U.S. Senate GOP throws USA under bus and aligns with Iran

mc mark · Mar 10, 2015

Remember when we used to get beautiful word bombs like this from members of the last administration?

"Judgments about the Iran-Contra Affair ultimately must rest upon one's views about the proper roles of Congress and the President in foreign policy. ... [T]hroughout the Nation's history, Congress has accepted substantial exercises of Presidential power -- in the conduct of diplomacy, the use of force and covert action -- which had no basis in statute and only a general basis in the Constitution itself. ... [M]uch of what President Reagan did in his actions toward Nicaragua and Iran were constitutionally protected exercises of inherent Presidential powers. ... [T]he power of the purse ... is not and was never intended to be a license for Congress to usurp Presidential powers and functions."

-- Richard Cheney, 1986 congressional Iran-Contra investigation

g1184 · Mar 10, 2015

dc rock said: ↑

I see liberals on twitter mocking Cotton and the 46 senators who followed him into this mess, but I take no pleasure in seeing this. To have the foreign minister of Iran smugly correct 47 of our American senators on international and constitutional law is a global embarrassment. It doesn't just reflect poorly on the GOP, it makes the entire country look bad.

Where are the adults of the Republican party? A Richard Lugar, a Pete Domenici, a James Baker, an Alan Simpson, a Bob Dole, etc. ? Where did these new Republicans come from? It's like Youtube commenters threw their names in a hat and won a job in Washington.

I'm glad that Republican Senators Lisa Murkowski, Jeff Flake, Dan Coats , Susan Collins, Tad Cochran, Lamar Alexander, and Bob Corker had the intelligence and maturity not to sign that letter, but they need to be at the front of their party. It's like the kids locked the adults out of the house and started melting crayons in the oven and feeding the pot roast to the dog.
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+1 for this.

Mathloom · Mar 10, 2015

Northside Storm said: ↑

"in this episode of MIDDLE EAST, Israel's ability to nuke people causes no consternation because the Mossad prefers to create droughts and assassinate scientists. It shows the difference between rhetoric and action which is why Iran should be treated like a silly baby. There's only ONE regional power, and ONE nuclear power in the Middle East allowed at a time"

I cannot believe how bought and paid for Congress is when it comes to a regional conflict. astounding.

the fact that Congressmen don't know the laws they're supposed to enforce doesn't surprise me as much though.
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Don't be silly dude. Israel is allowed nukes because it's the only democracyish in the Middle Eastish and all the other countries hate democracy and hate America for their freedoms and their citizens are always on the brink of joining ISIS (and secretly they have joined ISIS in their hearts and the MB and AL Qaeda and Hoko Baram it's all the same anyway). READ UP OK. Hasn't Harper taught you ANYTHING?

Sweet Lou 4 2 · Mar 10, 2015

tallanvor said: ↑

Does it matter? why negotiate with such a group? Lets say its a 1% chance they can sneak a nuke into Israel; why even given them the opportunity?

it doesn't mean war as you say.
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So what's the alternative? What exactly do you propose be done to prevent Iran from getting Nukes?

Regime change?

edwardc · Mar 10, 2015

GOP has put there foot so far down there mouths with 5 other Nations going with the US on this plan to keep iran from getting nukes what is there problem.

NewRoxFan · Mar 10, 2015

Who knew... those merry GOP Senator pranksters...

Republicans Admit: That Iran Letter Was a Dumb Idea
A day after releasing a letter that potentially threatened the administration’s negotiations with Iran, some Republicans who signed on are realizing it was a bad call.
Behind the scenes, Republicans are wondering if sending an open letter to Iran’s leaders was the best strategy to keep a bad nuclear deal from being negotiated.

Earlier this week, 47 Republican senators signed a letter warning the Iranian government that many of them would remain in office long after President Barack Obama’s second term was over, meaning any deal reached between the U.S. and Iran could be easily reversed by the next president.

But even among Republicans whose offices have signed the letter, there is some trepidation that the Iran letter injects partisanship into the Iran negotiations, shifting the narrative from the content of the deal to whether Republicans are unfairly trying to undercut the president.

“Before the letter, the national conversation was about Netanyahu’s speech and how Obama’s negotiations with Iran are leading to a terrible deal that could ultimately harm U.S. national security. Now, the Obama administration and its Capitol Hill partisans are cynically trying to push the conversation away from policy, and towards a deeply political pie fight over presidential and congressional prerogatives,” said a Senate Republican aide whose boss signed the letter.

However, while some on the Republican side are now rethinking the wisdom of sending a letter, none of the 47 Republican signatories are recanting their support for it or signaling an intent to do so.
Republican Sen. Bob Corker, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, did not sign the letter.

“I didn’t think it was going to further our efforts to get to a place where Congress would play the appropriate role that it should on Iran,” Corker told The Daily Beast. “I did not think that the letter was something that was going to help get us to an outcome that we’re all seeking, and that is Congress playing that appropriate role.”

The open letter, organized by freshman Sen. Tom Cotton, was first sent around by Senate staffers in early March. Last Wednesday, with a handful of senators already committed to the letter, Cotton brought up the issue in one of the Senate GOP’s regular weekly luncheons.

“I didn’t think it was going to further our efforts to get to a place where Congress would play the appropriate role that it should on Iran,” Sen. Bob Corker said.
“I immediately knew that it was not something that, for me anyway, in my particular role, was going to be constructive,” Corker said. “I didn’t realize until this weekend that it had the kind of momentum that it had.”

Sen. Jeff Flake was another Republican who declined to sign the letter, telling reporters Tuesday that there was already “a lot of animosity” between Congress and the White House, and that the Iranian nuclear threat was “too important to divide us among partisan lines.”

“I just didn’t feel that it was appropriate or productive at this point. These are tough enough negotiations as it stands, and introducing this kind of letter, I didn’t think would be helpful,” Flake said.

Republican aides were taken aback by what they thought was a light-hearted attempt to signal to Iran and the public that Congress should have a role in the ongoing nuclear discussions. Two GOP aides separately described their letter as a “cheeky” reminder of the Congressional branch’s prerogatives.
“The administration has no sense of humor when it comes to how weakly they have been handling these negotiations,” said a top GOP Senate aide.

Added a Republican national security aide, “The Senate should have a role. It would make any agreement have some sort of consistency and perpetuity beyond the president. And it would also be buy-in for the American people. Right now it’s just an agreement between the President of the United States and whoever the final signatory to the agreement is.”

Supporters of the White House’s ongoing negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program pushed back hard against the letter, with some even citing a law written in the 18th century (and not applied since 1803) to say that the senators engaged in illegal conduct by communicating with a foreign government to undermine the U.S. government’s foreign policy.

Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson said he was “appalled and saddened” by the open letter.

“What it sends is a message to the rest of the world that we are not united,” Nelson said.
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http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/03/10/republicans-admit-that-iran-letter-was-a-dumb-idea.html

Remii · Mar 10, 2015

JuanValdez said: ↑

I don't like these "imagine the uproar if the roles were reversed" arguments. If a Democratic senate did this to a Republican president, then of course a bunch of Republicans would be frothing at the mouth. But then, a bunch of Democrats would doing the he-started-it counters. So what difference does it make if both sides are hypocrites?
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The difference is that those hypocrites are trying to start a freakin world war and are pandering to Israel.

JuanValdez said: ↑

Here's an interesting article I found from a 2008 when Bush made an executive agreement with Iraq that defined our exit timetable, and how congress complained that he was excluding them: http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/treaties_and_executive_agreements/. The article also has some interesting history about how common executive agreements have become and where from a legal point of view it appropriate to have this sort of agreement.
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Bush already had the country in a war that it never should have been in and in bad financial shape. He almost F'd up both the US and Iraq. Congress had ever right to complain.

edwardc · Mar 11, 2015

Remii said: ↑

The difference is that those hypocrites are trying to start a freakin world war and are pandering to Israel.

Bush already had the country in a war that it never should have been in and in bad financial shape. He almost F'd up both the US and Iraq. Congress had ever right to complain.
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Amen Amen those word are golden.

SamFisher · Mar 11, 2015

epublican aides were taken aback by what they thought was a light-hearted attempt to signal to Iran and the public that Congress should have a role in the ongoing nuclear discussions. Two GOP aides separately described their letter as a “cheeky” reminder of the Congressional branch’s prerogatives.
“The administration has no sense of humor when it comes to how weakly they have been handling these negotiations,” said a top GOP Senate aide.
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hahaha the "YA'LL JUS KIDDING" strategy.

You can't make this kind of stupid up.

mc mark · Mar 11, 2015

SamFisher said: ↑

hahaha the "YA'LL JUS KIDDING" strategy.

You can't make this kind of stupid up.
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I'm finding all of the whining and backpedaling republicans are doing today realizing their little stunt has completely backfired on them.

Rocket River · Mar 11, 2015

Traitors all . . ..

Rocket River

peleincubus · Mar 11, 2015

is this another step to the republicans not winning the next election?

Baba Booey · Mar 11, 2015

peleincubus said: ↑

is this another step to the republicans not winning the next election?
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This letter seems like an easy target for other republicans (who did not sign) to fire at during the primaries.

Tom Cotton's opponents can just say that he wants war with Iran, which should be a major turnoff to voters. None of those 47 republicans should ever win another election.

What an unbelievably bad decision those guys made. Perry was quick to endorse it as well. Endorsing that letter should be the death knell of any presidential campaign.

HamJam · Mar 11, 2015

Baba Booey said: ↑

What an unbelievably bad decision those guys made. Perry was quick to endorse it as well. Endorsing that letter should be the death knell of any presidential campaign.
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How many death knells does it take before that guy's presidential aspirations will finally die?

Baba Booey · Mar 11, 2015

HamJam said: ↑

How many death knells does it take before that guy's presidential aspirations will finally die?
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The over/under is 6. He did add glasses since the last election, so he has that working for him.

NewRoxFan · Mar 11, 2015

I like how the GOP tried to blame Obama for the letter. "He didn't play fair with us... so we went all mental. It's his fault!"

basso · Mar 11, 2015

Baba Booey · Mar 11, 2015

basso said: ↑

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That's really accurate...

ferrari77 · Mar 11, 2015

Fundraising time for Rubio
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/rubio-turns-sabotage-letter-fundraising-opportunity

And then there’s Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who told NBC News yesterday that he’s not only pleased with the letter, but also, “I would send another one tomorrow.” The Tampa Bay Times’ Alex Leary reports today, meanwhile, that the far-right Floridian’s political action committee has even begun fundraising off the controversy.

Rubio’s “Reclaim American PAC” sent out a letter to donors this morning with this pitch:

“Earlier this week, [Sen. Tom Cotton] sent a letter to the Iranian regime reiterating that the United States Senate would not review any agreements that President Obama makes with Iran. Marco was proud to be one of the first senators to sign the letter.

“Now Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton’s liberal allies are accusing Tom Cotton and Marco of being ‘traitors.’”

From there, the appeal for contributions says that a $25 donation “will allow us to immediately fight back against these outrageous attacks.”

The letter did not specify how, exactly. a $25 contribution would help Rubio’s PAC respond to critics.

It’s quite a turn of events, isn’t it? Rubio helped create an international controversy, working with other far-right politicians to deliberately undermine American foreign policy and scuttle ongoing diplomatic talks. The ensuing scandal has divided Republicans and may ultimately affect America’s ability to lead on the global stage.

Marco Rubio’s PAC, watching these developments unfold, apparently thought, “Hey, why don’t we exploit the controversy for cash?”

For one thing, this isn’t exactly the sort of move that screams “presidential leadership.” For another, to raise money off a scandal that’s drawn fire from the left, right, and center raises questions about Team Rubio’s political judgment.
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ferrari77 · Mar 11, 2015

NewRoxFan said: ↑

I like how the GOP tried to blame Obama for the letter. "He didn't play fair with us... so we went all mental. It's his fault!"
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Former New York Gov. George Pataki (R), appearing at a presidential forum hosted by the International Association of Fire Fighters, conceded that he believed foreign policy to be "prerogative of the president." But even within that construct, he added, Obama was to blame for Senate Republicans trying to undermine his talks with Iran.

"I also understand the frustration when this president has done everything in his power to prevent awareness on the part of congressional leadership on exactly what the terms under consideration are, or his willingness to sit down with Congress and talk about the legislation they are trying to pass right now," said Pataki, who is exploring a presidential bid. "I think if we had a president who had engaged more in understanding that Congress has a very critical role in all elements of government, we could avoid this type of sad situation."

Even Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), who expressed qualms about undermining the presidency, said he agreed with the tone of the Cotton’s letter. “The president is really taking a risk by not agreeing to get either confirmation or approval from the House or Senate,” King said, speaking at the same forum as Pataki.
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/10/gop-obama-cotton-letter_n_6843204.html

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U.S. Senate GOP throws USA under bus and aligns with Iran

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