Liberals are so crazy. Just plain nutty. Like Senator Barbara Boxer, for example. Why, when George W. Bush asked Congress for the permission to send technology and materials that could be used to make nuclear weapons, Barbara Boxer proposed an amendment to the legislation that would have required that, before it receive that technology and materials, India “suspend military-to-military cooperation with Iran, including training exercises, until such time as Iran is no longer designated as a state sponsor of terrorism.”
Whoah! Isn’t that kooky? Just another example of how out of touch with reality those left wing liberals are! Insane! Insupportable! Outrageous! Really, truly… um… uh… Actually, it was a pretty good idea.
Come to think of it, why would the President of the United States and the United States Senate even consider giving the materials and know-how required to make nuclear weapons to a country that is working in military cooperation with Iran? Americans ought to ask that question of the 59 US Senators who voted down Barbara Boxer’s measure to prevent the transfer of nuclear material and technology to Iran.
Who voted against this plainly sensible amendment to protect the world from Iran’s nuclear weapons ambitions? Some prominent candidates running for President in 2008 were among that number, it turns out. The Senators who opposed the amendment included the following Republican presidential candidates:
Sam Brownback of Kansas
Bill Frist of Tennessee
John McCain of Arizona
Unfortunately, this group was not restricted to Republicans. The following Democratic presidential candidates also voted against the Boxer amendment:
Evan Bayh of Indiana
Joseph Biden of Delaware
Christopher Dodd of Connecticut
What were these guys thinking? Were they thinking that they needed to shore up support from the lobby that supports the nuclear arming of South Asia?
Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator Barack Obama have a somewhat better record on this issue. Clinton and Obama voted for the amendment before completely disregarding its intention by voting for the legislation to allow the transfer of nuclear materials and technology to India without the safeguards proposed in the Boxer amendment.
No one has taken the time to explain what makes it so important to the interests of the United States of America to share nuclear materials and technology with India. Shouldn’t it be the default position of our government not to go around handing out stuff that could be used to make nuclear weapons? With a nation like India, which has never signed the nuclear nonproliferation treaty, and so is in no way bound to refrain from giving these materials to third countries, such caution is all the more important.
