Rick Santorum: President Barack Obama’s policies on Iran are “another appeasement, another delay, another opportunity for them to go forward while we talk.”
Mitt Romney: “As president, I’ll be ready to engage in diplomacy. But I will be just as ready to engage our military might.”
Newt Gingrich: “The red line is now.”
Somebody was catering to Jewish votes on Super Tuesday, methinks.
Three of the four leading presidential GOP candidates spoke before AIPAC on March 7 (Texas Representative Ron Paul was notably absent. Frankly, I’m not surprised, given Paul’s position on Israel. ).
Santorum even came to deliver his remarks in person in Washington, D.C. the same morning as Super Tuesday, when 10 states cast their votes for the GOP primary.
“I wanted to come off the campaign trail to come here because one of the reasons I decided to run for president was because of the great concern I have about the security of our country,” Santorum said.
Santorum largely attacked Obama’s Israel policy, mentioning the importance of maintaining the Green Line from 1967.
“He has turned his back on the people of Israel,” Santorum said, referring to Obama’s address to AIPAC two days prior.
Instead, Santorum said, “We need to do more than talk. We need to set forth a clear ultimatum.”
Romney and Gingrich both gave their remarks via satelite, but that didn’t mitigate the language of support for Israel and criticism of both Obama’s and Iran’s policy.
“While I can’t be with you, I stand with you,” Romney said as he simultaneously opposed Obama’s “policy of procrastination.”
Romney also said he would indict Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with genocide charges and designated Israel as his first trip as president.
Gingrich, not to be outdone in the Israel lovefest, declared (again) that he would move the American embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. It’s currently in Tel Aviv and he’s not the first politician to make this claim.
The former House Speaker went on to say that “in a Gingrich administration, we would not keep talking while the Iranians keep building.” In fact, he would not require Israel to give the U.S. advance warning for a strike on Iran.
“If they do not tear down those [nuclear] facilities, we will tear down them oursleves,” Gingrich said.
Oh, but fear not, loyal New Voices readers. “This is not bellicosity and war-mongering,” Santorum said. It’s only prevention of war, candidates said.
Oh good. I thought we were in some real trouble there…
Once again, New Voices role model Jon Stewart says it best:
But it’s not like we should be suprised. According to Gingrich, Israelis are “maybe the most argumentative political culture on the planet.” Looks like Newt’s been to a good number of Passover seders.
Meanwhile, 10 states got ready for Super Tuesday, one of the most important moments in the nomination process.
A strange use of time for the candidates on a hugely important part of their campaign. But apparently, the Jewish vote is crucial this time around, especially because the applause at AIPAC this year that there are plenty of Jews that aren’t happy with Obama’s Israel policies.
I’d tell you if it worked or not, but Jews didn’t show up in significant enough numbers to register in CNN exit polls.
But we can talk about college age voters, who overall supported the same candidate that ended winning each state (which was mostly Romney). The one notable exception was in Virginia, where Paul won 61 percent of the college age (17-29) vote, as opposed to his 40 percent success rate there.
In Oklahoma and Vermont, it seems like nobody under the age of 30 voted. Not a lot of young’ns in the GOP there, I guess.
Either way, Romney definitely came out on top, and he now has over twice the number of delegates Santorum has. But it’s far from over. Or says the mainstream media.
