Watching Democrats have a collective meltdown over the Republican letter to Iran has been more fun than pouring coffee into a bag full of squirrels. The Democrat Party collectively has the emotional maturity of a toddler, the memory span of a mayfly, and double standards that split into new double standards with dizzying speed.
Have they really forgotten Nancy Pelosi schmoozing with Bashar Assad, John Kerry working with the Sandinistas, or sainted “liberal lion” Ted Kennedy begging the KGB to influence American elections? Have they forgotten all the aid and comfort Democrats poured out to the Iraqi insurgents during the Bush years, in their desperation to ensure Iraq would be the sort of disaster they could ride to electoral victory? How about Senator Dick Durbin doing a solid for the terrorists by denouncing American soldiers at Guantanamo Bay as little better than Nazi concentration camp guards? Ring any bells, kids, or are you all going to keep pretending you’re five years old and don’t remember any of that?
If the Republican signatories to that letter to Tehran are “traitors,” as Democrats have been shrieking, then so were Pelosi, Kerry, Kennedy, and numerous other Democrats who stubbornly refused to let “politics stop at the water’s edge” when Republicans were in the White House.
Furthermore, all the Republicans did was send a letter to Iran correctly explaining how the American system of government works. They didn’t use the kind of secret meetings and back-channel communications Democrats preferred during their many attempts to sabotage the foreign policy of Republican administrations.
It’s possible the famously low-information Democrat online fan base really doesn’t remember these past instances of “treason,” or never heard about them from the Party’s loyal “information gatekeepers” in the press. I wouldn’t bet on them accepting a retroactive lesson now – they’ll squeeze their eyes shut, stick their fingers in their ears, and scream whatever hashtag their leaders have provided them with, as a demonstration of love and loyalty. That’s what this is really all about: a race to see who can proclaim his or her undying love for that dearest of Dear Leaders, Barack Obama, fastest and loudest. He runs a personality cult, and those tend to fall apart unless the membership remains enthusiastic, and loud enough to make the cult look much larger than it actually is.
The secondary objective of this “Republicans are traitors!” caterwauling is to fling handfuls of hatred at the cult’s designated enemies. That’s why none of them are getting whiplash from the incredibly fast abandonment of last month’s top talking point – the assertion that “questioning the patriotism” of politicians is absolutely, unspeakably wrong.
We got an earful of that when Rudy Giuliani doubted the depth of Obama’s love for America (which is not actually the same thing as “questioning his patriotism,” an important point too subtle for the toddlers to grasp.) Just a few weeks later, questioning patriotism is super-cool again, even when the target is a veteran such as Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR). It’s probably a mistake to challenge this as a double standard, because to the loyal Obama drone, there’s only one standard: love of Obama and hatred for his enemies. They think the intensity of their belligerence will distract from how silly they look.
Speaking of distractions, the Democrats sure do need one right about now, with Hillary Clinton disappearing into the black hole of her email scandal, and Obama’s foreign policy in flames around the world. There’s no reason any rational person would expect Obama to do a better job of negotiating with Iran than he did with Russia, Cuba, or the new masters of Libya. Obama’s dear friends in the Castro regime took time from making room in their treasure vaults for a fresh pile of American dollars to announce their “unconditional support” for Venezuela against the United States today, in the face of sanctions against the gangster government of tinpot socialist strongman Nicolas Maduro. Heckuva job on that Cuba deal, Mr. Obama!
He’ll do a heck of a job in Iran, too, which is why his faithful supporters have nothing left except the idiotic talking point that the only alternative to Obama’s supine deal – Iran gets everything it wants, including nukes; we get nothing – is war, starting tomorrow. As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pointed out in his address to Congress, the alternative to a lousy deal isn’t war – it’s a better deal.
Democrats have lowered the bar for Barack Obama many times over the years, but this is about as low as it can go – you have to give him an A-plus for his lousy diplomacy, or else you want a land war in Iran. Of course, the Iranian theocracy is very pleased to have a sizable number of American politicians and voters thinking like that. It’s the only way for a wretched little police state with dreams of empire to humble a super-power. If Obama’s deal is the only alternative to a sudden war that Democrats apparently believe Iran would win, then Obama is, by definition, helping Iran to defeat the United States without firing a shot. Tell me more about your theories of “treason,” Democrats.
It’s also adorable to see Democrats claim that these Republican skeptics of Obama foreign policy are blowing up the constitutional order.
Barack Obama did that a long time ago, children, and you applauded until your fingers were numb from clapping. Obama’s “political genius” was a thuggish calculation that most of the restraints on executive power were mere customs, polite agreements with nothing to enforce them except the conscience of the Beltway media… and he knew that wouldn’t be any obstacle for him. For years, Obama has usurped power and shredded law with the implied bluster of, “What are you going to do to stop me?” With impeachment a dead letter, and the “power of the purse” abandoned in the face of Beltway conventional wisdom that Republicans will automatically lose all budget showdowns for the rest of eternity, Obama threw away one gentlemen’s understanding after another. Lately he’s been thinking about seizing tax powers, one of the few authorities left to Congress, and declaring that puny little federal judges can’t stop him.
There’s nothing left of that old “understanding.” There isn’t much room for the despotic Obama to smile, throw his arms around Republican leaders, and repeat his meaningless old campaign promises about how he wants to work together and hear their ideas about making America a better place.
There is only what remains of the law, and it very clearly allows congressional Republicans to send letters like the one they did. The scary part is that Iran might not be terribly intimidated by reminders that Obama’s non-binding executive understandings won’t survive his term in office… because they’re confident they can get everything they need from him before he goes. Frankly, they haven’t put much effort into pretending they respect him – mostly they throw his already lopsided concessions back in his face and demand more – but they know the bottom line is that he wants a “legacy” of Middle Eastern stability under an Iranian hegemon the West can do business with, and he’ll pay any price to get it. It’s very important to let the Iranians know there are limits to what this president can give away.
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