Florida Senator Marco Rubio blasts Obama over his weakness in dealing with Iran and Cuba, says he will undo those deals.
Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who is seeking the Republican presidential nomination, on Friday vowed to undo the nuclear deal with Iran if he is elected president.
Speaking to the Foreign Policy Initiative in New York and quoted by MSNBC, Rubio linked the White House’s diplomatic efforts in Iran to its warming of relations with Cuba, saying that President Barack Obama’s outreach to the two countries were examples of “weakness and concession.”
The deal in Iran and the normalized relations with Cuba “represent the convergence of nearly every flawed strategic, moral, and economic notion that has driven President Obama’s foreign policy,” Rubio said, according to MSNBC.
“The fact of the matter is Hillary Clinton will not overturn these deals as president,” he continued. “I will.”
Rubio argued that new unilateral sanctions against Iran would convince the regime on Tehran to not only dismantle their entire nuclear program, but also recognize Israel, drop their support for regional terrorist groups, and end human rights abuses against their people.
“Some will say there would … be no room for negotiations, but history proves otherwise,” he said. “Iran may not return to the table immediately, but it will return when its national interests require it to do so.”
“I will give the mullahs a choice: either you have an economy or you have a nuclear program, but you cannot have both,” added Rubio.
He further said that his stance on Iran would be backed with a “credible threat of military force” aided by a new defense buildup in the Middle East.
“I will undertake a three-part plan to roll back President Obama’s deal with Iran and repair the damage done to America’s standing in the Middle East,” he continued.
Regarding Cuba, Rubio said that by opening a U.S. embassy in Havana, which occurred on Friday, Obama had “ensured the regime will receive international legitimacy and a substantial economic boost.”
“He has made the argument that if the embargo hasn’t worked for 50 years, we should try something new,” Rubio said. “My question is: Why hasn’t he made a similar argument to the Castro regime? For over 50 years, they have tried tyranny and Communism and it hasn’t worked either.”
Rubio accused Obama of being “quick to deal with the oppressors, but slow to deal with the oppressed” by negotiating with repressive governments without demanding changes to how they treat their own citizens.
“I will make this pledge here and now: As president, as a symbol of solidarity between my administration and those who strive for freedom around the world, I will invite Cuban dissidents, Iranian dissidents, Chinese dissidents, and freedom fighters from around the world to be honored guests at my inauguration,” Rubio said, according to MSNBC.
Rubio’s speech comes as Congress continues the process of reviewing the deal with Iran. Lawmakers have until September 17 to accept or reject it.
Republicans have objected to the deal as not tough enough to prevent Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon in the long run, while several Democrats have expressed support.
Obama, for his part, has threatened to veto any legislation passed by Congress blocking the deal. Earlier this week, he argued that Republicans oppose the deal for political reasons more than anything else.
“Unfortunately, a large portion of the Republican Party, if not a near unanimous portion of Republican representatives, are going to be opposed to anything that I do, and I have not oftentimes based that on a judgment on the merits, but have based that on their politics,” he said.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) on Thursday expressed his confidence that the nuclear deal with Iran will not be approved by Congress.
“Knowing what I know about the agreement,” he said, “at the end of the day, it’ll be disapproved.”
McCarthy rejected the argument that the lifting of sanctions on Iran is already a done deal because of the other countries involved. “If the agreement did not go through,” he argued, “you still have the American sanctions. Countries would be in a position then to have to make a decision, do they choose to deal with the Iranian economy or the size of the American economy? I would assume more would side on the American side of the economy.”
@ Bear Klein:
There are lots of Latinos in Florida, the Southwestern states, and elsewhere who vote Republican. Probably not among those whose families crossed the border illegally to get here. But they are never registered to vote in any case. And Trump already is polling higher than either Rubio or Bush in their home state of Florida.
The news cited on today’s Drudge Report is that the Republican Party is getting used to the idea that Trump is very likely to keep his lead over all 16 of the grinning monkey-faces, and that he will in fact have to be duly named as the Republican candidate. Will Trump still be considered as hateful as the news media wannabe bigshots try to convince everybody else? I think not. Increasingly, people use strictly electronic media, and nobody I know of still watches CBS, NBC, ABC, MSNBC, or foreign news media commentators who want Americans to act like Brits want us to think. In any case, the Republican Party puppet-masters know now that Trump says what he means and means what he says; which is that if he can’t run for president as a Republican, he is rich enough to run as an independent.
On the Democratic Party side of the campaign, new evidence is piling up every day that Hillary Clinton not only illegally handled two emails with classified US intelligence information, but investigators are finding dozes more, and the latest twist is that they may uncover many thousands of such illegally handled emails. Woodward, one of the two 1973 Watergate reporters of the Washington Post commented that HRC’s fandangle already is moving ahead the same way as the events that compelled Richard M Nixon to resign his presidency in summer 1974 rather than face certain impeachment and removal from office.
Hillary, under a legal order from a US Congressional investigating committee, has no option but to show up, answer every one of the hostile questions that she will face, and if she refuses to answer, or tries to walk out of the hearing, they will be able to use their police powers to restrain her. Most voters have indicated they just her as untrustworthy and untruthful. So she dare not do anything before the TV cameras that will get her to be held in contempt of Congress, which is a crime in this country. Fox News had a brief interview with the chairman of that committee, who promised that she will not be excused from the investigative hearing until she answers every last question. That is something that will not end in a single day. The committee will see to that.
The Democratic Party wanted to field a sure winner in next year’s presidential election. They thought that would be HRC, and that is proving dead wrong. But Bernie Sanders appeals only to the serious leftist edge of the Democratic Party, and it would be very difficult for Joe Biden, who is infinitely more likeable than her, to put together a viable $100 million campaign war chest backed by a 50-state team of vote-getters.
And the Democrats cannot count on Trump not coming up with an innovative and accomplishable set of policies representing his ideas for presiding over all the issues involved in managing the United States of America.
I could, of course, be wrong about much or even all of the above. But I make political prognoses based on sifting all the available current evidence. And all things considered, that’s the way I see it.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
@ ArnoldHarris:
We will find out if you are correct Mr. Harris. If things have truly changed in the USA and Trump can decrease his negatives in the polls.
Trump has the highest negatives (people who say they would never vote for him) by a far of all the candidates. So when the field consolidates to three or so candidates and Trump is tapped out for those who would vote for him another candidate will over take him.
I like Rubio but I am not sure he will win the primary. He must be beat Bush in Florida and take one or two earlier states. A tall order. He could win a general election but he must get there. He has the lowest negatives, so if he is still there when the field consolidates he will have an excellent chance.
How can Trump win a general election. He can not win Florida because he will get almost zero vote from Hispanics. That means he must win Ohio and Pennsylvania. A tall order but possible. He also is unlikely to do well in Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico all swing states with large Hispanic populations.
Bwahaha! Let us hope it wasn’t water.
http://www.katv.com/clip/11760047/restaurant-co-owner-dumps-water-on-protesters
The anti-Cruz protesters are Orwellian thugs who demand diversity yet tolerate no dissent:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/may/12/mati-weiderpass-gay-hotelier-blasts-lgbt-extremist/
@ Bear Klein:
In the USA’s presidential elections, all that matters is displayed strength, as shown in various political polls, and the amount of money that a candidate can raise for deployment in his or her campaign.
Matter number 1: Donald Trump has been leading is closest Republican competitors for some weeks now, and the mood of people who tend to support him is that the more he ignores self-imposed rules of political correctness, the more he solidifies his support among those of us who distrust professional politicians of any party. I always have voted for Republican presidential and congressional candidates. But I have no more use for the Republican Party than I have for the Democratic Party.
Matter number 2: Trump is one of the USA’s billionaires. He openly boasts that he makes $400 million dollars per year from his business interests, and that he can spend a billion dollars of his own money on his presidential campaign if he has to do that. But as his polling support solidifies, you can be certain he won’t have to go begging for campaign donations. Also, the Republican Party by now are well aware that if they connive to rob Trump of the Republican nomination, he will run as an independent and thereby doom whomever would be the candidate whom the connivers chose in his place. Trump is nobody’s fool, and he fully understands how to use power on behalf of what he wants. All of this is exactly what he told them and the world at the Trump + 16 grinning monkey faces more than a week ago.
Will his support and his lead in the polls remain steady? I think so, or I wouldn’t say so. Most people now fully understand that he has the gift of a natural commanding presence, which he freely shows in all of his interviews, and means that he is the candidate who will get the most public and media attention at every debate in which he takes part. Not the least of his public appeal is that he reads no prepared speeches, never uses teleprompters, and just lays out his case from what is on his mind. And he has proven that the nastier he acts toward news media wannabe bigshots, the stronger the level of support that he gets from the increasing number of us who trust no elected officials or news media whatsoever.
This truly is the age of the Drudge Report and the age of Donald Trump, who knows how to create his own news media and has the money to pay for it.
I fully understand why some of you have latched yourselves emotionally to candidates such as Rubio and Cruz, whom you imagine will reverse Obama’s policies regarding Israel. I regard that as the wishful thinking which causes Jews to imagine a mashiach will come along and make everything right and proper for our Jewish nation. But I think the Jewish nation, in itself, is our real mashiach, and that we need no fairy tales.
Do I give a damn about democracy? Not now, not ever.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
@ vivarto:
Many examples to the contrary of what you say including video link above
@ ArnoldHarris:Five plus months to Iowa. Early polls have historically had many incorrect predictions in particular national polls. One example Rudi Gulliani.
Nate Silver who wrote the linked article correctly predicted all 50 states in the last election. By track record he was the #1 pollster in the USA.
As measured from current polling data, neither Rubio, Bush, Cruz, Walker, or anybody other than Trump are likely to win the Republican nomination for president in 2016. All this is utterly irrespective of which candidate is better from the standpoint of Israel’s interests. If and when the polling results change, my prognosis shall change. But not until then.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
Rubio is a highly consistent friend and supporter of Rubio.
Cruz loves Israel. So does Huckabee. They have theological reasons, which makes them low risk. Everyone else is highly suspect, especially a conniving weasel who repeatedly lied to his conservative supporters about an existential issue like amnesty.
@ Bear Klein:
Well, I have heard him repeating the idiocy that Islam is “peaceful religion”.
Rubio is a highly consistent friend and supporter of Israel.
2013 Rubio opposes amnesty.
2014 Rubio supports amnesty.
2015 Rubio opposes amnesty.
This charlatan has more positions than an orgy. Woe be unto Israel if Rubio becomes president.