Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran?

[babylonsister]

McCain: Iran missile-test proves threat
The Republican candidate dismisses the Democrat's talk of negotiations
Posted July 9, 2008 10:55 AM
The Swamp

by Mark Silva


Sen. John McCain, the Republican Party's presumptive nominee for president, said today that Iran's test-firing of missiles today -- including one reportedly capable of reaching Israel -- is renewed evidence of the threat that Tehran poses to the region and of the need for a disputed U.S.-sponsored missle-defense shield in Eastern Europe.

McCain also dismissed the notion of any "unilateral'' negotiations with iran -- with Democratic rival Barack Obama today calling the missile tests evidence of the need for stepped up, direct U.S. diplomacy with iran in addition to tougher economic sanctions.

"Iran's most recent missile tests demonstrate again the dangers it poses to its neighbors and to the wider region, especially Israel,'' McCain said in a statement released by his campaign in Arlington, Va.

"Ballistic missile testing coupled with Iran's continued refusal to cease its nuclear activities should unite the international community in efforts to counter Iran's dangerous ambitions,'' the senior senator from Arizona said.

more...

http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/

*********************************

And that crazy Obama wants to try diplomacy.

Obama: Iranian missile-test call for talks
Posted July 9, 2008 10:10 AM

The Swamp

by Mark Silva


Sen. Barack Obama, asked today about his response to Iran's test-firing of a missile reportedly capable of reaching Israel, maintained that the demonstration calls out for stepped up, direct U.S. diplomacy with Iran.

"There is no doubt that we're seeing rising tensions in the area,'' Obama said in an interview from Capitol Hill with the NBC Today Show's Matt Lauer. "It's part of the reason why it's so important for us to have a coherent policy with respect to Iran.... It has to combine much tougher threats of economic sanctions with direct diplomacy, opening up channels of communication, so that we avoid provocation but we give the Iranians strong incentives to change their behavior.''

Republican rival John McCain has criticized Obama's support for direct negotiations with a regime that the Bush administration has labeled part of the "Axis of Evil,'' maintaining that tough international sanctions will prevent Iran from posing a greater threat to the region. Others have criticized Obama's call for diplomacy with intractable adversaries as naïve.

But the threat demonstrated by Iran today is nothing new, Obama maintained, asked what he would tell Israel in the aftermath of the newest Iranian test.

more...

http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/07/obama_iranian_missiletest_call.html

[msongs]

1. as Obama says, ALL options are on the table concerning Iran nt

[babylonsister]

11. I added to the OP Obama's remarks; he'd start with diplomacy which

is a damned sight better than what McSame's initial reaction was.

[Forkboy]

2. McCain has a hard on for war with Iran, no doubt.

[babylonsister]

4. Don't forget, another 'conflict' will help him 'win'. Maybe that's why

he's so red-hot to start something.

[Forkboy]

5. I actually think they're wrong on thinking it would help him.

But I bet that's not how they see it.

[babylonsister]

6. I don't want to find out either way. nt

[Forkboy]

9. No arguments there.

"Scary times are never dull." :scared:

[Occam Bandage]

3. McCain *will* bomb Iran if elected President. There is no "maybe" involved with this.

[babylonsister]

7. Why Isn't this News?

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/09/why_isnt_this_news/

Why Isn't this News?
By Reed Hundt - July 9, 2008, 9:45AM

John McCain:

"Americans have got to understand that we are paying present-day retirees with the taxes paid by young workers in America today. And that's a disgrace. It's an absolute disgrace, and it's got to be fixed." {Transcript available from Congressional Quarterly}

What I don't understand is why reporters don't ask: If Senator McCain doesn't want payroll taxes to fund Social Security (as has long been the case), then how does he propose to pay for it?

Some have argued that payroll taxes should be scuttled and retirement funded from a carbon tax. Other plans abound. But what is John McCain proposing?

[babylonsister]

8. McCain's Straight Talk Local

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/09/disgrace/

McCain's Straight Talk Local
By Todd Gitlin - July 9, 2008, 8:13AM


John McCain seems to find himself in a mad dash to demonstrate that he really doesn't know much about economics Social Security.

Bob Somerby at Daily Howler catches him out, on Monday, saying this to a town meeting in Denver:

I'd like to start out by giving you a little straight talk. Under the present set-up, because we've mortgaged our children's futures, you will not have Social Security benefits that present-day retirees have unless we fix it....Americans have got to understand that we are paying present-day retirees with the taxes paid by young workers in America today. And that's a disgrace. It's an absolute disgrace, and it's got to be fixed....Here's a chart. Here's how much is coming in. Here's how much is going out. And here's where there's more money going out than coming in, and here's where there's no money left.

Only one American news organ mentioned McCain's Denver talk, the WP in Perry Bacon's "Candidates Diverge on How to Save {sic} Social Security," but the "disgrace" line does not appear there, nor does the reporter question the nature and scale of the ostensible Social Security crisis. What you can say for Bacon is that he at least counterposes the two candidates' proposals. What he does not do is look at their logic or evidence. What he does not do is say that, other things remaining equal, "you will not have Social Security benefits that present-day retirees have" can only be true if it means that you will, at a certain point, have benefits at 85 or 90 percent of their level at present.

Let's be generous to McCain and assume that the "that" which is an "absolute disgrace" is the impending zero point toward which Social Security is purportedly tending. (If he really means that the disgrace is young workers subsidizing retired workers, he really is an economic idiot. The subsidy is the very bedrock, the principle, the logic, the elementary idea of all insurance. Period.) But still, even then, where is scrutiny of the claim that Social Security is in jeopardy? When Bush made such ridiculous claims in 2005, he spent all his political capital and then some. Why is McCain getting this pass? When the Straight Talk Express makes so many such stops, when does it become the Straight Talk Local?

Why isn't this A Story? The Gaffe of the Week? Breaking News? A Clip to Be Rebroadcast Endlessly?

[arcadian]

10. Thanks for posting that thread title

It reminded me that this is not the first time we have contemplated bombing Iran.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vince_Vance_and_the_Valiants

The group is also known for its 1980 song titled "Bomb Iran", which was recorded in the midst of the Iranian hostage crisis and sung to the tune of "Barbara Ann" by The Beach Boys and The Regents. Later, in 2003, the group recorded a song called "Bomb Iraq", sung to the tune of "Yakety Yak" and supporting the imminent Iraq war.

Hilarious :sarcasm: