++John Kerry appeared before the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee and tore the letter to shreds, pointing out that the authors got the constitution wrong and that since the beginning of the country foreign policy has run on executive orders. He pointed to the recent agreement with Afghanistan as an example.
++John Kerry called the letter irresponsible and rising doubts among our allies whether we will keep our commitment. Kerry thought it odd that Tehran Tom and his colleagues would address the Iranian leaders when they want to prohibit other citizens from doing so.
++Corker kept insisting he didn't sign the letter and then abruptly cut Kerry off. What Corker wants is to cripple the negotiations another way by getting a veto-proof bill passed Senate that would require the President share the agreement for Senate approval.
++Kerry didn't address this directly but suggested that this was not a legal agreement but an enforceable one. His point is that the National Security Council of the United Nations would have the power to enforce it, not the Senate. He also dispelled the notion that Congress could change the agreement at will, He said they could not change what our allies, Russia, China and Iran agreed to.
++Republicans are now saying the letter was just a joke and that the Obama administration is humorless. John McCain said maybe this wasn't the best idea to catch the Administration's attention.
++Corker has complained about President Obama's executive orders. When Obama reaches President Reagan's 1,500 orders ,let me know.
++Brad Sherman, a former Democratic congressman and very anti-Tehran, said that the odds for Corker getting to 2/3rds on his bill have gone from 40% to 4% with this letter. Republicans are feeling this and now are accusing each other over the letter.
++Meanwhile, Republican congressmen from Arkansas are asking Tehran Tom Cotton to run for President.
++The GOP is now in utter confusion. First, the Homeland Security flap,the failed laws against Iran, the invitation to Bibi, and now Tehran Tom Cotton's letter. This was supposed to be the party of security.
++News coverage around the country has been universally negative, especially in Kentucky and Utah where both Senators signed the letter. The Utah paper tried to fathom the meaning of it--whether their Senators wanted war or not and if either they had botched it.
++Last night Angus King from Maine appeared on the Rachel Maddow show to explain how he was baffled about what the Republicans were trying to do. He knew they wanted to embarrass the President but he didn't know how you can maintain a bipartisan policy against Iran with one party politicizing the issue. Good question.
++Leslie Gelb and other foreign policy gurus have entered the fray and condemned the Republicans. Gelb went so far as to suggest that what the GOP did was threatened ending the time when the United States was a superpower.
++I am amazed to see that the Iranians come off as smart and sophisticated while we look like a bunch of buffoons. The United States took a hit on this letter flap and there is no one to blame but the Republicans.
++The GOP's attempt to blame President Obama for this has fallen flat.
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