News from Iran brings a steep wind of change to Republican rhetoric

Crooks and Liars looks Countdown's discussion of the NIE report and Bush being caught lying on Iran. With video.

MSNBC’s David Shuster filled in for Keith Olbermann today on Countdown, and
spoke with Air America Radio’s Rachel Maddow about the revelations
today from the NIE report that Iran halted its nuclear program back in 2003. As
Shuster and Maddow point out, the Bush administration has no shame, which is why
they had no problem trotting out National Security Adviser, Stephen Hadley, to
float the ridiculous notion that the report wasn’t completed until Tuesday of
last week and that President Bush only learned that Iran halted its nuclear
program four years ago — the following day.

AMERICAblog looks at Bush's words on Iran from the past.


It is interesting to see the shift in terms. Bush, not too long ago tried to tie Iran to a looming WWIII. Now his speechwriters are giving stuff to say that parses and moves the goal posts.


And it's not just Bush. From NYT:

...

Republicans, who have been condemning Iran in the campaign, reacted more tentatively to the report, without backing away from their past statements about Tehran, including talk of military strikes and “bombardments.”

“For years now, the Islamic Republic of Iran has defied and played games with every international effort aimed at persuading the country to halt enriching uranium,” Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, said in a statement. “Sanctions and other pressures must be continued and stepped up until Iran complies by halting enrichment activities in a verifiable way.”

That was a shift in tone from his previous comments, but he did not say that he may have overstated the case against Iran.

In October, speaking to the Republican Jewish Coalition, Mr. Giuliani said: “As we all know, Iran is seeking nuclear weapons, and they’re threatening to use them. If I’m president of the United States, I guarantee you we will never find out what they will do if they get nuclear weapons, because they’re not going to get nuclear weapons.”

...

Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, has taken a slightly different line on Iran than his rivals, often focusing on reports that it was supplying weapons to militias in Iraq that were being used against American troops.

You know, I still can't get McCain's weak attempt to joke and sing out the line, "Bomb Iran." Should it be a funnier line now?

And like, Bush and the other candidates, their is still a clearly hawkish stance. Less justification for the stance, but it is still there.