Cotton Slams Biden For Criticism Over Iran Letter
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D.B. Hirsch is a political activist, news junkie, and retired ad copy writer and spin doctor. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Real news. With snark, invective, and lots of links. Guaranteed behaving badly.
tracey marie March 10th, 2015 at 10:35 am
the teabaggs are like bratty little children, self important and always wrong
granpa.usthai March 10th, 2015 at 10:36 am
BINGO!
rg9rts March 10th, 2015 at 3:23 pm
They are in dire need of a time out
rg9rts March 10th, 2015 at 3:23 pm
pique
tracey marie March 10th, 2015 at 3:33 pm
you caught me!
tracey marie March 10th, 2015 at 3:33 pm
now what are you going to do with me?
rg9rts March 10th, 2015 at 3:38 pm
I have an army of slugs…imported from Macedonia ..to loose on the state of Texas….They are excellent deep fried in a good tempura
tracey marie March 10th, 2015 at 3:33 pm
may I offer sugestions?
rg9rts March 10th, 2015 at 3:37 pm
I’m all ears
tracey marie March 10th, 2015 at 3:46 pm
we will talk later…flutters eyes and demurely looks down
tracey marie March 10th, 2015 at 3:33 pm
wink wink
granpa.usthai March 10th, 2015 at 10:36 am
Arkansas is a VERY SHORT bus ride from Oklahoma – barely enough time to sing a short song.
Freday63 March 10th, 2015 at 1:12 pm
Or shag your sister…
jeanabella March 10th, 2015 at 10:36 am
Tom Cotton has a problem with women as well! The tea tards in gop are too dumb to have the great responsibility of governing USA! Tom Cotton is a traitor & a saboteur! Get him out with the other dumb gop who hate everything American!
mea_mark March 10th, 2015 at 10:37 am
Why should anybody listen to someone who is in the group of #47traitors ?
Maxx44 March 10th, 2015 at 10:40 am
And the Grand Obstructionists have the unmitigated gall to say that Obama doesn’t love America??
William March 10th, 2015 at 10:42 am
In keeping with the highest traditions of traitors.
bluejayray March 10th, 2015 at 11:51 am
Isn’t he flashing a Muslim gang sighn?
Robert M. Snyder March 10th, 2015 at 10:50 am
America needs to speak with one voice when negotiating with foreign governments. I wish that Obama worked harder to cultivate relationships with both Democrats and Republicans in the Senate. But this “end run” by these senators is indefensible. It reminds me of Jesse Jackson’s self-appointed diplomatic missions during previous administrations. We need to speak with one voice, and that voice comes from the White House, regardless of who is president.
bluejayray March 10th, 2015 at 11:51 am
Obama gave up on trying to reach out to the GOPTP early on. It’s hard to take that approach seriously when they all stood in lock step on the day he took office and vowed to stop Obama no matter what. And now here we are. Today’s GOPTP’s idea of bipartisanship is “my way or the highway”. I’ve never seen it this bad, and Truman was in office when I was born.
Robert M. Snyder March 10th, 2015 at 12:07 pm
Your analysis would be plausible if Obama had close working relationships with Democratic senators. But it appears that “my way or the highway” is also Obama’s approach. I am in no way defending the GOP, but don’t be surprised when top Democrats reveal their contempt for Obama after he leaves office. Diane Feinstein could barely contain her frustration with Obama when he unilaterally decided to make the prisoner exchange for Bergdahl.
rg9rts March 10th, 2015 at 3:22 pm
What planet do you live on ???? Bizzaro world…The gopee agenda has been for the last 6 years to shame and destroy the POTUS regardless of the cost… to destroying the US and YOU are oblivious…government shut downs …antics beyond belief with the budgeting.. conducting their own foreign policy …refusal to work with the POTUS and YOU have the balls to say its his fault?? As my old english teacher was fond of saying….wake up and die right
Robert M. Snyder March 10th, 2015 at 3:37 pm
“…and YOU have the balls to say its his fault”
That’s not what I said. I said that I wish he worked harder to cultivate relationships with Democrats and Republicans in the Senate. Ask Diane Feinstein how she felt about the Bergdahl prisoner swap. Obama gives the finger to Democrats in the Senate. He is not into give-and-take. He is not into compromise – with members of his own party.
rg9rts March 10th, 2015 at 3:50 pm
You can’t work with someone who has a one word vocabulary NO. You forgot that?? The Democrats in the senate are Reids problem…they should follow the POTUS…besides you can’t please everyone all the time.. at least they aren’t conducting their own foreign policy apart from the President.
Robert M. Snyder March 10th, 2015 at 3:59 pm
“they should follow the POTUS…besides you can’t please everyone all the time”
Effective presidents know that they need allies in the Senate. Diane Feinstein has earned the respect that she is due. She is the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Obama knew that she would oppose the prisoner swap, so he never bothered to consult her, and she was royally peeved. And your response is that Diane Feinstein should simply follow the POTUS? That’s pathetic.
burqa March 10th, 2015 at 10:53 pm
I don’t see where he blames this on President Obama. The thrust of his post was it was wrong to send the letter for the same reasons it was wrong for Jesse Jackson to try to play diplomat in the past.
Mr. Snyder is also correct in stressing the overarching principle of the nation speaking with one voice and that being the White House.
I like it when we can find areas of agreement with those who are to our right, politically and finding agreement is something to be pleased with.
rg9rts March 11th, 2015 at 12:42 am
Mr Snyder has a long history…
burqa March 13th, 2015 at 10:15 pm
Well what do you want, then?
Do you want to just make stuff up, hurl accusations and hold grudges in order to keep the incivility going?
It wasn’t long ago that civility was an issue for the Left.
What do you want from the Right?
How about them cooling the temperature, how about them not digging in their heels, but being amenable to persuasion?
What do you want?
How about them being willing to participate in civilized discussion, the way grown-ups do, rather than just throwing rocks back at us?
And if someone has been awful in the past, what do you want? How about for that person to change?
As I’ve said so many times before, when you’re nose-to-nose with someone and want them to step towards your sid, you gotta take a step backwards to give them room. It is foolish to believe someone is going to adopt identical views as we, but when and where we can agree it is a good thing and we should try to seek agreement and build upon it in my view.
Back in the day this once was a forum where one could go and have grown-up discussions with people of varying opinions. We can get that back if people here would decide they want something different.
rg9rts March 14th, 2015 at 2:01 am
Then skip my comments…
burqa March 15th, 2015 at 11:42 pm
I prefer to engage. I, too have a long history. Years ago I would have been right in the middle of those throwing around the word ‘traitor’ on this one inaccurately. Yeah, I liked being really nasty and extreme but eventually came to realize there is a better way.
My question is a good one, for it helps point toward the better direction.
What do you want from those who disagree with you, for them to agree?
Well then, how about engaging in such a way that your arguments are not just strong with solid, fact-based, logical reasoning, but also are presented in such a way that the other person is comfortable with changing the opinion they had in the period you refer to as their “long history.”
The far Right is so filled with crackpots that we should be able to pick off some of their supporters and persuade them of our ideas to varying degrees. These right-wing kooks won’t always be so abundant and so prominent and I think we have a very good opportunity that would be foolish to squander with a bunch of name-calling, finger-pointing and the sort of rhetoric that causes people to dig in their heels and pay less attention to our actual arguments because we are making personal attacks and such…
OldLefty March 10th, 2015 at 11:05 am
Since they are still doing anthrax screening of mail in envelops, and they will not allow you to email if you do not live in their state, I just sent a postcard to his Washington office, simply say, “Bravo, Vice President Biden! Shame on you Senator”.
I don’t know if it’s a good idea or not, but for me it was something to counter this lawless Congress.
bluejayray March 10th, 2015 at 11:47 am
Actually it sounds like a good idea. A lot of people will see it on it’s way too.
craig7120 March 10th, 2015 at 11:55 am
Good idea, young lady.
Can’t have enough postcards in my roll top, I want a reusable postcard, like a peel off address and correspond surface. Is there such an animal? I’ve never seen it.
Freday63 March 10th, 2015 at 12:08 pm
I email politicians from other states all the time. When it comes time to plug in my address I enter their local offices address!
Stan Ubeki March 10th, 2015 at 11:07 am
Tom Cotton: The new face of American arrogance.
Maxx44 March 10th, 2015 at 11:08 am
Not to mention ignorance.
bluejayray March 10th, 2015 at 11:46 am
Willfully so and proud of it!
Foundryman March 10th, 2015 at 11:09 am
Every senator who signed that should be called traitors live and on TV every hour on the hour. They should be ruthlessly attacked and a call for their resignation. Instead they are going to get a free pass and attack Biden.
America is dying right in front of us, withering on the vine and no one wants to stand up and do anything to stop it. Watch and see how easy it will be for them to have universial power by stealing the next election, and again, there will be nothing done about it.
burqa March 10th, 2015 at 10:43 pm
I don’t like what they did, but they are not traitors.
“Traitor” is one of those words we need to use judiciously, lest it lose its power. In other countries, that has happened and they use the charge to cover all kinds of things like calling their ruler a nasty name or failing to recycle or something.
Buford2k11 March 10th, 2015 at 11:51 am
Call Traitor Tom’s office and be polite, but firm……..202 225-3772
Jeff Neff March 10th, 2015 at 11:56 am
Two bit senator from a two bit state quoting a two bit secretary of defense. Typical
arc99 March 10th, 2015 at 11:59 am
I think the next step should be for President Obama to request an independent special counsel to investigate the question of whether these 47 US Senators violated the Logan Act. Enough is enough.
According to current law as I understand it, the President’s request would be submitted for approval to a special panel of DC Circuit Court judges. Once the special counsel has been named, only the attorney general or a consensus of three federal judges can remove the prosecutor from their duties.
Carla Stixs March 10th, 2015 at 1:39 pm
I think they should all lose their positions and benefits in Congress!!!
The only known indictment under the Logan Act was one that occurred in 1803 when a grand jury indicted Francis Flournoy, a Kentucky farmer, who had written an article in the Frankfort Guardian of Freedom under the pen name of “A Western American.” In the article, Flournoy advocated a separate nation in the western part of the United States that would ally with France. The United States Attorney for Kentucky, an Adams appointee and brother-in-law of Chief Justice John Marshall, went no further than procuring the indictment of Flournoy. The purchase of the Louisiana Territory later that year appeared to cause the separatism issue to become moot.
In the only other known case, US citizen John D. Martin, a prisoner of war in North Korea, was brought before a court-martial for collaborating with North Korean authorities and conducting “re-education” classes in the prison camp where he was held. The case was dismissed because the court-martial had no jurisdiction over acts he committed after the expiration of his enlistment.
In 1967, an indictment was seriously considered against Stokely Carmichael for his visit that year to Hanoi during the Vietnam War. No action, however, was taken.
During the 1968 presidential election, Richard Nixon campaign officials, through Anna Chennault, advised Saigon to refuse participation in peace talks, promising a better deal once elected. Defense Secretary Clark Clifford thought the move illegal, and President Lyndon B. Johnson called it treasonous, but did not want to reveal that the NSA was intercepting communications in Vietnam.
In 1975, Senators John Sparkman and George McGovern were accused of violating the Logan Act when they traveled to Cuba and met with officials there. In considering that case, the U.S. Department of State concluded:
The clear intent of this provision [Logan Act] is to prohibit unauthorized persons from intervening in disputes between the United States and foreign governments. Nothing in section 953 [Logan Act], however, would appear to restrict members of the Congress from engaging in discussions with foreign officials in pursuance of their legislative duties under the Constitution. In the case of Senators McGovern and Sparkman the executive branch, although it did not in any way encourage the Senators to go to Cuba , was fully informed of the nature and purpose of their visit, and had validated their passports for travel to that country.
Senator McGovern’s report of his discussions with Cuban officials states: “I made it clear that I had no authority to negotiate on behalf of the United States — that I had come to listen and learn….” (Cuban Realities: May 1975, 94th Cong., 1st Sess., August 1975). Senator Sparkman’s contacts with Cuban officials were conducted on a similar basis. The specific issues raised by the Senators (e.g., the Southern Airways case; Luis Tiant’s desire to have his parents visit the United States) would, in any event, appear to fall within the second paragraph of Section 953.
Accordingly, the Department does not consider the activities of Senators Sparkman and McGovern to be inconsistent with the stipulations of Section 953.[6]
In 1984, President Ronald Reagan stated that the activities of the Reverend Jesse Jackson, who had traveled to Cuba and Nicaragua that year and had returned with several Cuban political prisoners seeking asylum in the United States, may have violated the Logan Act; but Jackson was never indicted.
In 1987 and 1988, President Reagan was furious at what he felt to be House Speaker Jim Wright’s “intrusion” into the negotiations between Nicaragua’s Sandinista government and the Contras for a cease-fire in the long civil war. The National Security Council considered using the Logan Act to muzzle Wright, but nothing ever came of it.
burqa March 10th, 2015 at 10:38 pm
Oooh, the D.C. court – yeah, that would be a good one.
No way out March 10th, 2015 at 12:06 pm
I was happily ignorant of this skin flint Cotton, prior to the announcement of this seditious and absurd letter. He sounded like an evasive buffoon on Tapper yesterday. Shameful garbage.
Maxx44 March 10th, 2015 at 12:12 pm
As a Georgian, I am embarrassed to admit that we now have representing our state two treasonous senators. I expected as much from Perdue, whose ignorance is stunning, but I actually thought Isakson had been around long enough to have at least a cursory understanding of our laws. My bad.
tiredoftea March 10th, 2015 at 12:35 pm
Ironic that his last name describes what’s in his brain cavity so well.
rg9rts March 10th, 2015 at 1:25 pm
Not the brightest bulb in the box is he?? And Ole’ Turkey wattles just went along with it ….yup yup
Carla Stixs March 10th, 2015 at 1:40 pm
Please sign and share this petition to File charges against the 47 U.S. Senators in violation of The Logan Act in attempting to undermine a nuclear agreement. https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/file-charges-against-47-us-senators-violation-logan-act-attempting-undermine-nuclear-agreement/NKQnpJS9
booker25 March 11th, 2015 at 10:03 am
I signed!
Carla Stixs March 10th, 2015 at 1:48 pm
Here is the letter I wrote to Senator Cotton. Please feel free to copy and paste my letter on his website if you don’t have time to write your own letter.
Under subject choose Iran. Thank you in advance for writing to Senator Cotton.
Dear Senator Cotton,
It is astounding that the Iranian foreign minister has a better understanding of who in the United States is constitutionally authorized to conduct foreign policy than you and the 47 Republican signatories in your open letter to the Leaders of Islamic Republic of Iran. It is one thing to invite Netanyahu to speak to Congress on the issue of the proposed Iranian deal; it is quite another to actively interfere in the ongoing negotiations being conducted by the duly authorized branch of government, the executive. This type of antic does nothing but show the world that the United States cannot speak with a single voice and harms whatever integrity, respect and trust the United States has built in its foreign policy and dealings with world powers. Notwithstanding the Iranian brush-off of your letter, that type of interference here can only harm our position and ability to reach a good deal. Let the executive branch complete its negotiations, and we can see whether the “deal” is a good one or a bad one.
Thank you, for embarrassing the entire United States and it’s citizens by your stupidity!
How can we ever repay you? We will let you and the Republican party know the gratitude we have for your antics on November 8, 2016 when we cast our votes. Iran is not stupid. They read the tea leaves in the United States. 47 Senators is about the same percentage as the 47 % of the vote you will get in the 2016 presidential election. The GOP will lose on the Iran treaty and the Republican party will lose the next presidential election.
Respectfully,
Carla Stixs
Carla Stixs Here is his official website: http://www.cotton.senate.gov/node/78/done?sid=4331…
Suzanne McFly March 10th, 2015 at 3:50 pm
I sent him a letter, I am not a constituent of his, but he needs to realize the rest of the country is aware of who he is and what he has done.
Carla Stixs March 10th, 2015 at 6:55 pm
Suzanne, Thank you, for sending a letter. It is greatly appreciated by many of us!
William March 10th, 2015 at 4:01 pm
He’s a national embarrassment.
booker25 March 11th, 2015 at 10:01 am
Priceless and btw you made me laugh!
Concerned March 10th, 2015 at 8:56 pm
Senator ‘Mocassin’ Cotton. A fitting name for the latest snake the corporations have dropped into the U.S.Senate. Any way he spoke to a gathering of defense contractors today. I wonder if any money from big defense contractor corporations will begin to flow into his life, … duh? Will he buy a bigger house? Upgrade any of his things? New yacht? A deep-water (getaway) boat? New wife? Which first?
Warman1138 March 10th, 2015 at 9:36 pm
The right side of the isle has been down this road before and they keep hitting all the potholes.
BillTheCat45 March 10th, 2015 at 9:55 pm
Go to hell Cotton, you scumbag traitor.
burqa March 10th, 2015 at 10:34 pm
OP: ” “Moreover, if Joe Biden respects the dignity of the institution of the Senate he should be insisting that the president submit any deal to approval of the Senate, which is exactly what he did on numerous deals during his time in Senate,” Cotton said.”
He will.
That’s the way it works.
Negotiating treaties is the job of the executive department and afterward they submit it to the Senate.
It is not the job of the legislative branch to jump in the middle and pretend they are the State Department.
Cotton and the Republicans are way out of line and are putting partisan politics above the national interest. They could have made the same points, in an editorial, for example or through a public appearance of some sort. The Iranians pay very close attention to what is going on here and doubtless would have gotten the same message without the Republicans trying to screw up our system just so they can strut around, preening and fanning their feathers like a peacock.
William March 10th, 2015 at 10:59 pm
BTW. Here are the twitter accounts for the 47
https://plus.google.com/103926857381267637538/posts/DiApMKA3yVQ
burqa March 10th, 2015 at 11:18 pm
Nice.
I don’t do the Twitter thing, but hope they get an avalanche off tweets.
Would some kind soul send a tweet to Cotton that says:
“burqa sez you can’t negotiate treaties unless the president gives you the authority. Please follow the Constitution.”
William March 11th, 2015 at 8:55 am
I don’t do the twitter thing either, but I am surprised at the amount of otherwise politically un-involved people who are outraged at this event.
frambley1 March 11th, 2015 at 2:35 am
I think its funny that a Republican Senator would talk about anyone being wrong on foreign policy decisions. As if they are EVER right (you know correct)!!!
booker25 March 11th, 2015 at 10:00 am
VP Biden has been in government service longer the Traitor Tom has been alive. I think VP Biden has a better grasp of how is all works better then someone who has only been in the senate a whole two months.