Sen. Tom Cotton
(R-Arkansas)
By Elaine Magliaro
Guess what? The country of Iran controls the city of Tehran. Ohmigod! Who knew? Say it ain’t so! Boy, I’m sure glad I learned that important bit of information when Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) was a guest on CBS’s Face the Nation this morning. Cotton was the lead author of the letter signed by himself and 46 other senators that was “sent to Iranian ayatollahs warning them that any deal struck with the Obama administration over their country’s nuclear program could be cancelled by a future administration or Congress.” Cotton and the 46 other letters signers have come under severe criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike “for seeking to undermine ongoing negotiations to curb Iran’s nuclear program.”
Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer “pointed out that Cotton’s letter to Iran…may have undermined President Barack Obama’s ability to get a nuclear deal with Iran.” But Sen. Cotton defended his decision “to send a letter on a burgeoning nuclear deal directly to Iranian leaders.” He insisted that “Iran’s leaders need to hear the message loud and clear” that a deal brokered by President Obama “might not last past the end of his administration without congressional approval…”
Nicole Flatow (ThinkProgress) said that Cotton appeared to make a “key geographic mistake” when Schieffer asked him what better outcome the Arkansas senator “expects if a White House-led deal falls through.” Cotton seemed to suggest that Tehran, the capital of Iran, “might be controlled by anyone other than Iranian leaders.”
Excerpt from Face the Nation (March 15, 2015):
Bob Schieffer: What do you want to happen here? What is your alternative here? Let’s say that the deal falls through, then what?
Tom Cotton: Well as Prime Minister Netanyahu said, the alternative to a bad deal is a better deal. The Iranians frequently bluff to walk away from the table. If they bluff this week, call their bluff. The Congress stands ready to impose much more severe sanctions. Moreover, we have to stand up to Iran’s attempts to drive for regional dominance. They already control Tehran and, increasingly, they control Damascus and Beirut and Baghdad and now Sana’a as well. They do all that without a nuclear weapon. Imagine what they would do with a nuclear weapon.
Flatow noted that Bob Schieffer went on to ask Cotton whether he regretted sending the letter so “he didn’t clarify with Cotton what he meant by his comment that Iran has ‘control’ of its own capital.”
Tom Cotton: Iran must be stopped because ‘they already control Tehran’
SOURCES
Huh? Tom Cotton says Iran must be stopped because ‘they already control Tehran’ (Raw Story)
Tom Cotton Seems Confused About The Basic Geography Of Iran (ThinkProgress)
Tom Cotton: ‘No Regrets At All’ Over Letter To Iran (Huffington Post)
Nicole Plyler Fisk
Gene Howington
FFS Guest Blogger
Joy of Fishes
Chuck Stanley
shortfinals
Terry Welshans
ann li-summers
wordcloud9
Flowers For Socrates 
Harvard really needs to reexamine their graduation policies.
They might take a look at admission policies while they are at it.
When asked about it, he’ll say that it was a simple mistake, of course he knows that Tehran is the capital of iran!!
Then Faux news will use it as another proof of the liberal media playing gotcha!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attention_deficit_hyperactivity_disorder
“The mind is a terrible thing and it should be stopped in our lifetime before it kills somebody.” – Sen. Tom Cotton
IMMEDIATELY AFTER LAUNCHING EFFORT TO SCUTTLE IRAN DEAL, SENATOR TOM COTTON TO MEET WITH DEFENSE CONTRACTORS
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/03/09/upon-launching-effort-scuttle-iran-deal-senator-tom-cotton-meets-defense-contractors/
That’s not suspicious at all.
At this time I’d like to re-register my ongoing complaint that the Internet needs a sarcasm specific font.
From the link:
“During his senate campaign, he told a tele-townhall that ISIS and Mexican drug cartels joining forces to attack Arkansas was an ‘urgent problem.’”
Everyone knows that the key to controlling both the religious life of America and the drug trade is to control Eureka Springs. That or he doesn’t understand what the words “urgent” and/or “problem” means. If true, that is shameless pandering and fear mongering of the worst sort.
So, who does he think should be controlling it, the French? Hmmm maybe the Italians.
I wonder how smart smart bombs are, but when WW3 starts at the bombing of Iran, I hope they are smart enough to seek out Mr Cotton et al, and kiss them hard.
Perhaps Hensonistan, the traditional home of the Muppets.
“They already control Tehran”
Well, that ought to put to rest the canard that the GOP is filled with ignoramuses.
10 frightening facts about Tom Cotton
A letter to Iran is only his latest stunt. The Tea Party darling is one of the Senate’s biggest bullies
http://www.salon.com/2015/03/14/10_frightening_facts_about_tom_cotton_partner/
Excerpt:
1. He penned an underhanded letter to the leaders of Iran that sparked the trending hashtag #47Traitors. On March 9th, Cotton and 46 of his Republican colleagues went behind President Obama’s back by signing an “informative” letter to Iran, saying that a nuclear deal would not last because the next president could reverse it. Secretary John Kerry, one of the lead negotiators in the talks, called the letter “utterly disgusting” and “irresponsible.” Two dozen editorial boards slammed the letter and over 200,000 people signed a petition asking the senators to be charged for violating the Logan Act, a law which forbids unauthorized citizens from negotiating with foreign governments.
2. Senator Cotton said the only problem he has with Guantanamo Bay prison is that “there are too many empty beds.” Ignoring waterboarding, indefinite detention, forced feeding and other torturous acts, Tom Cotton insists that the US should be “proud” of how it treats the “savages” detained in Gitmo. As far as Cotton is concerned, “[the prisoners] can rot in hell. But as long as they don’t do that, then they can rot in Guantanamo Bay.” This is counter to the position of many other Senators and President Obama, who has promised time and time again to close the prison. There are still dozens of men held at Gitmo who have been cleared for release, but that doesn’t seem to bother Senator They-Can-Rot-in-Hell…
8. As an Army Lieutenant in 2006, Cotton called for the prosecution of two New York Times journalists for espionage.From his early days, Cotton has not been a fan of expository journalism. When the New York Times published an article about how the government was tracking terrorist financing, Cotton called for the journalists to be imprisoned. This news story got a lot of heat from various conservative outlets, but before he was even running for office, Cotton took it upon himself to publicize his grievances in a sarcastic letter to journalists Eric Lichtblau and James Risen. It seems that Cotton’s letter to Iran a few days ago was not the first of its kind.
Tom Cotton picked apart by Army general over ‘mutinous’ Iran letter
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2015/03/13/tom-cotton-picked-apart-by-army-general-over-mutinous-iran-letter/
Excerpt:
The open letter to the leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran signed by 47 senators and instigated by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) was a stunning breach of protocol. One so outrageous that my former colleagues at the New York Daily News dubbed the signers “traitors.” While it is indeed a slap in the face of President Obama and an affront to the presidency, I’m not sure I would go that far, especially since Cotton is an Army veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. So, I turned to retired Major Gen. Paul D. Eaton for perspective. He wouldn’t say Cotton and Co. were “traitors,” either. He had a better word.
“I would use the word mutinous,” said Eaton, whose long career includes training Iraqi forces from 2003 to 2004. He is now a senior adviser to VoteVets.org. “I do not believe these senators were trying to sell out America. I do believe they defied the chain of command in what could be construed as an illegal act.” Eaton certainly had stern words for Cotton.
“What Senator Cotton did is a gross breach of discipline, and especially as a veteran of the Army, he should know better,” Eaton told me. “I have no issue with Senator Cotton, or others, voicing their opinion in opposition to any deal to halt Iran’s nuclear progress. Speaking out on these issues is clearly part of his job. But to directly engage a foreign entity, in this way, undermining the strategy and work of our diplomats and our Commander in Chief, strains the very discipline and structure that our foreign relations depend on, to succeed.” The consequences of Cotton’s missive were plainly apparent to Eaton. “The breach of discipline is extremely dangerous, because undermining our diplomatic efforts, at this moment, brings us another step closer to a very costly and perilous war with Iran,” he said.
“I think Senator Cotton recognizes this, and he simply does not care,” Eaton went on to say. “That’s what disappoints me the most.” And that’s what’s so scary about this whole episode. The freshman senator from Arkansas and 46 of his Republican colleagues sought to bigfoot Obama on a deal not yet done whose details are not yet known.
Senator Cotton is definitely not ready for prime time
Kudos to the general! Sen. Cotton is making some of the crazies on the right, look almost sane.
“…Cotton took it upon himself to publicize his grievances in a sarcastic letter to journalists Eric Lichtblau and James Risen.”
Tom Cotton does sarcasm? Really?
Doesn’t one need to have at least minimal self-awareness, to do sarcasm?
If Cotton had any self-awareness, he’d be despondent.
Corruption of Blood
In 2013 Cotton introduced legislative language to punish relatives of those convicted of violating U.S. sanctions against Iran. According to Cotton, this would include “a spouse and any relative to the third degree,” such as, “parents, children, aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces, grandparents, great grandparents, grandkids, great grandkids,”
(from wikipedia)
“For anyone who had any doubt that Sen. Tom Cotton’s dumb letter to Iran was anything less than a total tactical failure that backfired spectacularly, the final proof is in: Bill Kristol, the neoconservative editor of the Weekly Standard who is famously wrong about everything, has declared it a raging success.
It is not surprising that Kristol played a hand in bringing Cotton’s letter to fruition and establishing Cotton’s national reputation as a laughingstock. Kristol, who fancies himself a conservative foreign policy intellectual but is mostly just a Republican political operative, likes to take on “projects” in the form of aspiring conservative talent and then prematurely ruin their careers. The list includes Dan Quayle, Sarah Palin and, now, Tom Cotton.”
http://www.salon.com/2015/03/16/tom_cottons_political_nightmare_how_we_know_for_sure_his_letter_was_a_failure/
eniobob,
Kristen is on C-Span at the moment. Don’t know why people care what he has to say…because he IS famously wrong about everything.
raff, I think Cotton has nudged Ted Cruz out of first place.
swarthmoremom,
Speaking of Ted “Crazyman” Cruz:
‘Your world is on fire’: Ted Cruz scares the hell out of a terrified little girl in New Hampshire
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/03/your-world-is-on-fire-ted-cruz-scares-the-hell-out-of-a-terrified-little-girl-in-new-hampshire/
Excerpt:
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) was forced to pause a speech in New Hampshire on Sunday after he reportedly terrified a little girl by shouting that her “world is on fire.”
While speaking at an event sponsored by the Strafford County Republican Committee, Cruz warned that there was an “urgency to politics today that is unlike anything any of us have ever seen.”
“It is now or never,” he explained. “I don’t think we’ve reached the point of no return yet. But we’re close. We are close! And I believe if we go four or eight more years on this same path, we risk losing the greatest country in the history of the world.”
“Millions of Americans are realizing this isn’t working,” the possible Republican presidential candidate continued. “The Obama economy is a disaster. Obamacare is a train wreck.”
“And the Obama-Clinton foreign policy of leading from behind — the whole world is on fire.”
Tampa Bay Times political editor Adam Smith noted on Twitter that Cruz had to pause his speech to respond to a little girl in the audience who was young enough to be carried by her mother.
“Ted Cruz literally just scared a little girl in NH,” Smith wrote. “‘The world is on fire?!’ she asked, repeating his line on Obama-Clinton foreign policy.”
“The world is on fire,” Cruz replied, turning to face the girl and her mother. “Yes! Your world is on fire!”
Realizing that his rhetoric might have gone too far, the Texas Republican decided to do some damage control.
“But you know what?” he asked. “Your mommy is here and everyone is here to make sure that the world you grow up in is even better.”
I smell something alright.
It isn’t the kind of smoke associated with combustion though.
“The world is on fire,” Cruz replied, turning to face the girl and her mother. “Yes! Your world is on fire!”
Lo, and the profit Cruz spoke, “no more water, the fire next time.”
I don’t know about that little girl, but he is scaring the bejesus out of me.
However, I think I might have found a use for all that water from the rising sea levels.
For Ted Cruz, crazy is a family business
Ted and his far-right father are having a grand old party wooing GOP primary voters — and scaring normal people
8/21/13
http://www.salon.com/2013/08/21/there’s_no_cruz_control/
Excerpt:
Be careful what you wish for. The Republican Party sought a crop of new leaders with the vitality and ideological fire both Sen. John McCain and Mitt Romney lacked heading into 2016. Now they’ve got them, most notably Sen. Ted Cruz, who’s leading the charge to either “defund” Obamacare or shut down the government, to the horror of McCain and other so-called “establishment Republicans” (as if there were any such thing.) Even Tea Party Sen. Rand Paul has maybe kinda sorta suggested that shutting down the government to defund Obamacare is a bad idea — even though he signed Sen. Mike Lee’s letter threatening to do so.
Cruz has no such qualms. Headlining former Sen. Jim DeMint and the Heritage Foundation’s “Defund Obamacare” rally last night in Dallas, he fired up the crowd with his Obama attacks. (Of course, I can’t help but note the irony of Heritage sponsoring Cruz’s “Defund Obamacare” tour when Heritage was the source of one of the plan’s key provisions: the individual mandate to carry health insurance.) Even though some Obama defenders showed up and heckled Cruz, the junior Texas senator and his father were the stars of the night.
“We’ve all seen this movie before,” Cruz told the audience. “President Obama and Harry Reid are gonna scream and yell ‘those mean, nasty Republicans are threatening to shut down the government.’” He went on: “One side or the other has to blink. How do we win this fight? Don’t blink!” Only squishes blink.
“Now is the best time we have to defund Obamacare,” Cruz told the crowd of 1,000. “We’re seeing bipartisan agreement that the wheels are coming off.”
The wheels came off the Heritage event, though, when Cruz’s father, minister Rafael Cruz, took the stage to close it out. When it comes to red meat and red-baiting, Ted is a piker compared to his Cuban refugee father, who talks of Castro’s tyranny but never mentions the fact that he supported the Cuban communist leader’s revolution against Batista. Again we heard Cruz Sr. warn that Barack Obama is leading us toward socialism. This time, though, he didn’t merely exaggerate, he outright lied, insisting “Sarah Palin was right” about death panels in Obamacare.
Cruz was oddly specific, as though he’d had a very vivid hallucination: There is a 16-member death panel, he told the rapt crowd, that “will be implemented next year.” Those “16 bureaucrats will decide” not only whether you get life saving treatment, but even knee surgery, Cruz warned the audience, farcically. Instead of a “knee operation,” maybe you’ll just get “a wheelchair” and pain medication instead. Cruz also predicted shortages of aspirin and a hike in staph infections under Obamacare, just like in his native Cuba (although many of Cuba’s medical shortages are due to the U.S. embargo.) Essentially, according to Cruz, the death panel will tell many of us “Go home and die!” And to think Republicans complained about Rep. Alan Grayson’s rhetoric back in the day.
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/235740-tom-cotton-send-more-prisoners-to-gitmo Sen. Cotton does not want to close Gitmo. He wants to send more prisoners there and fill up the beds.
Cruz and his dad are fundamentalists. Scott Walker belongs to a fundamentalist church. These people should never get anywhere near the Presidency. That is truly scary.
That is the $64,000 question :
“Elaine M. says:
March 16, 2015 at 7:30 am
eniobob,
Kristen is on C-Span at the moment. Don’t know why people care what he has to say…because he IS famously wrong about everything.”
It Took Tom Cotton Less Than A Minute To Invoke Hitler In First Senate Speech
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/16/tom-cotton-hitler-senate-speech_n_6882428.html
Excerpt:
WASHINGTON — It’s hard to believe freshman Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) caused such a stir in the Senate with his letter to Iran even before his maiden floor speech. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who led an unsuccessful fight against Obamacare, couldn’t even do that.
But Cotton — now famous for orchestrating the controversial letter to Iran with the signatures of 46 of his GOP colleagues — finally got the chance to do just that on Monday evening. Cotton began, as one does, with Adolf Hitler.
“The world is growing ever more dangerous, and our defense spending is wholly inadequate to confront the danger,” Cotton said. “To be exact, during the last four or five years, the world has grown gravely darker. We have steadily disarmed, partly with a sincere desire to give a lead to other countries and partly due to the severe financial pressure of the time. But a change must now be made. We must not continue longer on a course in which we alone are growing weaker while every other nation is growing stronger.”
He continued: “I wish I could take credit for those eloquent but ominous words, but I cannot. Winston Churchill sounded that warning in 1933 as Adolf Hitler had taken power in Germany. Tragically, Great Britain and the West didn’t heed this warning, when they might have strangled that monster in his crib. Rather they let the locust continue to eat away at the common defense.”