With its letter to the government of Iraq, which discourages negotiation with the United States even as negotiations are underway, the Republican Party has finally arrived at the logical dead-end of its nihilistic hatred of the President: Sedition. No other word fits.<\/p>\n
Here is the text<\/a> of the letter.<\/p>\n An Open Letter to the Leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran:<\/p>\n It has come to our attention while observing your nuclear negotiations with our government that you may not fully understand our constitutional system. Thus, we are writing to bring to your attention two features of our Constitution \u2014 the power to make binding international agreements and the different character of federal offices \u2014 which you should seriously consider as negotiations progress.<\/p>\n First, under our Constitution, while the president negotiates international agreements, Congress plays the significant role of ratifying them. In the case of a treaty, the Senate must ratify it by a two-thirds vote. A so-called congressional-executive agreement requires a majority vote in both the House and the Senate (which, because of procedural rules, effectively means a three-fifths vote in the Senate). Anything not approved by Congress is a mere executive agreement.<\/p>\n Second, the offices of our Constitution have different characteristics.<\/p>\n For example, the president may serve only two 4-year terms, whereas senators may serve an unlimited number of 6-year terms. As applied today, for instance, President Obama will leave office in January 2017, while most of us will remain in office well beyond then \u2014 perhaps decades.<\/p>\n What these two constitutional provisions mean is that we will consider any agreement regarding your nuclear-weapons program that is not approved by the Congress as nothing more than an executive agreement between President Obama and Ayatollah Khamenei. The next president could revoke such an executive agreement with the stroke of a pen and future Congresses could modify the terms of the agreement at any time<\/span>.<\/p>\n We hope this letter enriches your knowledge of our constitutional system and promotes mutual understanding and clarity as nuclear negotiations progress.<\/p>\n Sincerely,<\/p>\n Senator Tom Cotton, R-AR The plain intent of the letter, like Netanyahu’s speech before the House of Representatives, is to undermine the president’s ability to negotiate.<\/p>\n I say again, then: The Republicans have gone mad, and are not fit to govern.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" With its letter to the government of Iraq, which discourages negotiation with the United States even as negotiations are underway, the Republican Party has finally arrived at the logical dead-end of its nihilistic hatred of the President: Sedition. No other word fits. Continue reading \n
\nSenator Orrin Hatch, R-UT
\nSenator Charles Grassley, R-IA
\nSenator Mitch McConnell, R-KY
\nSenator Richard Shelby, R-AL
\nSenator John McCain, R-AZ
\nSenator James Inhofe, R-OK
\nSenator Pat Roberts, R-KS
\nSenator Jeff Sessions, R-AL
\nSenator Michael Enzi, R-WY
\nSenator Michael Crapo, R-ID
\nSenator Lindsey Graham, R-SC
\nSenator John Cornyn, R-TX
\nSenator Richard Burr, R-NC
\nSenator John Thune, R-SD
\nSenator Johnny Isakson, R-GA
\nSenator David Vitter, R-LA
\nSenator John A. Barrasso, R-WY
\nSenator Roger Wicker, R-MS
\nSenator Jim Risch, R-ID
\nSenator Mark Kirk, R-IL
\nSenator Roy Blunt, R-MO
\nSenator Jerry Moran, R-KS
\nSenator Rob Portman, R-OH
\nSenator John Boozman, R-AR
\nSenator Pat Toomey, R-PA
\nSenator John Hoeven, R-ND
\nSenator Marco Rubio, R-FL
\nSenator Ron Johnson, R-WI
\nSenator Rand Paul, R-KY
\nSenator Mike Lee, R-UT
\nSenator Kelly Ayotte, R-NH
\nSenator Dean Heller, R-NV
\nSenator Tim Scott, R-SC
\nSenator Ted Cruz, R-TX
\nSenator Deb Fischer, R-NE
\nSenator Shelley Moore Capito, R-WV
\nSenator Bill Cassidy, R-LA
\nSenator Cory Gardner, R-CO
\nSenator James Lankford, R-OK
\nSenator Steve Daines, R-MT
\nSenator Mike Rounds, R-SD
\nSenator David Perdue, R-GA
\nSenator Thom Tillis, R-NC
\nSenator Joni Ernst, R-IA
\nSenator Ben Sasse, R-NE
\nSenator Dan Sullivan, R-AK<\/p><\/blockquote>\n