After CBS initially ignored the Iranian people’s uprising against their oppressors from Thursday to Saturday, and then downplayed the murder of two protesters and shootings of others earlier on Sunday, White House Correspondent Major Garrett finally dedicated some sort of significant time to the subject (two minutes 31 seconds) for the network when he was filling in on Face The Nation. Unfortunately, he only brushed over the details and questioned if President Trump should be speaking out in support of the people fighting for freedom.
Garrett began the show with an interview with Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and before getting to the interview he delivered an overly simplistic brief about what was going on in the Islamic republic. “We've got a lot to get to today, but we want to take note of the situation in Iran where anti-government protests continue for the third day. These are the largest demonstrations in the country in almost ten years. Two protesters were killed overnight,” he reported while getting the length of the protest wrong.
His lightning-fast news brief actually managed to shave a whole second off of his colleague Jane Pauley’s version which lasted 16 seconds. There was also no mention of the demonstrators' chants of “Death to Rouhani” and “We don’t want an Islamic republic,” or women taking off their hijabs in support of women's rights.
To start the interview with Graham, Garrett wanted to know what the Senator thought President Trump should do about the situation. “If I were President Trump I would have a nationwide address pretty soon explaining why the Iranian nuclear deal was a bad deal for the world, what a better deal would look like, and urge Congress and European allies to get a better deal with Iran before it's too late,” Graham replied.
But that didn’t seem to sit well with Garrett who immediately questioned the wisdom of stepping out in support of the Iranian people. “And the purpose of that national address would be to take note of this moment and put the United States foursquare on behalf and behind those people protesting in the streets,” he wondered. “Some have said that would be the wrong thing to do because that would give the regime an enemy to point at, us again!”
“The deal with Iran hasn't worked. The money didn't to go benefit the people, it went to benefit the Ayatollah and his henchmen. The people are not our enemy, the Ayatollah is the enemy of the world,” Graham explained shortly before Garrett shifted the topic to North Korea.
Graham also ripped President Obama’s foreign policy for putting the Iranian people in the position they found themselves in today:
Well, it tells us that the Obama approach of relieving sanctions hoping the regime would moderate has failed. The people are not getting the benefit of sanction relief they're more upset with their oppressors than ever. The money from sanction relief has gone into rebuilding the Iranian military and their destabilizing the mid-east.
CBS and the rest of the networks still have not mentioned how Obama foiled U.S. operations against the Hezbollah terrorist organization at Iran’s request in order to get that nuclear deal.
Transcript below:
CBS
Face the Nation
December 31, 2017
10:32:00 AM EasternMAJOR GARRETT: We've got a lot to get to today, but we want to take note of the situation in Iran where anti-government protests continue for the third day. These are the largest demonstrations in the country in almost ten years. Two protesters were killed overnight. We begin with Republican Senator Lindsey Graham he joins us from Clemson, South Carolina, where I suspect one or two residents have rooting interest in tomorrow night's Sugar Bowl. Senator, great to have you with us, let’s get straight to the situation in Iran. What is the import of the demonstrations and what should President Trump do or say about them?
LINDSEY GRAHAM: Well, it tells us that the Obama approach of relieving sanctions hoping the regime would moderate has failed. The people are not getting the benefit of sanction relief they're more upset with their oppressors than ever. The money from sanction relief has gone into rebuilding the Iranian military and their destabilizing the mid-east. If I were President Trump I would have a nationwide address pretty soon explaining why the Iranian nuclear deal was a bad deal for the world, what a better deal would look like, and urge Congress and European allies to get a better deal with Iran before it's too late.
GARRETT: And the purpose of that national address would be to take note of this moment and put the United States foursquare on behalf and behind those people protesting in the streets? Some have said that would be the wrong thing to do because that would give the regime an enemy to point at, us again!
GRAHAM: That was the Obama approach. If I were Trump I'd do the exact opposite of Obama. Obama said: “I don't want to get involved, I don't want to mess up the chance of getting a deal with Iran.” The deal with Iran hasn't worked. The money didn't to go benefit the people, it went to benefit the Ayatollah and his henchmen. The people are not our enemy, the Ayatollah is the enemy of the world.
Here’s what I would do if I was President Trump: I would explain what a better deal would look like. It’s not enough to watch, President Trump is tweeting very sympathetically to the Iranian people. But you just can't tweet here. You have to lay out a plan. And If I was President Trump, I'd layout a plan as to how I would engage the regime. I would tell the Europeans and the Congress and the world that America is going to withdraw from this agreement unless it's a better deal. And I'd lay out what a better deal would look like, and I would stand with the Iranian people the entire time.
GARRETT: Have you conveyed this personally to the President?
GRAHAM: I just did.
[Chuckles]
GARRETT: Very good. Sometimes you can do that by phone and I'm just curious about that.
(…)
