Debate issue: Bush admits doing nothing on Iran nuke proliferation!!

[krkaufman]

Here's one of the most important debate passages on which Bush needs to be called out... Iranian sanctions, related to their nuclear development.

Paraphrasing from the transcript excerpts below....

• Kerry comments that Bush has done nothing on Iranian proliferation, suggesting further sanctioning.
  
• Bush claims sanctions are already in place, and we can't sanction them no more!!
  
• Kerry called Bush on the fact that we had no allies in the Iran sanctions, making them ineffective.
  
• Bush then said that he hadn't implemented the sanctions; they were there when he entered office.
  

Helloooooo!!!

Ummm.... So then you, W, have done NOTHING further than what was in place BEFORE 9/11 -- even though "9/11 changed everything" and you've included Iran as one of the 3 countries in your "Axis of Evil"???

1. Why hasn't your administration done anything further to pressure Iran, beyond sanctions that were already in place before 9/11?
   
2. Aren't US-only sanctions somewhat ineffective if everyone else on the globe is still trading with Iran? Wouldn't getting more countries involved in the sanctions actually mean that we *COULD* do more in this area, contrary to your statement in the debate that "we can't sanction them anymore"?

This issue underscores the whole gamut of Bush failings: lack of insight, refusal to ever take responsibility and inability to play nicely with others.

Kerry missed this knock-out opportunity within the debate, but we need to pound this issue home now.

---

Excerpted from the full transcript, available via the NYTimes website:

Mr. Kerry: "With respect to Iran, .... If they weren't willing to work a deal then we could have put sanctions together. The president did nothing."

Mr. Bush: "... my opponent said he'd work to put sanctions on Iran. We've already sanctioned Iran. We can't sanction them anymore. There are sanctions in place on Iran."

Mr. Kerry: "Only the United States put the sanctions on alone. And that's exactly what I'm talking about. In order for the sanctions to be effective, we should have been working with the British, French and Germans and other countries."

Mr. Bush: "It was not my administration that put the sanctions on Iran. That happened long before I arrived in Washington, D.C."

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/01/politics/campaign/01dtext.html?pagewanted=all

[skylarmae]

1. Not only did nothing in Iran,

but did nothing with Israel until it was too late,
the Sudan, and on and on; let alone he DIDN'T DO WHAT HE
COULD HAVE TO PREVENT 9/11. REMEMBER 'HE SAT THERE IN THE CHAIR
WHILE 'MR. PRESIDENT WE ARE UNDER ATTACK' FOR 7 MINUTES AND THEN STAYED LONGER TO GET HIS PHOTO TAKEN.

[krkaufman]

3. Yes, of course. But we need to nail Bush on debate lies right now.

[BootinUp]

2. I noticed that too!

He was proud of it!!

[jayfish]

4. It Was More Like He Was...

pissed at Kerry for even insinuating that he placed sanctions on Iran.

Don't you accuse me of puttin no sanctions on no Iran. That was someone else doing all that work

Jay

[krkaufman]

5. No. He was trying to blame someone else for imperfect sanctions...

... in an effort to deflect Kerry's insightful jab that US-only unilateral sanctions were ineffective.

Bush is too shallow a "thinker" to realize that he had just contradicted his previous point and that he was admitting to having done nothing on Iran nuke proliferation.

[krkaufman]

6. * * * Video of the "we can't sanction 'em no more!!" segment * * *

Here's a video clip of the "Iran sanctions" bits.

http://home.comcast.net/~krkweb/sanctions_full.wmv


These need to be condensed into a simple damning ad.