Iran Understands The Constitution Better Than The GOP

[Andara Bledin]

And, then, in related (and not satire news), Iran will take no lessons from US, says supreme leader after senators' letter.

“The letter by American senators indicates the collapse of political ethics in the United States,” Khamenei said on Thursday during a meeting with members of Iran’s top clerical body, which includes President Hassan Rouhani.

“Governments are bound to their commitments by international laws and would not violate their obligations with a change of government,” he said. “They [the Republican senators] said they want to teach us their own laws but we don’t need their lessons, our officials know how to make agreements binding if there’s a deal.”

Ouch.

[Greenday]

Read today that the Republicans are blaming the snow last week for the letter. Apparently they were in such a rush they did a crappy job because they wanted to get out before the storm. I get foreign relations and nuclear deals come second to a few inches of snow.

[Gravekeeper]

Haha, seriously? Now its snow? >.>

[s_stabeler]

You know that a group of republicans have fucked up when Fox news says thye have been idiots ( the quote from an article in the Guardian is: Fox host Megyn Kelly asked Senator Tom Cotton, the letter’s author: “What’s the point in writing to the Iranian mullahs?”

“They dismissed it already,” she pressed. “You’ve offended the Obama administration and you may have offended some of the Democrats who would have come over with the Republicans depending on what happens with this deal, to have a stronger say in the Senate.”

Link to article:http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2...s-policy-unity

Oh, and as a minor technical point: it ISN'T the Senate who ratify bills, although they DO have to consent. it's the President who ultimately gives the final OK. ( and if the senate refuses to give their OK, then the agreement never comes into force in the first place. A future president could NOT overturn the treaty with the stroke of a pen, as the Republicans claim.)

Oh, and the Republicans who wrote the letter, no matter why they wrote it, committed a SERIOUS faux pas. It's been a long-standing principle that no matter what your political differences at home, you stand behind the current administration on the world stage. It's actually arguable that the letter is an attack on the Office of the President, not on President Obama.

[XCashier]

Current excuses now that its blowing up in their face:

Its Obama's fault:

It was just a joke! You people have no sense of humour

Standard bully rhetoric, in other words.

Though for the record the handful of GOP senators that did not sign the letter think it was unproductive and idiotic of their peers.

It is good to see there are some level-headed people in the GOP. Pity they're vastly outnumbered by blowhards and idiots.

[Gravekeeper]

Oh, and the Republicans who wrote the letter, no matter why they wrote it, committed a SERIOUS faux pas. It's been a long-standing principle that no matter what your political differences at home, you stand behind the current administration on the world stage.

"Politics stops at the water's edge"

Ironically, a quote from a Republican.

[Panacea]

Most basically, while it's true that any agreement needs ratifying by the legislature of at least the US ( I don't know about Iran) they can't modify it unilaterally. A ratification vote is a straight take it or leave it vote-n you can't ratify a modified agreement unless it's agreed with the other parties.

Oh, and the Republicans seem to forget that if America walks away from any obligations under a treaty with Iran, Iran is released from any obligation to follow it's side of things.

Just want to point out the negotiations with Iran aren't a treaty. They're for an agreement, an executive action basically. The end result won't be submitted to the Senate for them to "advise and consent" and that is why they're pissed. The Senate GOP wants to have a veto on the particulars of any agreement because they want to show solidarity with Netanyahoo.

I just read the article. These senators may have just jeopardized a peace treaty. Heads should be rolling, metaphorically.

It wasn't going to be a treaty to start with. Not all agreements the US government or any government makes are treaties. This would have less force than a treaty; it's basically a set of promises that are hard to enforce.

Here's why the letter is really a colosally stupid move: 47 Senators basically spoke for the ENTIRE US Senate without bringing the matter up for debate or voting on a Senate resolution. Those 47 Republicans gave the force of authority of the Senate to their letter, basically speaking for their Democratic colleagues and the six or seven Repubs smart enough not to sign it, as well as forging a major rift between the Legislative and Executive branches of our government. If the negotiations fail, Israel will take military action if Netanyahoo gets re-elected, which could happen.

I feel it necessary to make a correction from earlier.

Based on what I've read, it's debatable whether or not any member of Congress can be legally impeached. So impeachment is not an option.

The DOJ filing charges may be, though.

The DOJ won't file charges. It's a political landmine.

The home states can call for a recall election, but it won't happen in most of those states; too red. In short, these jackasses are going to get away with it cold.

Germany is upset....and McCain just Godwin'd them. He Godwin'd Germany. McCain, who signed on to this letter then claimed he didn't know what he was signing but now says he's glad he signed it and blames Obama for it.

Haven't you done enough damage to America by introducing it to Palin?

Ouch! Hit the nail on the head.

[Gravekeeper]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/03/h...ol-tehran/?wtf

Welp.

This is the guy that came up with the letter to Iran.

[Andrew B]

I think my brain attempted to collapse in on itself after reading that article.

[Gravekeeper]

This guy:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/0...n_6882428.html

0 to Hitler in under 60 seconds.

[KabeRinnaul]

The world is growing ever more dangerous, and our defense spending is wholly inadequate to confront the danger

It's nice how he confirms for us that he has absolutely no idea what he's doing right there in the first sentence. And he's so open about being in the pocket of the defense industry, too.

Seriously, Tom. We spend more on defense than the next 10 nations combined. The problem isn't our spending. It's more how our Department of Defense (generally at the direction of congress — so, you guys) waste said budget.

[s_stabeler]

Oh yes, so according to Tom Cotton, the US needs to increase military spending, getting itself ever further into debt, because of a threat from what, exactly? Hitler's plans of expansion were an open secret at best. (he was outright talking about "lebansraum" at the time- living space) not to mention a key plank of his beliefs- that he'd outright published- was that Germany was robbed of victory in WW1 by the Generals giving up too soon.

Today? you have several public statements by the iranian government that they have no interest in developing a nuclear bomb, and they are willing to negotiate on allowing other countries to check. Of course, when Tom Cotton is amongst a group of people who think compromise means you get what you want, it is hardly surprising that he fails to see that an agreement whereby the international community supervises Iranian uranium enrichment was always going to be the only realistic result of negotiations. (which is what the agreement looks like it's heading towards)