Plan B Forum

Vox Sentences: Is the Senate Republican letter to Iran backfiring?

Democrats stepped up their criticism of Senate Republicans' letter to Iran, spearheaded by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) and meant to scuttle nuclear talks with the US. Vice President Biden: "The decision to undercut our president and circumvent our constitutional system offends me as a matter of principle."
[NYT / Julie Hirschfeld Davis]

Hillary Clinton: "Either the senators were trying to be helpful to the Iranians or harmful to the commander in chief."
[Vox / Zack Beauchamp]

"Noting that she had opposed the war in Iraq under President George W. Bush, Senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, her voice shaking with rage, said, 'I never would have sent a letter to Saddam Hussein.'"
[NYT / Jennifer Steinhauser and Julie Hirschfeld Davis]

They have a point; this kind of attempt to undercut presidential control over foreign policy is really unprecedented.
[Vox / Max Fisher]

And the whole fight confirms that Iran has become Republicans' top foreign policy issue, and an issue over which the 2016 primary will be waged.
[Vox / Zack Beauchamp]

But the letter might have undermined Republicans' effort by turning Iran into a partisan issue and making it harder for Democrats to buck Obama on it.
[NYT / Jennifer Steinhauser and Julie Hirschfeld Davis]

The letter also makes it easy to blame the US if negotiations fall apart, which weakens the US's ability to convince other countries to ramp up sanctions in that event (if it's America's fault, why should Iran be punished?).
[The Atlantic / Jeffrey Goldberg]

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has responded with a spectacularly passive-aggressive letter that appeared intended to reassure US negotiators that he understood the domestic politics motivating the letter.
[Vox / Max Fisher]

The whole episode has provoked talk of Cotton being a "traitor," which is a preposterous and outlandish overreach.
[Mark Kleiman]

Iran Offers to Mediate Talks Between Republicans and Obama
BY ANDY BOROWITZ

TEHRAN (The Borowitz Report)—Stating that “their continuing hostilities are a threat to world peace,” Iran has offered to mediate talks between congressional Republicans and President Obama.

Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, made the offer one day after Iran received what he called a “worrisome letter” from Republican leaders, which suggested to him that “the relationship between Republicans and Obama has deteriorated dangerously.”

“Tensions between these two historic enemies have been high in recent years, but we believe they are now at a boiling point,” Khamenei said. “As a result, Iran feels it must offer itself as a peacemaker.”

He said that his nation was the “logical choice” to jumpstart negotiations between Obama and the Republicans because “it has become clear that both sides currently talk more to Iran than to each other.”

He invited Obama and the Republicans to meet in Tehran to hash out their differences and called on world powers to force the two bitter foes to the bargaining table, adding, “It is time to stop the madness.”

Hours after Iran made its offer, President Obama said that he was willing to meet with his congressional adversaries under the auspices of Tehran, but questioned whether “any deal reached with Republicans is worth the paper it’s written on.”

For their part, the Republicans said they would only agree to talks if there were no preconditions, such as recognizing President Obama’s existence.

the letter might have undermined Republicans' effort by turning Iran into a partisan issue and making it harder for Democrats to buck Obama on it.
[NYT / Jennifer Steinhauser and Julie Hirschfeld Davis]

Apart from Israel, it is the closest thing to a functioning democracy in the Middle East

Actually no think that title for to Turkey

How horrible, fantastic, incredible it is that we should be digging trenches and trying on gas-masks here because of a quarrel in a far away country between people of whom we know nothing.

MajGenl.Meade wrote:Turkey is in Europe.

Senator John McCain, whom you may remember from that one time he nearly became the president of the United States, has a less-than-satisfactory explanation for why he signed Senator Tom Cotton's open letter to Iranian leaders.

McCain told Politico that:

"I saw the letter, I saw that it looked reasonable to me and I signed it, that’s all. I sign lots of letters."

McCain's statement, reported late on Tuesday when the furor over Cotton's letter had become a national scandal, seems clearly intended to minimize his actions by making them seem commonplace and inconsequential.

Just signing a letter! Who among us hasn't signed letters? Basically the same as the family update your mom mails to all her cousins every Christmas — they're all just "letters."

Okay, Senator, you "sign lots of letters." But this letter was pretty clearly intended to undermine President Obama's position in the ongoing nuclear negotiations with Iran, by explicitly saying he would not be able to keep the promises he was making. This letter was addressed to the leadership of a hostile nation that is currently engaged in sensitive diplomatic negotiations with the United States, with the goal of undercutting the president of the United States in those negotiations.

Seems maybe worth pausing over a bit longer than the birthday card to a supporter's spouse.
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