesian thinker would call bullshit on Ron Paul, but maybe you'll get just enough insight and or common sense to figure out why non-Libertarian sites aren't posting that the sun shines out his backside, and why some sites have banned you crybabies outright.
You're (Paulistas) annoying and have little to add to the conversation. Can't say fairer than that.
Take it easty on Mitt. He's the one we want on the republican ticket.
Concerned Canuck
Your paradigm is false, Does Ron have to behave in a way that is congruent with your interpetation of a political philosophy?
It seem's to me that no one is as strict adherent behavioraly to any one system we are free moral agent's and it is our decisions
in the now that matter most. People whom I have exposed to his interview's in non hostile enviornment(like the recent
Paul/Kucinich program sadly not covered by C&L) typicly comment( and the majority of these people are relatively uninformed)
"wow that guy make's sense".
Speaking of 'threats' to the US, why is no one discussing Monaco's demand that if they don't receive $1.625B immediately, they're going to cut off our ambassador's credit in the Casino?
prospero @ 41:
You might have added that Dennis Kucinich shook hands with space aliens.
I don't normally resort to ad hominem attacks, but ... I'm sorry I can't help myself this time. Romney's an idiot.
Miss Kitty
Is this your site?
Last time I checked it was John Amato's,
why do you never engage any Paul supporter's in a conversation on the issue's they raise?
Proud American @ 8:
No Fear :)
milquetoast @ 56:
I think the livertarian thing is to say a few feet ahead of every one else when de livertarian thing becomes becomes reality.
Mitt will say anything to get elected, Ron Paul is approaching the danger (see senility) age (I can't stress enough that everyone remember Reagan).
Who gives a shit what either of them has to say?
Well, this is all the Repukes have to offer, FEAR! Mitt, Rudy won't be happy until all American's cower in fear. After all it worked for Bush and Chaney in.2004.
link is down again.
[Thanks. I just let the link fixers know-Sitemonitor]
ConcernedCanuck @ 59:
I don't think it's fair that you are using extremist examples of libertarian philosophy in order to support your points.
that's like saying all liberals want to have social programs for everything from how to eat to subsidies for simply being nice to people.
Your example gives absolutley no thought to the money individuals would save if the people were allowed to keep their money, rather than give it to the government in order to waste on "USELESS" programs... like the dept of education, or the IRS. It's not about stripping people in need from necessary programs, it's about making the requirements for these programs tighter... so the people who need them have them, and the people who pay taxes to support them, save more money.
but I guess it depends on which economic theory you subscribe too... i personally am more laissez fair, and I believe that the market should be left alone, unregulated, and it will end up working itself out. I disagree with the Kensington theory which states that the market should have oversite by the government.
Swear Bear on Ron Paul
An Aussie Wombat who's had enough of Ron Paul spammers. (Warning: Vulgar)
Gary H @ 29:
Gary, surely you jest. This is not a news organization. It is a web site that debunks the phoney news that the MSM puts out. Since the MSM puts out more negative news against the dems, this site debunks mostly news in the MSM. Wake up and try to figure it out.
i guess mitt gets confused with a non-threat near iran and his stooping more than one wife at a time.
Bush the Liar @ 6:
Look. The bigger danger is when Repubs become sure to lose the coming elections they will turn fear mongering into actual bombing. And that will be goodbye to peace for generations to come. What Mitt accused Ron Paul was not so dreadful as the applaud it earned from the crowd. Unless God has signed in the neo-con column He should instil some sense in the these morons.
Sarah @ 43:
And your opinionion is collectivist, whish is same philosophy racisim and anti semitisim stems from.
There is a difference between a republican and a neo-conservative. Bush is a Neo-con, rudy is a neo-con, Mitt is a neo-con, paul is a republican.