Have you actually read the letter?

Yes, I read the letter. And, I just read it again (since you so kindly posted it).

You are correct that it is not "Constitutional Treason" (i.e. treason as defined by the Constitution). It comes close to the dictionary definition of treason, by undermining a foreign policy initiative of the US government.

No one is asking for a legal prosecution of the Senators involved (at least as far as I have heard). So, the legal definition of treason doesn't apply.

Exacting a steep political price for undermining of the sitting president in a matter of foreign policy if justified (in my opinion). This is the likely outcome. I don't think the term "borderline treasonous" is inappropriate in the political arena.

These Senators should be made to pay politically for their stupid, political stunt that was designed make international diplomacy, something the Constitution puts squarely in the executive branch, more difficult.

The phrase "borderline treason", meaning "betrayal of the US government operating according to the responsibilities set forth in the Constitution to act on our behalf" is an appropriate way to express to the American voters the gravity of what this Republican led Congress is doing.

Why was it....and no.

They will not, and if the people decide that Obama has been making promises that he had no right to make because he does not have the power to deliver them then it will be Obama who gets the blame. This is not finished yet.

I think undermining your current president on the international stage was incredibly stupid, with possible consequences for your entire country.

(yes, I'd read it before)

Giving the idiots a pass on this? nope.

I hope that the signers all get blasted in their next campaigns.

___________


Gotta love that John McCain said it was signed because of fear of a snowstorm.

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/mccain-rand-paul-roll-out-new-excuses-sabotage-letter

Go to the WhiteHouse.gov website and you will see several petitions, asking that the 47 be charged.
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petitions



I agree

Those petitions are just silly. Let me change my original statement to "No one with any brains is asking for a legal prosecution..."

I am not saying to give them a pass, I am saying that they did nothing criminal or treasonous.



I agree, but it must come from the voters, nowhere else.

Thanks for this posting MM.
I can now say that I have actually read the letter.
It isn't treason by any reasonable definition of the term.

I must say, though, that I simply cannot believe they would write this.
We are are talking nuclear power in Iran.
Iran.
Iran!
Ir-*******-ran!
Jeez.

If these negotiations go well (not that I am especially optimistic), it could
be huge.
Why would you send a letter saying -- in essence -- "we're just gonna tear
any agreement up as soon as this guy is out of office"?

I'm saying it is potentially worse than criminal or treasonous.

Seriously.

I'll politely say it was futzing with presidential/executive rights.

Imploding possible settling of differences.

Treason? I'm no lawyer, but it smells rather like it.

At the least, it was an adolescent maneuver like Netanyahu - the guy we pay for - made.

The international stage for Obama looks like a comedy club to other world leaders. And even though laughter is in short supply in Iran, you can hear it all over the world.



This president has weakened this country defensively and diplomatically. The redline is still another joke that the leaders in the Middle East will never forget. And Obama knows what Islam is and is capable of, but has decided to rewrite history.

We used to have a thing where we will squabble at home but to the world we would present a united front. It was agreed, people put a lot of effort into making it happen. That died years ago, and both parties were equally active in killing that program. We are weaker now because of it, this is another instance of how the Washington crowd refusing to do their jobs well hurts us.

But I dont have the energy to develop much anger for what the R's did here, pretty much nothing that Obama has tried to do globally has worked, there was not much chance that anything was ever going to come from his efforts with Iran either. In case anyone has not been paying attention as we have been departing the middle east Iran has been stepping up and filling the vacuum, they are winning. And there is no reason to think that the moderates are gaining any ground inside of Iran, a hard liner just unexpected got put in a powerful chair just a couple of days ago.

Obama working with Iran is like Nixon working with China? What a crock! And besides, China is not working out so well, either for getting Western ideas into China nor for the global community. China was supposed to see that doing what we liked got them rewards, and then they were supposed to adopt the Western ways. They took the candy and then insisted that we need to adapt to their ways, because they are the next single global superpower. It is not at all clear that Nixon was right.

No, both parties were not equally active in killing that program.

The Democrats in Congress pretty much supported Bush in his foreign policy in the run up to Iraq, the coalition of the willing and the Patriot Act. There was nothing comparable where members of Congress went beyond their Constitutional duties to undermine the president.

This all started when Obama was elected president. Since then the Republicans in Congress have been undermining the presidency. No Congress in history has acted this way.

Bullshit, the D's were talking smack about Bush to world leaders years before that. "oh you are so right that he is an idiot cowboy, when our party takes over we will fix that for you! We love you baby!"

Take a look at Andrew Johnsons congress.

http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/tom-cotton-and-mutiny/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OTB+%28Outside+The+Beltway+|+OTB%29

We aren't taking about "talking smack". We are talking about directly undermining a presidential initiative involving foreign politics. And we are not talking about pundits or rank and file Democrats. We are talking about US Senators (who are supposed to act with decorum).

the Senate sure ain't what it used to be. Both the D's and the R's have been actively working for years to do away Senate Comity. What we have now is the very predictable result.

Till now almost no one has cared. Dozens of good people have left complaining that it is almost impossible to get anything done because the culture of the place is bad, this started happening 20 years ago, and nothing changes. The people never demanded better.

Dont blame the R's for one act, that is a cop out, both the D's and the R's have committed thousands of acts which have lead to this, and we were silent as they did them.

It is very easy to say that they are equally to blame. But they are not.

This happened when the Republicans veered way to the right and started taking (as they themselves put it) a "Hell No!", obstructionist attitude.

If you want the system to change, then you have to make the people who refuse to compromise pay. If you make both parties pay in a two party system, then neither of them pay (since there is no alternative).

Saying that the Republicans and Democrats are equally to blame, when the Republicans have by far done the most damage to the system of compromise rewards the extremist behavior.

The Republicans have done most of the damage. If we want this to change so that we have a system where both parties compromise for the good of the country, we need to punish (at the ballot box) the people who are causing the damage.

If the moderates among the American people stop voting for Republicans until they decide to compromise, along with the Democrats, to best govern the country, then the Republican behavior will change... rather quickly... and we can get back to working together.