Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR)
Wow, Senate Republicans. Just wow. All but seven Republican senators have signed on to
an open letter to Iran warning that as soon as President Obama leaves office, Republicans will undo any nuclear deal he might enter into with Iran:
Organized by freshman Senator Tom Cotton and signed by the chamber's entire party leadership as well as potential 2016 presidential contenders Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, the letter is meant not just to discourage the Iranian regime from signing a deal but also to pressure the White House into giving Congress some authority over the process.
“It has come to our attention while observing your nuclear negotiations with our government that you may not fully understand our constitutional system … Anything not approved by Congress is a mere executive agreement,” the senators wrote. “The next president could revoke such an executive agreement with the stroke of a pen and future Congresses could modify the terms of the agreement at any time.”
Hilariously, in their condescending explanation of "our constitutional system," the Republicans
made a technical error on the Constitution. But, amusing technical errors aside,
this is just ... well, this:
It's stunning. And it's a rebuke on an international stage that doesn't really have a precedent. Imagine Democrats micro-managing the START talks in the 80s by sending an open letter to Gorbachev? It just wouldn't have been viewed as an acceptable political move while the talks were still happening.
But either these Republicans are following the good old rules of IOKIYAR, or they're ready to take their political vandalism to the level after what would have been the next level, or some combination of both.
