ANOTHER MISGUIDED COMPARISON…. Last week, we heard quite a few ridiculous Iran-related comparisons from high-profile Republicans, but former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio, now a U.S. Senate candidate, adds a rather unique twist today.
Twitter hasn’t always been a politician’s best friend, most recently for House Republicans making comparisons of their own political plight to the demonstrators in Iran.
Florida Senate candidate Marco Rubio is the latest to make his own questionable comparison drawn from the Iranian demonstrations — that the protesters would have more success if they had a constitutional right to bear arms.
“I have a feeling the situation in Iran would be a little different if they had a 2nd amendment like ours,” Rubio tweeted.
Rubio added hashtags for tcot and the nra.
It’s fascinating to watch developments unfold in Iran, and it’s not unusual to think how much better off Iranians would be right now if they enjoyed some of the freedoms Americans already have. But instead of free speech, the right to peaceably assemble, a free press, and the separation between religion and government, Rubio is apparently thinking, “Boy, if those folks only had lots of guns….”
As far as I can tell, Iran seems to already have quite a few well-armed “militias.” Indeed, it’s part of the problem.
But stepping back, it’s hard not to appreciate the wild change in direction we’ve seen from the right when it comes to Iranians. Last year, the conservative line on Iran seemed to be a desire for a military conflict. Now, at least some on the right lament the fact that Iranians aren’t better armed.
As Jason Linkins put it, “[I]t’s symbolic of how much has changed that a conservative now thinks Iran could use more readily available weaponry.”
