Of course there are, the same people who think King v Burwell is a legitimate case, not an equally damaging political ploy.

3/10/2015 6:23:47 PM

^^^^^ I disagree. I simply think their constituents are so anti-Obama (and yes, many because of his skin color) that they know they have zero chance of reelection without catering to it. Most of these guys are far too educated to believe what they are doing.

3/10/2015 6:49:37 PM

one would hope, but I'm not sure ones level of education means as much as we would like it to

Ted Cruz has apparently been this way since his days at Harvard

3/10/2015 7:04:34 PM

^^ but did they need to go full retard just to keep hating on Obama to make their base happy?

The most charitable presumption of their motivation is that they thought they were genuinely doing the right thing by leading us to war with Iran. I would presume this isn't what most conservatives want?

Either way, it's clear they don't have even a modicum of respect for the executive branch, which Obama hopefully will take to heart now, and stop playing into their games.

3/10/2015 7:23:20 PM

100,000 signatures reached within a day:
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/file-charges-against-47-us-senators-violation-logan-act-attempting-undermine-nuclear-agreement/NKQnpJS9

3/10/2015 8:42:11 PM

^ nice, at least we get to see the white house put out a formal statement about it.

3/10/2015 8:50:14 PM

http://www.cotton.senate.gov/content/louisiana-governor-bobby-jindal-signs-open-letter-iranian-leadership

Apparently Jindal also thinks he's required to ratify treaties.

3/10/2015 8:56:35 PM

I can't believe some of the names on that list. McCain? Grassley? Graham? I thought these guys had some brains.

3/10/2015 9:06:09 PM

Quote :

"Most of these guys are far too educated to believe what they are doing."

I'd much rather believe they (or at least most) are true believers.

3/10/2015 9:19:15 PM

Follow the money. It is about making defense contractors even richer:

http://www.ndia.org/meetings/5ld3/Pages/default.aspx
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/03/gop-senator-behind-iran-letter-to-meet-with-defense-industry-lobbyists/

War is a racket

3/11/2015 8:46:35 AM

conservatives in my facebook feed are trying to say this is okay because Ted Kennedy may have tried to harm soviet nuclear talks.

because that makes it okay?

lol, hold on to whatever thread you can

3/11/2015 8:50:56 AM

^let the backpedaling begin (well for some of them):
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/03/10/republicans-admit-that-iran-letter-was-a-dumb-idea.html

when you add it all up I think you can see how a majority have signed on to this stupidity:

As mentioned we got the:

1)true believers
2)Folks that see war as good for business (and good for PAC donations)
3)those that have to sign on to avoid a primary challenge from the true believers
4)the reactionaries that automatically oppose anything Obama has proposed/supports

and I don't think this has been mentioned yet but:

5)National security and being tough of on [insert international bogeyman here] has been one of the republican's strongest platforms. Its really the last plank of their platform that the vast majority of them can unite around, and opening relations with Iran really takes a chunk out of the field of potential bogeymen (Note that this is the same reason Netanyahu is so invested in not making a deal with Iran too.) Their economic policies and social policies are both slowly becoming irrelevant and more internally divisive. They are really setting themselves up for 2016 to be the party of SECURITY and tough foreign relations, which we caught glimpses of with ebola, ISIS (which will continue), talking a big game on Russia, etc.

3/11/2015 9:24:27 AM

we are headed towards a political civil war.

3/11/2015 11:20:05 AM

Nancy Pelosi did something similar with Syria behind George Bush's back. This isn't quite as unprecedented as the media would have you believe.

3/11/2015 12:55:36 PM

3/11/2015 12:59:43 PM

^^ I don't recall her sending a patronizing letter and assuming that the leadership of another country didnt understand America's political system

not quite the same as one representative meeting with a leader

what she did wasn't good, but this is pretty different

[Edited on March 11, 2015 at 2:28 PM. Reason : .]

3/11/2015 2:20:00 PM

http://www.caintv.com/kerry-our-iran-deal-is-not-leg

have you guys seen this website? its great.

lol.

3/11/2015 2:49:01 PM

Quote :

"Nancy Pelosi did something similar with Syria behind George Bush's back. This isn't quite as unprecedented as the media would have you believe. "

LOL, I'm pretty sure a majority of one party of the senate telling another country we're discussing nuclear abatement with not to bother negotiating with the United States because we will go back on our agreements is pretty unprecedented.

Pelosi caught a lot of flack for talking to assad, against Bush's wishes, but the tone of her talks was "Bush will f**k you up if you don't find a peaceful resolution".

I'm not familiar with Ted Kennedy's talks with russia, that was before my time.

3/11/2015 4:44:53 PM

Lindsey Graham just said that if he was president he would literally use the military to prevent congress from leaving town

3/12/2015 8:43:24 AM

What's wrong with that? He's just showing strong leadership.

3/12/2015 9:01:07 AM

I missed this

Quote :

" I have two sons. … I know all of you as parents feel the same way. I want a commander-in-chief who will do everything in their power to ensure the threat from radical Islamic terrorists will not wash up on American soil. We will have someone who leads and ultimately will send the message that will protect American soil but “Do not take this upon freedom-loving people here or anywhere around the world.” We need a leader with that kind of confidence. If I can take on 100,000 protesters, I can do the same across the world."

-Scott Walker

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2015/02/scott_walker_didn_t_compare_unions_to_isis_he_just_said_something_foolish.html

3/12/2015 9:24:03 AM

I HAVE TWO SONS WHO I DESPERATELY WANT TO AVOID HAVING TO SERVE IN THE MILITARY SO PLEASE STOP ISIL K

3/12/2015 10:31:03 AM

since Lindsey Graham just killed any presidential hopes, do you think he will finally come out as a homosexual?

3/12/2015 12:49:22 PM

Even though it is not going to lead to anything but a symbolic statement this petition is now approaching 275,000 signatures:
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/file-charges-against-47-us-senators-violation-logan-act-attempting-undermine-nuclear-agreement/NKQnpJS9

3/13/2015 3:08:24 PM

and why isnt it going to lead to anything

3/13/2015 5:47:50 PM

The Logan Act is from 1790 I believe and has never been enforced with perhaps 1 exception.

3/13/2015 6:18:50 PM

you think it should be applied here?

3/13/2015 6:59:56 PM

I'm wondering when the next time I'll get to vote for President is...

We''re at 15 years and counting for general elections (other than one or two symbolic votes for (L)), and 2016 isn't looking promising.

3/14/2015 12:27:30 AM

For four days the hashtag #GOPWantsWar has been trending and the petition is nearing 300,000 signatures. This one is not going away that quickly.

3/15/2015 2:54:19 PM

Tom Cotton geography fail:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mX8y-91tfCo

The guy driving the bus for war in Iran seems to have no clue that Tehran is their capital. Who can fault him though when information like that is hidden in books.

3/16/2015 8:36:59 AM

haha, his main defense is that "obama can use this to play good cop-bad cop"

It blows my mind the media (or that interviewer) is going so easy on the republicans about this.

[Edited on March 16, 2015 at 10:51 AM. Reason : ]

3/16/2015 10:50:44 AM

What they did wasn't treason and it's probably not even illegal, but it was really really stupid and they should be called out for it in those terms. This wasn't part of some evil master plan to foment war with Iran in service of their defense contractor overloads, it was a childish fucking tantrum by a bunch of morons unfit to govern.

[Edited on March 16, 2015 at 10:59 AM. Reason : :]

3/16/2015 10:58:21 AM

Quote :

" This wasn't part of some evil master plan to foment war with Iran in service of their defense contractor overloads"

I wouldn't throw in the defense contractor overlords part, but I definitely now think Republicans want a war with Iran.

McCain sang his song about this, and republicans made it pretty clear in their letter they are itching for a war. Let's say it was just a tantrum, how can we trust another tantrum won't happen and actually start a war?

3/16/2015 11:10:33 AM

I think Ted Cruz's background will help him take care of communist party when he is in the office.

3/16/2015 5:57:09 PM

Just imagine how much better the country would be if these troglodytes weren't public representatives.

3/16/2015 5:58:41 PM

maybe if the troglodyte public didnt elect them...

3/16/2015 6:17:09 PM

^^^^^

3/16/2015 11:49:01 PM

The petition has gone over 300,000:
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/file-charges-against-47-us-senators-violation-logan-act-attempting-undermine-nuclear-agreement/NKQnpJS9

3/17/2015 9:56:04 AM

Quote :

" morons unfit to govern"

Shrike just described everyone in DC

3/17/2015 11:06:37 AM

i trust corrupt washington insiders more than idiot teaparty nut-jobs with no experience who just want to shutdown the government at all cost

3/17/2015 12:05:26 PM

^^ not everyone, just those who believe government inherently can't work. You can't perform a job if you don't believe in that job.

3/17/2015 1:30:59 PM

^^Me too. Hell, I'd elect Frank Underwood if possible. He's a bad person, but definitely tries to get shit done.

AMERICA WORKS FTW

3/17/2015 1:41:43 PM

^^ What's more moronic, that or doggedly pushing the rock up the hill, trying to make government do things that it will never succeed at?

I would argue that it isn't unreasonable to believe that government is a poor apparatus for doing almost everything, and yet be an elected leader. That should lead one to exercise maximum governmental restraint, but there's nothing about that belief that precludes government action when it's the least-bad option. It's a matter of expecting government to suck, and operating from there.

3/20/2015 6:02:13 PM

Ah, the joy of lowered expectations.

It's far too late for this system of government though. No turning this ship around.

3/21/2015 6:13:40 AM

^^
I don't agree. Stuff like letting the debt ceiling lapse, resulting in a downgrade of our credit rating does material damage.

Not confirming appointees for government agencies, dragging their feet on fixing broken parts of ACA, and most recently, most republican senators signing a letter to undermine negotiations all do damage.

And believing in government doesn't mean believing govnermemt needs to be involved in everything. It means being able to intelligently discuss where those limits are. this used the be the case a hundred years ago when it was more obvious we needed a strong central government, but I think people have forgotten what happens without a sense of wanting national progress.

3/21/2015 2:59:37 PM

I feel for this guy having to suffer under the sheer stupidity that is Rick Scott...
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/03/awkward-watch-as-florida-lawmaker-mocks-rick-scott-official-for-refusing-to-say-climate-change/

3/22/2015 7:29:01 PM

^^ I'm not defending the current or recent GOP; I'm saying that in the abstract, your earlier assertion just isn't true.

Of course you can be a complete imbecile, centered on that view of government. No argument there.

3/22/2015 9:14:22 PM

^ wow…

I questioned for a second whether i was in the US or not.

3/23/2015 12:14:23 AM

?

3/24/2015 4:14:14 PM

whoops missing an ^, was pointing to HockeyRomans thing.

3/24/2015 6:07:19 PM