Democracy in Action

You may have heard that 47 Republican senators sent an open letter to Iran saying many of them would remain in office long after Obama’s second term was over, meaning any deal reached between the U.S. and Iran could be easily reversed by the next president.

Comedian Andy Borowitz says Iran is now offering to mediate talks between the congressional Republicans and President Obama because

….their continuing hostilities are a threat to world peace.

[Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei] 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.”

In fact, according to the New York Times,

[Khamenei] said the letter warning that any nuclear deal could be scrapped by a new president was “a sign of a decline in political ethics and the destruction of the American establishment from within.

According to the Daily Beast,

Republican aides were taken aback by the response to what what they thought was a lighthearted attempt to signal to Iran and the public that Congress should have a role in the ongoing nuclear discussions. Two GOP aides separately described their letter as a “cheeky” reminder of the congressional branch’s prerogatives.

“The administration has no sense of humor when it comes to how weakly they have been handling these negotiations,” said a top GOP Senate aide.

Senator John McCain thinks the Senators who signed might have been too hasty,

It was kind of a very rapid process. Everybody was looking forward to getting out of town because of the snowstorm. I think we probably should have had more discussion about it, given the blowback that there is.

Democracy in action. Not always a pretty sight, and maybe not an inspiration for others to follow our example?

I’m afraid “a bunch of clowns” is the term that comes to my mind. Do you think I’m being too uncharitable?


 

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7 Responses to Democracy in Action

  1. Rummuser says:

    That would be an understatement.

  2. tammy j says:

    you are being charitable. i would use the phrase … “a bunch of IDIOTS”

  3. KB says:

    You are not being too uncharitable. One of my senators signed that letter, and I called him worse than a “clown” in the letter that I wrote to him about it. His response was arrogant. This freshman Senator from Colorado obviously doesn’t understand democracy.

    • Jean says:

      They were so stupid! Atlantic Magazine thinks it will be harder to apply/increase sanctions to Iran (which the GOP wants) if the negotiations fail because the failure would now be the fault of the U.S.

      Do you have any idea of what the reaction in Colorado is to the letter?

  4. Evan says:

    Not uncharitable enough.

    Democracy only works because the various parties abide by particular conventions. In this case that the President is empowered to negotiate foreign policy. The idea that the next party in will simply reverse commitments of the previous government would make democracy unworkable.

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