GOP Congressman Says Obama's Hesitance On Iran Responsible For Violence (VIDEO)

It was bound to happen. Representative Dana Rohrabacher, a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, accused Barack Obama on Tuesday of allowing violence in Iran to get out of hand by not speaking out against the country's leadership earlier.

The California Republican, appearing on MSNBC's The Ed Show, said that the president "ratcheted up the language a little bit" during his press conference on Tuesday. But, he added, "If [Obama] would have been talking even a little bit tougher a few days ago we might not have seen the violence and bloodshed of this repressive regime in Tehran in the last two days."

The comments, by far the most personal attack on the Obama administration's handling of the situation in Iran, were far enough removed from perceptive analysis that even former Rep. Tom Tancredo - hardly a shrinking conservative voice - pushed back against them.

"I take issue with my very good friend Dana Rohrabacher, believe it or not," the Colorado Republican told Schultz in the subsequent segment. "I actually think that the president was right in the way he was handling the issue. I don't think there was an awful lot he should have said. In a way I was disappointed that he seemed to cave into the pressure he was getting to actually speak more harshly about this in his press conference. I think he was on the right track."

Indeed, even Rohrabacher - after being pressed for clarification - backtracked from accusing Obama of having blood on his hands. It was, he added, the "Mullahs" in Iran who were to blame for the violence. Obama "is responsible for his own actions."

"[The President's] own actions and his lack of a tough statement early on gave them the impression that... emboldened the mullah dictatorship," Rohrabacher said. "It would be like Ronald Reagan going to the Berlin Wall and saying Mr. Gorbachev, that's your business over there."

The video is worth a watch if, for nothing else, to see the outer limits of where the domestic debate of Iranian politics can go.

Comments

[MrGiggles]

The GOP sees the Iranian Government as a direct threat to their monopoly on ineptitude and dellusion.

[bajabenedik]

This just proves that the GOP is made up of narrow minded "boys". When is the GOP going to grow up and bring real men into the party?

[kevman08]

Now who thinks President Obama is a bigger saviour? The rep. thinks he can stop violence just by talking. Regardless of who is in power, you have to keep some sort of dialogue with nations that have nuclear weapons.

[pearlx2]

That's right: the Republicans really look up to Pres. Obama -- they think he has magical speaking powers. Wow. Who knew?

[MichelleDenise64]

I keep asking the same question. How and why do these folk think he's going to save the whole world? He's the president that's all. Come one people he can't solve the problems of the world in 6 months. Why didn't they expect this from the former president?

[ctekin]

Partisan politics does nothing to help the situation in Iran. Furthermore, harsh rhetoric would do very little to help the situation. It would, in fact, strengthen support for the regime. I am grateful that our current leadership has a more nuanced and measured approach to foreign policy instead of this "get er done" macho mentality. It really is amazing how arrogant this man is, coupled with how wrong he is.

[pearlx2]

Arrogant and wrong -- kinda reminds you of G.B. and D.C.

[Icemaan]

For the past eight years all was heard from the GOP was a sucking sound!!! Now that their mouth is empty they have diarea of the mouth talking plenty s*#t

[ChrisR]

A comment like this during a time of war in the mideast is traitorous.

[pearlx2]

The GOP, including Cheney, have made a lot of treacherous remarks about Pres. Obama, and the media refuses to call them on it or acknowledge it, with two wars going on and an economic crisis.

The hypocrisy is staggering: they never asked "how're we gonna pay for it?" when Bush cut taxes for the rich people. That tax cut cost a lot more money than Pres. Obama's healthcare proposal, and now every hypocrite in the GOP is whining "how we gonna pay for it?" In other words, they don't give a darn about average Americans.

[PepeLepew]

What an i.d.i.o.t
I am so fed up with the i.d.i.o.t.­s that infest the GOP.

[gnorrfa]

if rohrbacher and john mccain had the guts to wrap themselves in the american flag and marched with these dissidents, that would cause the mullahs to stop. and intercede to prevent the crowds from tearing these phonies apart with their bare hands. most republicans seem to believe the whole world loves america.

[Kiki1kat]

No they don't believe that the whole world loves america, they believe that America OWNS the whole world. They think that whatever is going on in other countries are OUR business. They stick their nose in places that is none of their concern. If other countries started dictating to us on how we should live, the idots on the hill (Repubs) would be screaming from the top of their lungs saying "This is our country and you have nothing to do with it." If McCain was Pres we would not only still be in 3 wars we would now be in 4 or 5. They want to control the entire world but their house (the U.S.) is in a mess.

Get your house cleaned first before you start trying to clean others.

[glorysong]

You are so right. They hands are not clean.

[pearlx2]

Exactly. Such hypocrites. Every time I hear one of those Republicans like McCain say "the Iranians want fair elections like we have in this country, and we should support them in that quest," I could puke. We DON'T have fair elections in this country. It's a miracle they didn't manage to steal the '08 presidential election.

[ToddlerJ]

And this uninsightful guy is on the Foreign Affairs Committee? That explains a lot about the last eight years of republican led foreign policy.

[JMK62]

How does this guy have a job, and I cant find one?

[raul40]

A huge block of the GOP show themselves time after time to be nothing but war mongers. The statements in that video are so stupid I can't even address them. i am glad to learn that the berlin wall came down because of a speech by reagan...i had no idea.

WACK JOBS!

[GLT21]

Wiser with age does not apply to the GOP.

[Ucan2]

I am at a lost for words.

[nikky]

AS I SAID CRAZY

[lvdragonlady]

I blame people like John MC. and the rest of the right who put us in this situation in the first place.
It is people like this who would rather fight then talk that cause all the problems.

[pearlx2]

This is so true, and the media is not saying it often enough or loud enough to their faces. They let them sit on t.v. and pontificate as though they weren't the ones who screwed up the country and half the world in the first place.