Cotton Blather

Dumbest Man In America

From (O)CT(O)PUS of The Swash Zone 


"How low can the GOP go? Just when you thought Netanyahu’s invitation to address Congress (without consultation with the President) was bad enough, you can thank Senate Republicans for breaking with two centuries of tradition and legal precedent – in a breach of protocol that effectively breaks our system of government. 

I refer to 47 Senate Republicans who dispatched a letter to Tehran that undermines P5+1 negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program. The letter states that any negotiated settlement should be considered non-binding because any future president or Congress can reverse it. More than offensive as another example of outrageous partisanship, the letter is downright destructive: 

Violation of Constitutional Law. Justice Sutherlin of the United States Supreme Court wrote this precedent in 1936: “[The President] makes treaties with the advice and consent of the Senate; but he alone negotiates. Into the field of negotiation the Senate cannot intrude, and Congress itself is powerless to invade it." 

Violation of Federal Law. Passed in 1799, the Logan Act states: “Any citizen of the United States, wherever he may be, who, without authority of the United States, directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government or of any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both." 

Violation of Trustworthiness. The letter undermines the full faith and trustworthiness of the U.S. government in matters of foreign policy. In a White House statement yesterday, Vice President Joe Biden said: “In thirty-six years in the United States Senate, I cannot recall another instance in which Senators wrote directly to advise another country -- much less a longtime foreign adversary -- that the President does not have the constitutional authority to reach a meaningful understanding with them. This letter sends a highly misleading signal to friend and foe alike that that our Commander-in-Chief cannot deliver on America’s commitments -- a message that is as false as it is dangerous." 

 Borrowing a page from the GOP playbook, it means the foreign policy initiatives of any future Republican administration can be similarly sabotaged. If war is what Senate Republicans want, then they should be damn careful what they wish for ... in more ways than one. The ‘Dear Tehran’ letter represents nothing less than a hypocritical and unconstitutional coup d’etat against the Executive Branch … deserving of prosecution under the Nolan Act. 

 Traitors, the whole damn lot!"

The reviews are in:  Major newspapers across the country condemn what the 47 saboteurs did to the United States of America and her Commander in Chief:



From the daily kos:
Both of Kentucky's senators, Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul, signed the letter. Their state's Courier-Journal asked: 

Has Congress gone crazy? [...] A blatant attempt to sabotage the discussions to limit Iran’s nuclear capacity, the letter is signed by by 47 GOP senators, aligning themselves — President Obama noted ironically — with hardliners in Iran who oppose any deal with the United States.


The Concord, NH, Monitor focused very directly on New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte: Unlike the thousands of other times she has signed her name, Ayotte will remember this signature. How could she forget? It’s not every day that a United States senator attempts to undermine U.S. foreign policy and weaken the nation in one cursive swoop. 

Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey signed the letter, and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's editorial board wrote: The senators who signed the letter should be ashamed. 

The Salt Lake Tribune's headline is almost all you need to read: Utah senators increase risk of war. Although the editorial itself is worth a look: It will be up to history to judge whether the latest partisan stunt joined by Utah Sens. Mike Lee and Orrin Hatch amounts to an act of End Times warmongering or merely another bit of cringe-worthy buffoonery on the global stage.


 The Sacramento Bee wrote that Senate Republicans need a civics lesson, “It’s the Republican senators who signed the letter – including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and potential presidential candidates Ted Cruz of Texas, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Marco Rubio of Florida – who could use a remedial civics class. The Constitution gives the president broad authority to conduct foreign policy. The Senate’s “advise and consent” role covers formal treaties. The potential deal on Iran’s nuclear weapons program is not a treaty. It is a multinational agreement that involves Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia, as well as the United States and Iran.”


The Baltimore Sun pulled no punches, “The poison pen note was a shocking example of just how far President Barack Obama’s GOP critics in Congress are willing to go in an effort to undercut his foreign policy goals…The GOP senators might just as well have put up a big sign over their chamber warning the mullahs in Tehran to prepare for war because that’s the practical import of rejecting any possibility of a negotiated resolution of the two countries’ differences. Republican lawmakers in effect have adopted the hard-line agenda of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who offered a similarly uncompromising view of Iranian intentions when he addressed a joint meeting of Congress last week.”



The Boston Globe accused Senate Republicans of winning sympathy for Iran, “WINNING SYMPATHY for the renegade Islamic Republic of Iran is no easy trick. 

But Republicans in the US Senate seem to be accomplishing it with their breathtakingly reckless intrusion into international diplomacy….The letter not only undercuts the president’s traditional authority to oversee the shaping of foreign policy but badly undermines America’s credibility in the international community.”