Issue #1 –Letterhead
While the letterhead doesn’t include the Seal of the United States Senate, it was meant to look like an official communication from the US Senate. A communication that wasn’t authorized by that legislative body. With forty-seven signatories, the promoters couldn’t even get a majority of US Senators on board. Why didn’t they use the letterhead of any one of the forty-seven Senators to which the others could add their signatures?
Is there a US Senate rule that proscribes the use “US Senate” letterhead? Individual Senators may not use their Senate Office letterhead for other than official office business or otherwise proscribed.
Issue #2 – Logan Act
Plenty of fodder here for public arguments. Technically, it’s not difficult to find violations of the law over the past 215 years. Practically, it’s never used. The historical antecedents to the act was a private US citizen encouraging French officials to negotiate peaceful resolutions to conflicts with the US government. That enraged the quasi-monarchist President Adams. The prohibitive act subsequently passed by Congress is silent as to the intent of any non-US government authorized communication. Thus, legally, encouraging foreign governments to engage in conflict or war with the US or stymying official peace negotiations is on equal footing with unauthorized peace efforts. As colluding with foreign powers to wage war against the US had already been dealt with, the intent of “Logan” was to prohibit peace efforts by unauthorized US citizens. However, even those guys weren’t about to sign on to anything so blatantly anti-peace; thus, the silence on the intent.
With regard to the letter of the law (where are those Congressional “rule of law” thugs now?), John Boehner and 47% of the US Senate appear to be in violation of the law. Yet, to charge them would not only create a partisan political super-storm, but also require application of the law in the future for peace-seekers, the original intended targets. It’s a bad, dishonest, and poorly written law. In a functioning democracy, it would long ago have been repealed. But for reasons inexplicable to me, US lawmakers prefer to leave inoperable laws on the books.
Issue #3 – Decency
It’s not hyperbole to reference Senator Joseph McCarthy as a precursor to the current sitting 47 Senators and their bleitzkrieg to destroy President Obama. They have no decency. No respect for all the unwritten rules and manners that are conditions precedent to a modicum of democracy.
So, why is Boehner’s invitation to Netanyahu such a big deal?
First off, it’s a huge violation of protocol and massively disrespectful to President Obama and the authority of the executive branch.
It is completely unprecedented for the Speaker of the House, or any member of Congress, to invite a foreign leader to come to the US and speak to Congress without getting authorization and/or cooperation from the White House.
The 47% Senate letter is similarly unprecedented. Imagine such a letter being sent to Mao by 45 Senators during the years the Korean Armistice Agreement was negotiated!
The 47% are indecent and as drunk on hate as all similar vermin in US history. They are unacceptable. The people in the states that elected them should be ashamed of themselves. One Joseph McCarthy was too many for this nation. Wisconsin still has some explaining to do for that, but instead chose to toss out the decent Senator Feingold in favor of a McCarthy clone. Shame on the majority of Wisconsin voters.
Shame on Iowa for Grassley and Ernst.
Shame on Kentucky for McConnell and Paul.
Shame on Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Georgia, Louisiana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, etc.
Not on this wall of shame is amazingly enough Mississippi. Something to be said for old school manners which might be the only reason that Senator Thad Cochran didn’t sign this abomination. Cochran appears to have managed to retain a shred of decency in a time when his political party has sunk to a new depth of depravity. Not something any of the 47% can ever claim to possess forever more. Here’s looking at you, Senators Orrin Hatch and Chuck Grassley.
Want to add that this in an inherent winner for Obama and Democrats, but they have to push it and not let the GOP get away with “never mind” as they shovel it down a memory hole.
It hits at a core and simplistic notion of “fair.” A majority of Americans don’t like unfair. That was likely the major reason why Scott Walker won the recall election and the recall gave him an advantage in his re-election. Not enough alone for him to win, but enough when combined with a weak opponent.
“Unfair” or improper interference plays even less well with USians. That’s why 60% of the public were offended by the political interference with the Terri Schiavo medical decision. The country may be too politically polarized to reach 60% opposition to the stunt pulled by the 47 Senators, but it will be well over 50%.
Called it: Republicans Admit: That Iran Letter Was a Dumb Idea. The admission not because they had second thoughts all on their own, but because their getting the early returns on GOP polling and it’s really bad for them.
The WH, Democratic politicians, and liberal voices/leaders should beware letting the 47% weasel their way out of their indecency.
POLITICO Caucus: Iran-letter backlash spreads to early states.
GOP Iran Letter Criticism
Fuck those newspapers. I don’t know how much weight newspapers have in swaying public opinion anymore — if they ever did, I don’t even know — but them endorsing ANY Republican in this environment is close to criminal.
I see Cory Gardner signed it. The endorsement from the Denver Post is probably the dumbest newspaper endorsement I have ever seen, ever.
Which isn’t even true; the most productive Congresses occur with super-majorities and the presidency held by one party, particularly the Democratic Party.
That was then and this is now. None of them went so far as to offer a mea culpa for their endorsement of these vermin in their last election. And probably would do the same thing if they had known then what they know now because publishers are generally Republicans. (Back when I read the WSJ most days — in the pre-Murdoch era — it had some of the best news journalists. Always skipped the editorial/opinion page because it was predictably Republican in line with the views of the publisher/owners.)
However, I do always welcome moments of sanity from the opposition. Would have cheered if many of the newspapers that had endorsed GWB in 2000 had issued editorials in late 2002 and early 2003 declaring that GWB’s Iraq invasion plan was nuts and unwarranted.
this one, wherein the Helena IR catalogs several instances of then-Rep. Steve Daines’ rightwing partisan extremism in his single term in the House, then, because he adopted a “tone” of “bipartisan” “moderation”, endorsed him for Max Baucus’ oldseat anyway! Good enough snow job for the clueless IR editorial board!
And yes, of course he was one of the 47%!
RE:
Full disclosure: I haven’t read the Post’s Gardner endorsement so can’t claim to completely rule out the possibility it’s even dumber, though that would take some doing!
Link
They acknowledge that Udall is a decent Senator, and that Cory Gardner is an extremist on abortion and same sex marriage (who cares about those icky issues anyway?), but that Colorado needs a bombastic blowhard to “Lead” with “Leadership” and bring bipartisanship so we can have “Deals” and end stalemate. And did you know that when one party controls Congress and another controls the presidency it’s the most productive Congresses, ever?
I will admit, that one is very bad, however.
McCain’s excuse: I sign lots of letters.
Echoes of St. Ronnie whose heart told him that he didn’t sign onto that Iran-Contra deal. Or echoes of the Maverick signing stuff for his once BFF Charles Keating. What an incompetent old fool.
Isn’t McCain about to be tarred as a liberal sympathizer in Arizona? Aren’t the flakes in full force there?
Flake did NOT sign the Iran letter. So, wouldn’t he be the one more likely to be “tarred as a liberal sympathizer?”
Very good piece by Digby at Salon on Tom Cotton before his latest dumb stunt.
Rep Jared Polis
Senator who spearheaded letter to Iran got $1 million from Kristol’s `Emergency C’tee for Israel’.
Interesting that now the only ones standing up in support of this unprecedented action, spearheaded by a Senate newbie are those within the Kristol clique.
The gang’s all in: GOP’s Man of the Moment Promoted by RJCS Singer and Adelson.
Paul Blumenthal is also on the case: Republicans And Iran Deal Opponents Are Funded By The Same Mega-Donors
Thanks for catching this.
How the Republican Party builds its bench in the internet age.
Democrats lost in gray non-definition. Like reality, but worse.
Someone needs to figure a way to make the truth sexy.
Obama and Biden, in their official positions, seem to be handling this issue well.
Clinton, given her tin ear, has been predictably milque-toast. If O’Malley hasn’t been silent on this, he sure isn’t seizing the moment.
when I worked on GOTV last year the issue against the repub candidates that most upset voters was that the repubs were being funded by and answerable to their billionaire overlords, that they would represent their overlords’ interests not the constituents. It seems obvious to us, but many of the koch bots are chosen for their folksy down home ways [Jone Ernst] and ppl are taken in by it. Making the – direct connection between the billionaires and the votes of the congress critters for the voters is key, on this issue, on the issue of use of public lands, for example [in prairie states]. so many issue have been clouded [the deficit, and spending] and those take lots of footwork and one on one talking to clarify, but the billionaire overlords is key and the case must be hammered. Kelly Ayotte joining the traitors, for example. It’s been obvious from the outset that she is a wholly owned subsidiary of the billionaires because her issues and strategy have nothing to do with NH. but now her signing on w. the traitors is pretty egregious.
The difficulty in making this case absent a quid pro quo to voters is that both sides do it. It’s why the GOP has been demonizing Soros like forever even though he’s hardly in the funding league as many other not so well known billionaires.
Would be particularly thorny to point out billionaires backing for the Iran letter. The average voter doesn’t connect Israel to the ongoing US conflict with Iran. Netanyahu’s recent speech may have opened a few eyes as to Israeli pushing for a US military conflict with Iran and/or opposition to a peace agreement. May be too much for voters to connect these handful of dots.
And even if both sides don’t do it, the Republicans will stage a sucker punch attack (projection for the purpose of framing he-said-she-said moral equivalency) prior to beginning their own egregioius action.
The problem isn’t getting the facts and truth out. It’s getting it to stick in voters’ minds.
Easier to get “it to stick” when “both sides do it” can’t be invoked.
Had Vitter’s prostitution escapades come out before 2000, he would have been out of office. Had Dick Morris been exposed as a toe-sucker after the 2007 revelation of Vitter as a diaper wearer, he would have gotten a pass. Spitzer’s screw-up was the crossing state lines thing.
well, I’m not talking about the general case, sorry that wasn’t clear. I’m suggesting going with the particular issues very specific to a region. Soros is involved in some, but not that much. the issue of exploitation of public lands at taxpayers’ expense for example was an issue that ppl were very emotionally involved with where I was working. And for the upcoming race, in NH I’m guessing that Ayotte signing on the Iran letter may be a big negative b/c NH sent so many to the military in the Iraq war, Bush and Iraq became a very big issue. NH is a libertarian state hence could have double force if it’s a war agenda. I don’t know why Paul Hodes just folded his campaign last time and no one I talked with seemed to know either.
Thanks for this post, marie2. This was dangerous and offensive, all right.
Gotta say, when I want my dose of shared outrage mixed with the soothing tonic of funny, the Rude Pundit delivers:
http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2015/03/tom-cotton-pleasures-himself-in-front.html