"So what's the street address for 'the Leaders of Iran'? I'm just gonna put 1 Iran St."
The latest explanation of why 47 Republican senators' letter to the Iranian leadership attempting to short-circuit anti-proliferation negotiations between America and Iran is not as bad as it sounds and as political wags from both sides of the aisle have declared it to be—and let us pause here to reflect that this is indeed only the "latest" explanation, as the others have petered out—is that it was not actually sent to Iran,
therefore shut up.
Had Cotton & Co. actually delivered their communiqué to Iran’s mullahs — perhaps via a Swiss diplomatic pouch or something even more cloak and dagger — their critics would be on less swampy ground in calling them “traitors,” as the New York Daily News screamed. [...]
“Because it was an open letter, it was not sent to Tehran but rather posted on Senator Cotton’s website and social-media accounts,” Caroline Rabbitt, Senator Cotton’s communications director, explained to me last week.
The open letter was specifically addressed "to the Leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran," mind you, but there was no stamp. It was only released via Senate website, and only promoted to hell and back, and only referred to by the signers as a letter "to the Leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran"; you cannot possibly jump to the conclusion that it was meant to be seen as such. All of this is not-very-patiently explained by a Fox News contributor who has had it up to
here with the liberal media that thinks such things.
I appreciate the effort put into this, but I'm still going to mark it down as not a very good try. The "it was a joke" explanation was a bit more plausible because we can all see 47 Republican senators attempting to be hilarious and whiffing spectacularly. The doesn't count if it doesn't have a stamp theory, however, lacks real-world plausibility. Minus ten points for Slytherin, and as further punishment the Senate must remain in session until such time as Tom Cotton's fellow Republicans can explain to him why it is not especially noteworthy that Iran controls the city of Tehran.
And good luck with that.
