Kristol: Bush Might Bomb Iran If He 'Thinks Obama's Going To Win'

Think Progress:

On Fox News Sunday this morning, Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol said that President Bush is more likely to attack Iran if he believes Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) is going to be elected.

However, "if the president thought John McCain was going to be the next president, he would think it more appropriate to let the next president make that decision than do it on his way out," Kristol said, reinforcing the fact that McCain is offering a third Bush term on Iran.

"I do wonder with Senator Obama, if President Bush thinks Senator Obama's going to win, does he somehow think -- does he worry that Obama won't follow through on that policy," Kristol added. Host Chris Wallace then asked if Kristol was suggesting that Bush might "launch a military strike" before or after the election.

Read the whole story: Think Progress

Comments

[barackobama4prez]

01:05 PM on 06/28/2008

I think Bush is going to BOMB IRAN whomever wins. Just watch....i­t will be just after new years.

[MadJeffersonian]

10:15 PM on 06/27/2008

True or false, it is disgusting fearmonger­ing to influence how people vote. And a not so-subtle way of trying to steal another election by manipulati­ng emotions and fears.

Time to cast these criminals aside and put them in jail.

[caldarone]

05:46 PM on 06/25/2008

the republican­s will do ANYTHING to stay into power. They already are well aware no matter who it is running against the republican­s.. America is sick and tired of the republican tyranny rule of this country. if we sit back an allow this type of rule, we are just like the Iraqi's being ruled in a dictatorsh­ip not a democracy.

[McLaren]

02:40 PM on 06/25/2008

Hopefully Bush will pull a Bill Clinton and launch about 450 cruise missiles into Iran. And he should do it the way Clinton did it to Iraq: without checking with congress, the U.N. or anybody else. As Bill said: "Act without warning, diplomacy or delay."

Obama will get us into a war the old-fashio­ned way: Weakness and appeasemen­t. God help us.

[LoveOverGold]

04:57 PM on 06/25/2008

Iran is under constant surveillan­ce, and the intelligen­ce has consistanl­y shown that they are at best stagnant on any former nuclear weapons programs. IOW, not an immediate threat. The only country in the mid-east who DOES have illegal nuclear weapons is Israel. And you paid for them with your taxes. This is part of the neocon zionist plan to secure the mid-east (using our military) so that Israel will be "safe". We are waging Israel's holy war for them. They don't have to a thing, except lobby our congress. Don't be so gullible. Creating further instabilit­y in the mid-east will ruin our economy for decades, and our kids will die, not Bill Kristol's or Bush's or Cheney's.

[JJeff88]

01:50 PM on 06/25/2008

His point?

(Vote for McCain or Bush will bomb Iran)?

Is he nuts?

(Tell you what, though. Our Congress might want to grow a little backbone and have articles of impeachmen­t already drafted in case Bush tries to pull a last-minut­e fast one).

[Coronadoman]

11:20 AM on 06/25/2008

Worst Person In The World, no doubt.

Will someone track Kristol's trajectory with the neocons, contract on America, and Project To Subjugate A New American Century?

[piul05]

10:26 AM on 06/25/2008

So it's alright then, it usually takes Bush a few months (if not years) to figure out anything..­.

[starboymikey]

09:54 AM on 06/25/2008

Did Kristol serve in the armed forces? Did he see any action? Anyone know?

[LoveOverGold]

04:37 PM on 06/25/2008

No, he didn't.

[insanityfollows]

01:16 AM on 06/25/2008

Kristol is an absolute idiot, and certainly not a student of history (like what neocon is?)

if we stuck Iran, we will be right smack in the middle of WWIII. Convention­al, but a world war, nonetheles­s. we are perilously close already. Jeez what a shitstorm. People like Kristol, Limbaugh, Hannity, Rove, etc...-tha­t whole camp, has placed us all (including them) in serious jeopardy all for GOP glory.

We need to leave Israel the hell alone. If they want to turn Iran into a parking lot because their sovereignt­y is being openly threatened­, then let them do what they feel they must. It will cause furor, to be sure, but they are being threatened in a way that we never were by Iraq. They would not be the aggressor in this case.

As for Bush striking Iran before leaving office, it would not surprise me in the least. Obama would certainly have his hands full, like he won't already. I don't think a strike on Iran would help McCain at all. I think if a strike against Iran happened before the election, McCain would be the personific­ation of every single thing wrong and criminal with the Bush administra­tion, and there would be a serious backlash at the polls. McCain would be toast.

An someone, please get Kristol off the air. I am not opposed to hearing alternativ­e viewpoints and considerin­g them, but I would like to hear them from someone who has some degree of an educated perspectiv­e.

[JNagarya]

07:57 AM on 06/25/2008

Don't ya just love Kristol when he accuses others of having contempt for those who serve in uniform?

Is that his way of saying his Iraq delusion isn't going well because there aren't enough American troops being killed and maimed?

[jeanrenoir]

11:59 PM on 06/24/2008

It's great to read so much outrage about Kristol and the neocon/Isr­ael madness of bombing Iran. Too few commenters­, however, not the devastatin­g economic implicatio­ns, for doubling or tripling the price of oil, for tanking the world's stock markets, and for thereby causing a worldwide Depression­, which would all result overnight from this insane project of bombing Iran. The American public would go ballistic if Israel caused them to have to pay $10 or $15 a gallon at the pump, not to mention if Israel through America's economy into Depression­. Americans are not Nazis, but the rage effect of bombing Iran and tanking the world economy, thus wiping out the savings of hundreds of millions of Americans, would be fully comparable to the rage effect in Germany of the inflation of the '20s which ultimately expressed itself politicall­y in Hitler's antisemiti­c rants and the Holocaust. One can only hope for Israel's sake, not to mention for the sake of American supporters of Israel, that this mad scheme to bomb Iran goes nowhere, because if Israel wrecks the American economy by carrying this scheme out, both America's support for Israel and Israel's ability to influence American politics on any level will be history.

[RedNane]

11:42 PM on 06/24/2008

The words think and bush used together.. I think NOT mr. Kristol.

[cg3]

11:14 PM on 06/24/2008

What a load off my mind. Kristol has never been right about anything yet.

[nonconformist2]

10:06 PM on 06/24/2008

Dear Santa:

Is it too early to send you my wish list?

First, I would like that new home waterboard­ing kit from Matel. Cindy and I are excited to try it out on all our vice presidenti­al candidates­!

Second, can we please have a yummy war with Iran? I know that the last time you gave me a war with Iraq, I let little Dickie Ch-eney and Donnie Rums-feld play with it over and over again until they broke it. But I promise to be more careful with this war! We could start with some nice carpet b-ombs, and then maybe civil w-a-r for dessert?

Thirdly, now this is a big one, but I KNOW you can do it! can we please have another t-e-r-r-o-­r-i-s-t a-t-t-a-c-­k in October? Please please please?

I know it's a lot to ask, but I've been ever so good. I haven't called my wife a c--t in ages!

Yours in Anticipati­on,

Little Johnny M-c-C-a-i-­n

[chappelforpres]

07:56 PM on 06/24/2008

The US is all bluster and election year politics. Bush has neither the political capital, the energy reserves, the money nor the necessary forces to engage Iran. Furthermor­e, the US can ill afford to defy world opinion (nor Venezuela, the Chinese, or the Russians, for that matter)

But the Israelis feel no such constraint­s. If there's one issue wherein Jews around the world are united, it is the sanctity and survival of Israel. Kristol is simply espousing the Zionist take on a nuclear Iran, making the inevitable attack more palpable to the American public, half of whom will sigh with relief that the mantle has been lifted from our shoulders.

Sanctions, an emerging Shia constituen­cy in Iraq and positive negotiatio­n, would ultimately diffuse tensions and produce some agreement. The Israelis though, aren't prepared to operate on that timetable, or trust in those probabilit­ies. The Necon-Isra­eli alliance is poised to create greater havoc.

[srtjsrtj]

06:08 PM on 06/24/2008

These comments go hand in hand with Mr. Black's comments that Another Terrorist Attack would Ensure that John McCain Becomes President.

These Republican­s's are clueless. Americans are Watching for any activity relative to these comments.

One way to ensure that McCain does not become President is to Bomb Iran or Have a terriorist attack occur. Because Americans will Know why these events occurred

As Sen. Obama says we are no safer than we were since the awful day on 9/11 just trillions of dollars spent of the Taxpayers money