Senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan is taking legislative action to prevent a repeat of the type of letter sent by Senator Tom Cotton, attempting to sabotage diplomatic talks regarding nuclear energy in Iran. She introduced an amendment (pdf here) which would defund “the purchase of stationary [sic] or electronic devices for the purpose of members of Congress or congressional staff communicating with foreign governments and undermining the role of the President as Head of State in international nuclear negotiations on behalf of the United States.”
The letter signed by 47 Republican Senators was highly irresponsible, and it is understandable why Senator Stabenow would like to defund any future such letters. The letter not only interferes with efforts to attempt to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, it undermines the ability of the current and every future president to negotiate on behalf of the United States.
Of course Democrats might also like to keep this issue alive considering how unpopular the letter was with voters. It never hurts to remind the voters of how utterly irresponsible and bat-shit crazy the Republican Party has become.
So much for freedom of speech – even for your politicians! What will that silly woman do next, try and ban Congressmen from writing to their newspapers?
There are no freedom of speech issues here. First, she is clearly satirizing the Republicans. Secondly, even if this is taken literally, it only defunds supplies for sending the letter and does not restrict what they say. It does not restrict what they write on their own stationary or with their own electronic devices.
I refuse to believe this female member of the Senate, sent to DC by the great state of Michigan, is 100% insane, in spite of her actions and what she says. I’ll only go with 49%.
You really don’t see the first creeping little steps, do you? That any legislator in a (so-called) democracy could even think of such a thing is a disgrace – and a dangerous disgrace, to boot!
Brush up on your Niemoller:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_they_came_…
This isn’t even a fraction of a step. It is pure satire, which in no way restricts freedom of speech. Worst case scenario if it was taken seriously is that Senators would have to buy their own stationary to send letters which advocate violations of the Constitution.
Amazing how you ignore real restrictions on civil liberties coming from Republicans and then get upset when a Democrat makes fun of them with something like this.
I’d go with 0% insane. It was clever satire, raising no questions as to her sanity.
If you want to question sanity, question those who wrote and signed Cotton’s letter.
That would be the letter explaining to a foreign leader the way the American constitution works,would it? I suspect the ‘foreign’ leader they had in mind was not a million miles from Washington given that the president appears to know zilch about the finer points of constitutional government in the USA.
Actually it was the Republicans who got many things incorrect as to what the Constitution says and how foreign policy is conducted. It is Obama who gets it right while the Republican Senators, along with you, apparently do not understand how the system works.