Iran: What the Candidates Say

From True Majority

Below you will find quotes from all of the presidential candidates who at some point before the release of the NIE report advocated the 'all options' position.

The primaries kick off in Iowa on January 3rd. And by February 6th, we'll have a pretty good idea who the nominees are going to be from both parties. Anyone who is concerned about a potential war with Iran should know where the candidates stand before that time.


What They Are Saying Now...


Hillary Rodham Clinton

Quote: "Well, I'm relieved that the intelligence community has reached this conclusion, but I vehemently disagree with the president that nothing's changed and therefore nothing in American policy has to change."

"I have for two years advocated diplomatic engagement with Iran, and I think that's what the president should do. He should seize this opportunity and engage in serious diplomacy, using both carrots and sticks. I think we do know that pressure on Iran does have an effect. I think that is an important lesson. But we're not going to reach the kind of resolution that we should seek unless we put that into the context of a diplomatic process. "

- Democratic Debate Transcript, NPR, December 4, 2007


Chris Dodd

Quote: "The NIE on Iran contains some very important findings by the intelligence community. Taken together these findings make a strong case for pursuing robust diplomacy to resolve our differences with Iran and for an end to the reckless talk by the Administration and reckless votes by some members of Congress."

http://chrisdodd.com/blog/dodd-nie, December 3, 2007

John Edwards

Quote: "It means that the people like me who spoke up very strongly against Bush and Cheney on their saber rattling about Iran and against this the important resolution that the senate voted on the Iranian revolutionary guard - it means that we were right,"

Edwards: NIE justifies opposition to Bush on Iran, CNN.com, December 6,2007.


Rudy Giuliani

Quote:MR. RUSSERT: "Doesn't this remove the option of a pre-emptive military strike against Iran?"

MR. GIULIANI: "No, I, I don't think it does. I think, I think you always leave open the military option...And of course we don't, we don't want to use the military option. It would be dangerous; it would be risky. But I think it would be more dangerous and more risky if Iran did become a nuclear power."

-Meet the Press, December 9, 2007.

Mike Huckabee

Quote: "And the ultimate thing is, I may not be the expert that some people are on foreign policy, but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night." ("Imus In The Morning," 12/4/07)


John McCain

Quote: "But there is some lessening of the urgency of the issue concerning nuclear weapons," he said.

"I think we've always been open to dialogue with the Iranians, but that dialogue doesn't haven't to be in the most visible and public fashion because we obviously don't want to enhance the prestige of someone like the president of Iran," he said.

McCain: Report highlights need for intelligence, Fosters Daily Democrat, December 5, 2007

Barack Obama

Quote: "It's absolutely clear that this administration -- and President Bush -- continues to not let facts get in the way of his ideology ... They should have stopped the saber rattling."

The GOP's Iran option is off the table, Salon.com, December 11, 2007

Mitt Romney

Quote: "They, of course, are continuing making the ingredients which would be used in a nuclear weapon," Romney told Politics Nation today. "If they had stopped both I would feel a great deal more confident about their intentions. But their continuing to produce enriched uranium is of great concern to the world."

"Were I president, I would not simply read a report and say, 'Oh!' I would instead insist on having people with the most objective and first-hand information presenting their perspectives. And if no one disagreed I'd look for someone who disagreed, even if I had to find them from outside the agency,"

Romney: Iran Still A Threat, RealClearPolitics, December 4, 2007

Fred Thompson

Quote: "I hope that they are accurate with this assessment, but right now, I don't have the confidence in our own intelligence capabilities to make that assessment," the former Tennessee senator said after speaking to dozens of supporters at a gun shop in this early voting state. "One thing that crosses my mind is that this is information that the Iranians have put out, that they want us to kind of relax a little bit."

"Nowadays they can have a peaceful nuclear program and it's very, very easy once they get to that level to turn a screw or two and make it into a weapons program. It's a thin line," Thompson said.

Fred Thompson skeptical of new intelligence report on Iran, Associated Press, December 5, 2007