What happens when the contempt of elected officials for the duly elected POTUS (twice, thank you) trumps loyalty to one's country and its Constitution. This is especially true when these same lawmakers are beholden to the defense industry and have aligned themselves with the neoconservative, endless wars movements.
This time the neocons went too far. So far that the GOP proves it is incapable of governing.
We've all heard about the #47Traitors #GOPWantsWar (both trending number one on Twitter) forty-seven Republican Senators who, in an attempt to sabotage the President's negotiations with Iran wrote a condescending, error riddled letter to the Iranian leadership. In this letter the forty-seven Republicans, led by junior Senator Ted Cotton of Arkansas, aka Dick Cheney, Jr., demonstrates that our Senators don't even know how the Senate works. Senator Cotton might hold a degree in law from Harvard but this doesn't mean he knows squat about the office for which he serves. It took a professor from Harvard Law to point out the factual errors in the childish open letter written to the Leaders of Islamic Republic of Iran. Tom Cotton and Ted Cruz (another Harvard educated lawyer) must have cut or flunked the class.
If one thing is certain, however, Tom Cotton dashed off to a fundraiser with defense contractors after he signed the letter.
Its premise is that Iran’s leaders “may not fully understand our constitutional system,” and in particular may not understand the nature of the “power to make binding international agreements.” It appears from the letter that the Senators do not understand our constitutional system or the power to make binding agreements.
This is not only condescending, it is highly embarrassing. For the
Iranian Foreign Minister moved to the U.S. when he was seventeen years old. Fluent in English he earned a BA and Ph.D. from U.S. universities.
Worse, the forty seven Senators don't understand the Senate. That or loyalty to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, their military defense contractor donors and their cynical contempt for President Obama has obviously blinded them to the way international law and foreign policy are supposed to work.
This is a technical point that does not detract from the letter’s message that any administration deal with Iran might not last beyond this presidency. (I analyzed this point here last year.) But in a letter purporting to teach a constitutional lesson, the error is embarrassing.
As if this isn't embarrassing enough, the
Iranian foreign minister schooled the forty seven clowns on both the Constitution and international law.
Having failed in the first Netanyahu ploy, Senate Republicans displayed their fealty to the Israeli foreigner by warning Iran that despite the Constitution or international law, Republicans and Netanyahu set America’s Middle East policy; not the leader of the Executive branch President Obama. It is something that astonished Iran’s Foreign Minister Zarif who took time out of his busy schedule to inform “the letter’s authors” that they are as ignorant of their own Constitution as their stupid Confederate base of supporters.
The Iranian foreign minister is well aware of the ignorance of the Confederate base of the Republican Party.
Zarif said, “in our view, this letter has no legal value and is mostly a propaganda ploy. It is very interesting that while negotiations are still in progress and while no agreement has been reached, some political pressure groups are so afraid even of the prospect of an agreement that they resort to unconventional methods, unprecedented in diplomatic history. This indicates that like Netanyahu, who considers peace an existential threat, some are opposed to any agreement, regardless of its content.” Republican and Netanyahu war mongering is certainly not a secret, but it is a very prescient statement coming from so-called “warmongering” Iranians.
Schooling the forty seven clowns on international law.
The Iranian Foreign Minister also reminded the GOP traitors that regardless their allegiance to foreigner Netanyahu, a “change of administration does not in any way relieve the next administration from international obligations undertaken by its predecessor in a possible agreement about Iran’s peaceful nuclear program. I wish to enlighten the authors that if the next administration revokes any agreement with ‘the stroke of a pen,’ as they boast, it will have simply committed a blatant violation of international law.” However, in the same manner that Republicans violated the Logan Act, they have blatantly violated international laws forbidding discrimination, inhumane treatment of American citizens, and torture; it is something the United Nations should be very cognizant of in monitoring America to ensure it honors any Security Council agreement with Iran.
Worse, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,Iran's highest leader
spanked the forty seven Republican idiots as well. He's absolutely right about the decline in political ethics.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, said the letter warning that any nuclear deal could be scrapped by a new president was “a sign of a decline in political ethics and the destruction of the American establishment from within.” The statement was posted on his website.
A retired U.S. Army Major General said the letter is
mutinous.
Eaton did not go as far as many others have in calling these senators traitors or treasonous, but he did tell The Washington Post, “I would use the word mutinous. I do not believe these senators were trying to sell out America. I do believe they defied the chain of command in what could be construed as an illegal act.”
He scolded Senator Tom Cotton, himself an Army veteran, saying, “What Senator Cotton did is a gross breach of discipline, and especially as a veteran of the Army, he should know better.” Eaton thinks that Cotton knows the letter undermines Obama and did it anyway, and “that’s what disappoints me the most.”
But what is most astonishing in all of this, is the GOP's shock by the
media backlash and as well as the firestorm in the social media. Hashtags including Treason, Traitors, Sedition, GOPWantsWar have rocked Twitter.
Twenty Two newspaper editorial boards have blasted the Senate's letter to Iran.
Now that the Republican Senators have had their butts blistered on the international and national fronts all are scrambling for excuses to explain their unprecedented contemptible action which many have said is in violation of the Logan Act.
John McCain said the snow made them do it. A snowstorm was about to hit Washington D.C. and so everyone was trying to get away. This is true. I was in Washington D.C. last week and among those who tried to beat the impending snow storm.
Haste makes for stupid, reckless and dangerous behavior that could compromise the national security of our country? If this is the case none of the forty seven Republicans are fit to serve.
When the snow excuse didn't work, some GOP said their letter was a joke. Others among the reckless teenagers said it was Obama's fault.
But our POTUS who has born the brunt of the most vitriol, disrespect and contempt for a President in recent history, with grace and distinction, is a far more pragmatic and reflective man than the entire boatload of 47 Republican idiots. Mr. Obama is embarrassed for them.
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.
Republicans Admit: That Iran Letter Was a Dumb Idea
A petition is available to sign for those who believe the Senators should be at least
censured for their action.
Others may want to contact their sell-out Senators to give them a piece of your mind. I certainly let Senators Cornyn and Cruz know how I feel about their sabotage in no uncertain terms.
Last time we elected a neoconservative President we ended with the debacle called Iraq. These forty-seven Republican Senators seem as ethically corrupted, greedy and bloodthirsty enough to bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran. Endless wars on behalf of the 1% and the military/industrial complex with a dash of religious fanaticism thrown in.
Once again the Republican Party and its neoconservative movement proves it is incapable of governing.
