Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi claims she nearly cried last week after being offended by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to a joint session of Congress about Iran. Now, she's seemingly just as upset about a letter sent from 47 Republican Senators to the Ayatollah of Iran, warning the regime that if a deal is made with the White House, it will only be temporary.
"It has come to our attention while observing your nuclear negotiations with our government that you may not fully understand our constitutional system. Thus, we are writing to bring to your attention two features of our Constitution -- the power to make binding international agreements and the different character of federal offices -- which you should seriously consider as negotiations progress," the letter, spearheaded by Republican Senator Tom Cotton, stated. "What these two constitutional provisions mean is that we will consider any agreement regarding your nuclear-weapons program that is not approved by the Congress as nothing more than an executive agreement between President Obama and Ayatollah Khamenei. The next president could revoke such an executive agreement with the stroke of a pen and future Congresses could modify the terms of the agreement at any time."
But Republicans are pushing back, saying Pelosi has no room to criticize considering her history of visiting embattled Syrian dictator Bashir Assad back in 2007, when tensions between the Bush administration and the regime were high. Pelosi, of course, argues that was a totally different situation than the letter sent and is lashing out about critics exposing her hypocrisy. From The Hill:
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is pushing back hard against conservative claims that the Republicans' recent letter to Iranian leaders, which has infuriated the White House amidst delicate nuclear talks, is akin to her 2007 visit to Syria against the wishes of the Bush administration.
The office of the House minority leader issued a scathing statement Wednesday night saying her meeting with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad was part of a bipartisan effort — conducted through the Bush administration — to encourage peace in the region and accusing the Republicans of launching a "desperate" defense of their Iran letter to mask criticisms coming from both sides of the aisle.
As a reminder, Assad has slaughtered more than 200,000 of his own people in a desperate attempt to hold onto power.
I'll leave you with this:
I agree w Nancy Pelosi — going to Syria to give Assad a bear hug is nothing like an open letter on the Constitution http://t.co/lf4A7sUR5j
— Benjamin Weingarten (@bhweingarten) March 12, 2015