When the deal with Iran was first announced, Republicans hit the roof. They accused the president of giving Iran the bomb, and one (mike Huckabee) has even accused the president of opening the ovens for another Jewish holocaust. The crazy thing is that we really have no choice at this point -- we either accept the deal and give it a try, or we do nothing at all (allowing the sanctions to disappear and Iran to do whatever it wants).
These Republicans would like for Americans to think we could go back to the status quo if we turn the deal down, but that is simply not true. We didn't do this deal alone, but in conjunction with several other countries -- and those countries want to give the deal a chance to work. They would not be willing to go back to the status quo just because the Republicans in Congress don't like it.
The truth is that most of those Republicans came out against the deal even before they knew what was in it. That doesn't really surprise me, because they have opposed everything the president has done since he was sworn in to office. They no longer care what is good for this country (or the world). This is nothing but political theater for them -- an acting out of a fear scenario to please their tebagger base (and assure they can get through a primary with our teabagger opposition).
Fortunately, the people seem to be seeing through their act. Polls taken immediately after the deal was announced showed that most people opposed it, but that is changing. A new survey shows that a majority now support the deal (51%) -- including 64% of Democrats and 55% of Independents. Only the Republican base opposes it. And by significant margins, more people want their senator to vote for the deal than want them to vote against it -- an 18 point margin among all people, a 14 point margin among Independents, and a 53 point margin among Democrats.
These numbers are from a new YouGov Poll -- done between July 18th and 20th of a random national sample of 1,000 adults, with a margin of error of about 4 points.
I don't remember where I saw it (LG&M?) but someone posted a bit from Huckabee's book where he lays out what we should do with Iran and -- What a surprise! -- it is exactly this deal. But somehow, when Obama does it, it is leading Israel to the door of the oven.
ReplyDeleteI just wrote an article (which won't be out until Thursday, unless I reschedule it) where I argue that it just doesn't matter to the American people. They are going to see that after the deal takes effect (assuming it isn't killed), they will notice that nothing changes in their lives. The only people who care are the rabid Fox News viewers. And they are always upset about something.