Pat Buchanan attacks fearmongering on Iran, Sean Hannity says he sounds like Obama
The Conservatives cannot agree on Iran, a deal on a nuclear program and the latest banter between Pat Buchanan and Sean Hannity prove the divide, illustrate the talking points and areas of disagreement.
Below is a transcript via Real Clear Politics (edited grammar only by The Dispatch):
PAT BUCHANAN: Listen to the American head of intelligence. He says Iran does not have a bomb program as of 2013. Secondly if they start building a bomb, we will know it. Third, Iran has made some concessions there are not enough that makes them less able to go –
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SEAN HANNITY: Go back to 2012 when we found out they were far more advanced in the nuclear production and program than we ever thought was possible. That’s what Obama’s own government said.
PAT BUCHANAN: You’re friend Bibi’s been talking about Iran getting a bomb since 1992. In 2006 he said they’ll be building 25 bombs by the end of the decade. Are they? No.
SEAN HANNITY: Patrick Buchanan. You don’t have any concerns at all about sitting down — by the way, there’s a big difference between the Cold War and the Russians that had nuclear weapons and America paving the way for them to get nuclear weapons considering I would argue that before any negotiations take place, pat, I’m not against negotiations. But first you have to change your behavior. Stop being a state sponsor of terror. Stop fighting proxy wars. Stop funding groups like Hezbollah and other groups. How’s that?
PAT BUCHANAN: Sean.
SEAN HANNITY: Pat.
PAT BUCHANAN: In Syria, in Iraq, okay, the Iranians and their allies, Hezbollah, the Shiite militia who are a dreadful bunch, Assad, are fighting ISIS. They are fighting al Qaeda. The Houthi rebels in Yemen are fighting ISIS & al-Qaeda?
SEAN HANNITY: And how ironic that we’re serving as their air force in those instances.
PAT BUCHANAN: Who are they killing, Sean? They are killing our enemies. They are killing our enemies.
SEAN HANNITY: Okay. And then we’re also fighting against them in Yemen with the Saudis. So explain that logic to me.
PAT BUCHANAN: I’ll tell you what the Saudis are going to do. The Saudis are making a terrible mistake. If they go in there on the ground, it will be their Vietnam. When I was a young editorial writer, Egypt –
SEAN HANNITY: If they don’t go in there, then they’re going to be surrounded by the Iranians which by the way wants to clearly build themselves a huge power for themselves in the region. And that would be more dangerous as the Jordanians and Egyptians believe.
PAT BUCHANAN: Sean, the reason Iran’s going to have a power in the gulf because your president George W. Bush invaded Iraq and turned it into an ally of Iran.
SEAN HANNITY: Excuse me, Pat, if you’re going to bring it up, point out that the surge worked. And in 2007 if the admonition of keeping intelligence and training troops on the ground were met by Obama, we wouldn’t be in this position, would we?
PAT BUCHANAN: Sean.
SEAN HANNITY: Would we?
PAT BUCHANAN: The reason we’re in this position is because Saddam Hussein, a thug, was overthrown, his state was destroyed, his army was broken up, elections were held by Bush, democracy crusade and the Shia won and we lost control of Iraq.
SEAN HANNITY: You believe we can make a deal with the Iranians? You believe with peace with the Iranians in our time?
PAT BUCHANAN: I’m not scared of Iran for God sakes.
SEAN HANNITY: Now you sound like Obama. Iran is a tiny country, they’re not a threat. Do you believe that?
PAT BUCHANAN: Bibi is sitting on 200 atom bombs and fretting over Iran which hasn’t even produced weapons grade uranium.
SEAN HANNITY: It is going to create an arms race with the likes of which the world has never seen with one distinction, Pat. Nuclear weapons in the hands of radical Islamic mullahs. You really want that?
PAT BUCHANAN: The United States could finish off Iran in an afternoon. What are you frightened of, Sean?
SEAN HANNITY: I think it’s a bad idea.
PAT BUCHANAN: I think it’s a bad idea for them to get a bomb. And I think we can stop it.
SEAN HANNITY: …Just like we finished off North Korea in an afternoon, Pat?
Pat, I think you’re dreaming. Thank you, sir.
PAT BUCHANAN: I think you’re hysterical, Sean.
SEAN HANNITY: I’m hysterical. I don’t want the mullahs Iran. I take their words seriously. Just like Churchill took the words of Hitler seriously and Chamberlain thought he could have peace.
SEAN HANNITY: How did England turn out when they actually followed Churchill’s advice.
PAT BUCHANAN: Won the war? They’re on American food stamps. They lost the empire because of getting involved.
SEAN HANNITY: What was their option, to not fight the Nazis?
