Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Texas Senator John Cornyn Thinks US Trades With Iran

I don’t know, this isn’t exactly a non-mainstream bit of news, but if the United States has had a trade embargo with Iran for 20 years, why then, was our United States Senator (Texas), junior senator John Cornyn moved to declare that the new Gas Price Reduction Act would reduce, by 3 million barrels of oil per day, the amount of oil that the United States would buy from “Iran and (Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad”?

Oh yes he did.

He is quoted in today’s issue of the Tyler Morning Telegram . . . right here.

Iran has not sold the United States a drop of oil, or anything else since Ronald Reagan imposed a trade embargo on them. At least not legally. So it would make no sense for John Cornyn to include Iran in his short list of undesirable nations that we wouldn’t have to buy oil from if his “Oil drillin’” bill passes.

But that didn’t prevent him from saying it anyway.

Here is the Rick Noriega campaign response to John Cornyn’s latest brain fart:

“‘It's clear from his latest comments that when it comes to dealing with the energy crisis John Cornyn is running on empty. Texas families and folks across the nation are in an energy crisis and they are relying on the leaders in Washington for solutions. It's a worrisome state of affairs when a United States Senator can't even get the basic facts straight,’ said Holly Shulman, spokeswoman for the Rick Noriega for Senate campaign. ‘Texas families deserve better.’”

Despite his pile of fluffy silvery gray hair, Cornyn is only 56 years old so we can’t blame incipient Alzheimer’s as we begin to suspect a certain presidential candidate may have.

56 is too young for senility to set in.

I think it is a genuine Republican mis-read of the facts, based on past and present business practices. Fact is, Halliburton has maintained a business relationship with Iran despite the embargo. Surely, if Dick Cheney’s old company can do it through its foreign subsidiaries, and has done it with impunity, then why not be under the assumption that the US is buying Iranian oil?

Clearly this is not a miscomprehension of the facts. It is, rather, a revelation in the Republicans view of the world: if Dick Cheney can do it, then it must be OK.

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