The
Republicans had an opportunity to focus attention on weaknesses in the emerging accord with Iran and mobilize bipartisan pressure on the administration to demand better terms. Instead they have engaged in grandstanding tactics that have alienated potential supporters while obscuring critical issues. Their antics are making it easier rather than harder for Mr. Obama to proceed unilaterally.To which we would reply, we would trust the President "to proceed unilaterally" far more than we would trust the instincts of the Bezos Bugle's editors/ armchair warriors and their war-happy neo-con allies in the Republican Crazy Caucus. In other words, please proceed...
Moving on, though, two frequent blind squirrels found on the Bezos Bugle's editorial pages have pieces worth a read, starting with Kathleen Parker (who, along with the seven Republican Senators who didn't sign the letter to the mullahs, is still coloring within the constitutional lines):
So what was the rush to tell Iran, essentially, “You’re wasting your time” ? The 47 senators are like food critics who condemn a chef before he has finished preparing the entree. Their letter also signals to the world that they have zero respect for our president, or for the other world powers attempting to try diplomacy first.
This cannot have been helpful to any but the signees’ legendary standing in their own minds.Parker can't help but engage in some "both- sides- are- to- blame" crap, but is still sentient enough to see a dumbass move when she sees one.
Dana Milbank also looks at the letter to the mullahs, but in the broader context of Republicans trying their damnedest to run a shadow government which he calls "the State of Republicania:"
...It’s true that 47 Republican senators did their level best to bring us closer to war by writing a letter to Iran’s mullahs, attempting to scuttle nuclear talks with the United States. But Republicans aren’t exactly subverting the United States. It’s more as if they’re operating their own independent republic on Capitol Hill. Call it the State of Republicania.
Its prime minister, John Boehner, invited his Israeli counterpart, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to criticize U.S. foreign policy last week before a joint meeting of the Republicania parliament. The American president wasn’t consulted.
Mitch McConnell, the Republicania home secretary, wrote an op-ed last week in the Lexington Herald-Leader explicitly urging states to refuse to implement a major new power-plant regulation issued by the U.S. government.
And now we have Tom Cotton, Republicania’s young foreign minister, submitting “An Open Letter to the Leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” counseling Iran’s leaders that any agreement reached by the United States but not ratified by Republicania could be undone “with the stroke of a pen” (assuming the next president comes from Republicania).He goes on to cite other examples of crackpot reaction to the twice- elected President of the United States; it's a bitter and malicious campaign of de-legitimatizing this President and his party that has been unrelenting for over 6 years now. And if the price of humiliating the President and the United States is a little war with Iran, it's one they're willing to pay with another American's blood.
BONUS: We're going to have to permanently appropriate Charles Pierce's new nickname for mullah letter author Sen. Tom Cotton (Yahoo-AR): "Metternich of the Ozarks."
BONUS II: The Detroit Free Press and the Arizona Republic also have something to say; and many more.
BONUS III: Drew Sheneman, Newark (N.J.) Star-Ledger (click on image to enlarge):
