Fear. It’s a political weapon often employed by a party that is desperate to be in power. Over the last decade, Republicans have played the fear card in every election since the 9/11 attacks and this year they are using scare tactics on an unprecedented level. Mitt Romney is only the latest Republican candidate to employ this strategy.
During the GOP Debate on Wednesday night in Arizona, Romney threatened that if Americans re-elect President Obama to a second term, that Iran will launch a nuclear strike against the United States.
“The price of gasoline pales in comparison to the idea of Ahmadinejad with nuclear weapons. Ahmadinejad having fissile material that he can give to Hezbollah, Hamas, and that they can bring into Latin America, and that they can potentially bring across the border into the United States to let off dirty bombs here — or more sophisticated bombs here.
This president has a lot of failures. I mean, economically his failures, his policies in a whole host of areas have been troubling. But nothing in my view is as serious as his failure to deal with Iran appropriately. This is a president who should have instead communicated to Iran that we are prepared, that we are considering military options. They are not just on the table, they are in our hand.
We must not allow Iran to use a nuclear weapon. If they do, the world changes and someday nuclear weaponry will be used. If I’m president, that will not happen. If we re-elect Barack Obama it will.”
Here’s the video:
These are pretty strong words coming from a man who supported the Vietnam War but dodged the draft through deferments. The fact is, if any President is capable of defending America, it’s President Obama. The Mexican border has never been more secure, especially since the increase of border agents, cameras, and aerial surveillance, and the President has made it a habit to order strikes that have killed dozens of high levels terrorists. Not to mention the fact that President Obama is working with Russia and our other allies to lock up loose nuclear material so that none of it falls into the wrong hands. If Mitt Romney or any other Republican gets elected to the Presidency, he will start a costly and deadly war with Iran. Republicans have literally been beating the drums of war for years and Mitt Romney has now confirmed that he wants to use military options against Iran. Such a war will require thousands of Americans to fight and die in another war that can be avoided. Only President Obama and the Democrats are willing to exhaust diplomacy and international pressure efforts before committing American lives to a long and bloody conflict that will bankrupt America. The Republicans are not willing to do that. They want to wage war against the Middle East for oil and religion.
The thing is, Iran isn’t building nuclear weapons. Secretary of Defense and former CIA Director Leon Panetta has admitted that Iran isn’t building nuclear bombs. They’re creating nuclear energy. America just finished a long war in Iraq and is still at war in Afghanistan. Thousands of Americans have been killed and the American economy has suffered greatly. And yet, Republicans want to repeat that misery on a bigger scale. It’s like they actually want America to self-destruct. Fear is a powerful emotion but we shouldn’t allow political candidates to use it in elections. The stakes are too high to let fear dictate who we vote for without looking at all the issues and, most importantly, all of the facts. Republicans are desperate to defeat President Obama because he is doing a better job than they ever could. So they resort to scare tactics to distract voters. It’s what the Republicans do when they want power. But make no mistake, if the Republicans successfully use fear to win the White House, there will be a war, only America will become totally crippled this time around because of it, which I suspect is exactly what Republicans want.
