Tom Cotton is a religious warmonger to ignore. On Thursday, March 26, 2015 at 1:50:32 PM UTC-5, Travis wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > http://townhall.com/columnists/victordavishanson/2015/03/26/sen-tom-cotton-tragic-hero-n1976120 > > > > *Sen. Tom Cotton, Tragic Hero* > > Victor Davis Hanson <http://townhall.com/columnists/victordavishanson/> | > Mar 26, 2015 > > · > > [image: > http://media.townhall.com/townhall/reu/ha/2015/72/a6b622c5-7cf6-4266-816a-0b6baca78908.jpg] > > The snarky quip attributed to 19th-century French Foreign Minister Charles > Maurice de Talleyrand -- "It was worse than a crime; it was a blunder" -- > has recently been making the rounds to deride a letter written by Sen. Tom > Cotton (R-Ark.) and signed by 46 other senators. > > They wrote to the Iranian theocracy that any agreement on nuclear > proliferation negotiated with President Obama will not constitutionally > bind the next administration -- unless it is properly ratified by Congress. > > Democrats were outraged. They charged that Cotton's letter is a crime, a > violation of the 216-year-old Logan Act. That law bars unauthorized > individuals from conducting negotiations with foreign governments. > > Even some Republicans sighed that the letter was a political blunder. It > supposedly plays into President Obama's caricature of right-wing and > obstructionist conservatives. > > In fact, the letter was not a crime or a blunder. > > Senators and House members have a long history of freelancing in foreign > policy. Sometimes they do it wisely, sometimes stupidly. > > Republican senators went to great lengths to undermine Woodrow Wilson's > utopian idea of a League of Nations. Gen. Douglas MacArthur and House > Minority Leader Joe Martin did their best to sabotage what they thought was > the reckless policy of then-President Harry Truman concerning Korea and > Formosa. > > Democrats in Congress have been just as eager to warp administration > foreign policy in claiming their co-equal part in government. > > Secretary of State John Kerry is the most outraged of Cotton's critics -- > and has the most notorious record of trying to undermine presidential > foreign policy. > > As a freshman senator, Kerry traveled to Nicaragua to show solidarity with > "Comandante" Daniel Ortega -- as a way of opposing then-President Reagan's > efforts to help the Contras in their resistance to the Sandinista communist > takeover. Two other Democrats, Sen. Tom Harkin and House Speaker Jim > Wright, also met with Ortega. > > Most unfortunate was House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's disastrous 2007 trip to > Syria to meet with thuggish President Bashar al-Assad. At the time of their > meeting, Assad was offering assistance to radical Islamic groups that were > attacking U.S. troops in Iraq. > > Cotton and the senators, in contrast, never traveled to hostile territory, > never met with America's enemies, and never wrote warm personal letters to > thugs. > > But was the Cotton letter a political "blunder"? > > Not really. > > Obama's effort to negotiate an end to Iranian nuclear proliferation is > probably bound to fail, given that it greenlights further Iranian nuclear > enrichment. Obama also has no diplomatic credibility after issuing several > prior empty deadlines for the Iranians to cease their nuclear enrichment. > > Obama's "red lines" to Syria, the failed reset with Russia, the > lead-from-behind mess in Libya, and the skedaddle from Iraq and Yemen have > convinced the Iranians that Obama will predictably go soft in negotiations, > or not expect compliance with any agreement he signs. > > Obama's estrangement from both Israel and the Arab Gulf states only > further reminds the Iranians that American negotiators are not worried > about their allies' outrage over the proposed deal. > > First designated as a sponsor of terrorism in 1984, Iran has been deemed > by the State department to be the leading state sponsor of terrorism. It > has openly threatened to destroy Israel. It sent operatives into Iraq to > kill Americans. It has now carved out Shiite dependencies in Iraq, Lebanon, > Syria and Yemen. > > Given all that, no sane American administration would trust the Iranians > to give up their nuclear program. Instead, most presidents would have > continued with tough economic sanctions -- with even tougher embargoes to > follow if the Iranians did not quit trying to make a bomb. > > What Cotton and the senators have done is not criminal or stupid, but > valuable both for the country and -- ironically -- for the Obama > administration. > > Obama is already mischaracterizing the letter to use it as a wedge with > the Iranians. He seems to be reminding them that he is the only thing > standing between them and the anti-Iranian hardliners in the U.S. Senate. > If Obama somehow manages to scare the Iranians into a treaty, he surely > will not credit the senators for allowing him the leverage to play good cop > to Sen. Cotton's bad cop. > > More likely, the Munich-like agreement will fail in the face of outrageous > Iranian demands and an even more outraged American public. > > When it does, Obama will then blame Cotton and his Republican colleagues > for undermining his doomed efforts. Such scapegoating is now old hat for > Obama, who has blamed factors ranging from George W. Bush to tsunamis for > his foreign policy and domestic failures. > > Republicans, Democrats and all Americans should thank Cotton for reminding > the Iranians that under the U.S. Constitution, the Senate must ratify > treaties with foreign powers. Cotton will get no credit if the Iranians get > worried over his letter, relent and offer needed concessions. > > But Cotton will endure plenty of blame if Iranian negotiators walk away in > fury because a skeptical U.S. Senate would have to approve any sweetheart > deal that they pulled over on Obama. > > In other words, Cotton is not a blunderer -- he is a classic lose/lose > tragic hero. > > > > > __._,_.___ > ------------------------------ > Posted by: "beowulf" <[email protected] <javascript:>> > ------------------------------ > > > Visit Your Group > <https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/grendelreport/info;_ylc=X3oDMTJmZzQ4dnE2BF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzIwMTk0ODA2BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTMyMzY2NwRzZWMDdnRsBHNsawN2Z2hwBHN0aW1lAzE0MjczODYzNTI-> > > > - New Members > > <https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/grendelreport/members/all;_ylc=X3oDMTJnbGhmNGswBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzIwMTk0ODA2BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTMyMzY2NwRzZWMDdnRsBHNsawN2bWJycwRzdGltZQMxNDI3Mzg2MzUy> > > 1 > > [image: Yahoo! Groups] > <https://groups.yahoo.com/neo;_ylc=X3oDMTJlbXN0bjZ2BF9TAzk3NDc2NTkwBGdycElkAzIwMTk0ODA2BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTMyMzY2NwRzZWMDZnRyBHNsawNnZnAEc3RpbWUDMTQyNzM4NjM1Mg--> > > • Privacy <https://info.yahoo.com/privacy/us/yahoo/groups/details.html> • > Unsubscribe <javascript:> • Terms of Use > <https://info.yahoo.com/legal/us/yahoo/utos/terms/> > > __,_._,___ > > >
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