Damn Republicans are exploiting the Iranian Protests.

[IranianDemocrat]

I'm watching Iranian satellite and they're showing some protests in Washington D.C. in support of the Iranian students. It's basically one republican senator or congressman at a time going up there saying how much they support the Iranian people, which I don't really mind, but at the end they always add in a little RNC advertisement saying stuff like "remember WE'RE the ones supporting you." It seems the Iranian-American community is playing right into the hands of the repukes even though most Iranians hate Bush.

My question is this, why have we ceded this issue to the Republicans?

[w4rma]

1. Do Iranians want the U.S. to invade them like we invaded Iraq?

Because that is the kind of support that the Republican Party wants to give Iranians.

Personally, I am fully on the side of the Iranian population. However, I don't know much about the government over there except that it is definitely not an example of separation of church and state.

[IranianDemocrat]

4. No invasion.

Invasion is bullshit, I would never take someone seriously if they advocated invasion. That would never lead to true freedom, it would just lead to another USA puppet being installed.

[JackSwift]

2. The Iranians/Persians

in my experience always vote Republican. This isn't going anywhere in the current political climate.

[IranianDemocrat]

3. Wrong.

its like 60% democrat 40% republican mainly due to lack of republican tolerance of middle eastern cultures and detainment and such after 9/11.

Let me try to dig up the official stat.

[Classical_Liberal]

5. If I was out on the streets over it, the neocons would just

see it as approval for an invasion and not the movement in general. This is a dangerous time. I think the liberals who call them on their hypocracy on Liberia and Saudi Arabia are playing with fire as they don't need much of an excuse to invade any country. If it weren't for the neocon faction taking advantage of things, I would be out their, and so would many others, expecially feminists.

[IranianDemocrat]

6. True and sad.

The fucking worthless neo-con SOB scum suckers(pardon my language) are just filling Iranians with false dreams of TRUE democracy when in fact they have their own personal twisted agendas.

[Code_Name_D]

7. Exactly what issue have we ceded?

I am not entirely sure of what is going in Iran, but I tend to think that if its protests, then they are on the right track. Of course, one can not help but wonder if the Repugs are in fact secretly funding these protests. (The Iranian government has made that claim.) And right now, with the Iraq WMD (hack programs) fall out, I would say the repugs credibility is not standing vary well.

But PNAC clearly says that Iran is a target for US conquest. So we should expect this saber rattling against Iran and "oh those poor repressed protestors, we have to come to their rescue" rhetoric. Plus, the Repugs are clearly desperate to change the subject from Iraq. The GOP play book says; have a war. So they are trying to set a war against Iran.

I am not sure we have ceded any thing. More likely this is just another straw man.

[izzie]

8. Well let the rightw ing fight over this. It is like hold wet soap.

To many things back fire when you get to big for your britchesIf I recall we had the same trouble. Things turn around in this country.

[Terwilliger]

9. They've ceded most issues...dont know why Iran should be different

I've told you before that Dems will allow BushCo to make war on Iran. There's no reason to think they'd stop it.

The Iranian situation is dynamic. There are many different groups in Iran, and I think the people are trying to throw off the theistic government. I certainly don't want the US to interfere in their internal struggles.

[sierrak9s]

10. Okay, no invasion, but...

Isn't it in the progressive tradition to support people's aspirations toward freedom? The students over there are being brutalized by the regime, and progressives over here are turning a blind eye. Why? I understand the reluctance to endorse another possible candidate for "regime change," but can't we support the students AND oppose any military intervention? "We support the Iranian people's struggle for freedom and self-determination." What's wrong with that?

[Classical_Liberal]

11. OK. I support their struggle for self determination and freedom

! Nobody is turning a blind eye to anything. My number one priorty is kicking out the military junta in this country so we can be a functional normal country again, and not have to worry about neocons using it as an excuse of for more war. That is completely rational and in no why reflect lack of support for their struggle for self determinatin and freedom. It reflect total support for it.

[sierrak9s]

14. Okay...

I wasn't targeting the progressives HERE -- sorry if it looked like that. I'm just sayin', I remember when progressives would take to the streets to protest atrocities in South Africa and South America, when the left took a back seat to NOBODY in its opposition to fascism EVERYWHERE. I see the organized left completely ignoring the fascist fundamentalist jackboot stomping on the Iranian students. Where are the marchers? Where's Indymedia? This should properly be a PROGRESSIVE cause, but instead, right-wingers like Michael Ledeen and National Review and the WSJ are setting the agenda.
This bothers me.
Thassall.

[wuushew]

12. Because the US has a horrible track record

We need to stay the fuck out of Iran at all costs. This month there is the first ever book to come out about the 1953 US backed coup that put the Shah in power. Strange that we overthrew TIME magazine's 1951 man of the year just because he had a silly idea of using Iran's oil revenues for its' people and not the British. America needs to be more patient in its efforts to foster democracy and freedom. China and South Korea are both radically different countries then they were in 1980.

[fshrink]

13. I'm afraid the CIA also fosters them.

nt

[Skittles]

15. try to answer

WHY WE HAVE CEDED *EVERY* ISSUE TO THE REPUGS. x(