The Rapid Response Award for this week goes to MoveOn.org.
As much of the world now knows, at a campaign stop on Wednesday, Sen. John McCain was asked a question about Iran. His response was to sing "bomb, bomb, Iran" to the tune of the Beach Boys' "Barbara Ann."
By Thursday morning, AP had filed a report. AP compared the incident to President Reagan's joke that the bombing of Russia would begin in five minutes. But AP notes that Reagan was testing a mike, not speaking at a public event. Reagan's joke was extremely controversial, and contributed to the widespread (and correct) perception that his presidency made the world a much more dangerous place. (The link to the McCain video on YouTube has been viewed more than 600,000 times.)
By midday Friday, AP was reporting that MoveOn would run a TV ad criticizing McCain's comments in Iowa and New Hampshire. You can view MoveOn's ad here.
MoveOn is right, of course, that the prospect of President McCain is very scary. But what is really interesting about MoveOn's campaign is the possibility it could help pressure the "frontrunner" Democratic candidates to take a clearer position against attacking Iran. If McCain is discredited as the "bomb Iran" candidate, that will increase pressure on the Democratic candidates to dissociate themselves from attacking Iran.
There have been some encouraging signs recently. Former Senator Edwards is "on record as backing" Senator Webb's legislation to prohibit the President from attacking Iran without Congressional authorization, The Hill reported this week. Senator Clinton and Senator Obama have challenged suggestions by Administration officials that the President has the authority to attack Iran under existing law, and Clinton has indicated that she may support the Webb legislation. More public pressure may well get Clinton and Obama to back Senator Webb's bill, and this would do a great deal to establish this as "the Democratic position."
But unfortunately, these candidates, like McCain, still repeat the mantra that "no option can be taken off the table," which means that they implicitly support the threat of an attack on Iran that would be illegal in U.S. and international law, and would have disastrous consequences in the region. The presence of the U.S. military threat is already having bad consequences. It contributed to the Iranian detention of the British marines. It is undermining efforts to get Iraq's neighbors to cooperate in trying to improve the disastrous security situation in Iraq. MoveOn's campaign, by indirectly pressuring the Democratic frontrunners, can help turn this around.
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Ask your Senators to support Senator Webb's legislation: