Of course not, they always get to approve treaties. But they DO NOT get to practice foreign policy according to the goddamned Constitution. Did you forget that, amigo? They want to make Obama look bad politically and instead, they make the United States of America look bad diplomatically. And the blowback is pretty big. Polls show Americas disapprove of this bullshit. The Republicans have reinforced the idea that they are only interested in their political ideology, not in making America strong. It's a bad thing to decide to actively and publicly undermine the president's conduct of foreign affairs, not just in this treaty negotiation but potentially in all other future negotiations, with all other countries, who will now also be able to point to this same letter as evidence that the president cannot be trusted to negotiate agreements on behalf of the United States. It's going to hurt future Republican Presidents, too.

If Congress wants disapprove of the Iranian treaty, then they must take their case to the American People, not correspond with the enemy! They will get a change to ratify any treaty, that's their job. But to try to undercut the President and the State Department is malfeasance in office at best. Dangerous and irresponsible. Even conservative columnists like Michael Gerson are critical.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...f10b8e-c835-11e4-b2a1-bed1aaea2816_story.html

The true scandal of the Tom Cotton letter to Iranian leaders is the manner in which the Republican Senate apparently conducts its affairs.

The document was crafted by a senator with two months of experience under his belt. It was signed by some members rushing off the Senate floor to catch airplanes, often with little close analysis. Many of the 47 signatories reasoned that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s endorsement was vetting enough. There was no caucus-wide debate about strategy; no consultation with Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), who has studiously followed the nuclear talks (and who refused to sign).

This was a foreign policy maneuver, in the middle of a high-stakes negotiation, with all the gravity and deliberation of a blog posting. In timing, tone and substance, it raises questions about the Republican majority’s capacity to govern.​

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/03/tom-cotton-republicans-iran-letter-poll-116047.html

One-third of Republican insiders believe that Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton and his GOP colleagues — including several potential presidential candidates — crossed the line when they published an open letter to Iranian leaders warning about a possible nuclear deal.

This week’s survey of The POLITICO Caucus — a bipartisan group of key activists, operatives and thought leaders in Iowa and New Hampshire — also finds that Democratic insiders unanimously believe that Cotton & Co. behaved inappropriately. Liberals feel strongly that the GOP would cry treason if a Democrat did what Cotton has under a Republican president.

“The GOP letter — while sound in substance — caused the debate to shift from the administration’s wrongheadedness to the GOP’s tactics,” said a New Hampshire Republican, who — like all 92 respondents this week — completed the survey anonymously in order to speak candidly. “That’s not helpful.”​

http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/17/politics/iran-negotiations-gop-letter-poll/

Americans broadly back direct negotiations with Iran about that country's nuclear program, according to a new CNN/ORC poll. Direct diplomatic negotiations with Iran are broadly popular, 68% favor them, while 29% oppose them. That support cuts across party lines, with 77% of Democrats, 65% of Republicans and 64% of independents in favor of diplomacy between the U.S. and Iran in an attempt to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.​

They tried to undercut an ongoing negotiation. There is no treaty yet. When there is one Congress will get to ratify it. That is the way it has always worked. These GOP idiots are trying to circumvent the Constitution of the United States of America.

I think you do, my friend. Congress doesn't get to formulate foreign policy. Read the goddamned Constitution. They get to ratify a treaty or not. They do not get to tell the President what to do. Or worse, to try to interfere by going directly to a foreign power. An enemy, in this case. Its a violation of the Logan Act and totally irresponsible. The Republican chairman of the senate Foreign Relations committee (a man who knows his business, unlike the rookie Cotton) refused to sign and has been highly critical of the letter.

Are you serious? It is the Republican Congressmen who are patently disregarding the process. This is unprecedented and the criticism is valid and widespread home and abroad.

Cotton and his colleagues have tripped on their peckers once again and revealed that they lack the capacity to govern. It's a huge blow-up. Senators who signed it are already backpedaling and trying to make it sound like no big deal.

McCain's breathtaking defense of signing the Iran letter: "I sign lots of letters"

Presidential candidates can say that they will be better than the incumbent. They all do. Did he write a letter to Iraq saying that the President's negotiations on behalf of the United States are invalid? Nope.

What senators? Did they write a letter to Ortega telling him the Presidents authority to make treaties was worthless? No.

The Boland Amendment was a perfectly legal Act and signed into law by Reagan. The CIA had illegally committed acts of sabotage without Congressional approval and the Congress and to take steps to deal with it. Have you forgotten the Iran/Contra scandal where Reagan trading missiles illegally to Iran to get hostages released and illegally funneled the money to the CIA to do illegal covert actions in Nicaragua? All the Boland Amendment did was plug the legal loophole that allowed the NSC to funnel funds because they were not technically an "intelligence agency".

A letter written directly to an enemy, in violation of the Constitution, undercutting an ongoing negotiation by the President, the sole authority to whom our Constitution gives the responsibility for conducting foreign relations? Who else has done that?

The deal would prevent Iran from doing anything to create a nuclear weapon for 10 years. Without the agreement they will have one within 2 years. Ten years gives us plenty of time to reach a new agreement with Iran or otherwise contain them. Or just help foment another Iranian revolution. Don't forget the unrest of 2009 in Iran. It was suppressed but it is simmering beneath the surface.

Look, these Iranians may be bellicose but they are not stupid. They are not Arabs and they are hostile to both Al Qaeda and ISIS. They won't be using nuclear weapon any more than anybody else for the same reason--it would invite immediate and total destruction of their country. From us, from Israel, from Pakistan, or Russia. They are making the effort so that they have something to bargain for to get the sanctions lifted.

The alternative to a deal with Iran is another crippling Middle Eastern war, when Iran is no threat to us at all. It's a distraction from what is happening in Russia, where we need to be getting ready for another Cold War with a country that is a real and present danger.

I am beginning to agree with you that Saudi Arabia could be a worse problem for us than Iran, with their covert support of radical Sunnis. Time to reach an accord with Iran so that we can address our other situations that are boiling right now.

If they don't, then we don't have to either and the sanctions go back on and get ratcheted up. Iran need to do this badly to move a head as a nation. They really don't like being a pariah nation.

He absolutely has the authority to do this. Unquestionably. Constitutionally. They didn't even try to say that he doesn't. They said that the United States would not honor any treaty negotiated by its President when the Republicans get back into office. That is some serious bullshit. This rookie Senator has kneecapped himself. To get things done in the Congress, one has to be able to work with the other Congressmen from both parties. You give some votes so that you can get some votes. Russell Long showed everybody how to do that 50 years ago. Influential Democrats are going to rain on his parade for a long time over this. Some influential Republicans who know how things work are going to avoid him too, lest they be labeled as obstructionists. There will be payback . . . there always is.

Hey, you're half right! Tomfoolery for sure. But if you don't realize it, the President of the United States of America is the supreme leader of the Free World. Always has been. He's Commander in Chief of the Armed Services, too. Next this rookie senator will be writing to the Generals and trying to give them orders. What an idiot.

What the hell are you talking about?