My senate "Whip Count" on the Iran Deal

 

I am told that the WH had at least 34 signed, written pledges of support in the US Senate BEFORE Schumer made his tepid statement of opposition.  What they are doing now is seeking to run up the score.  Schumer knew this and IMO that makes him even less worthwhile than I had thought

In Israel, there is general consternation at AIPAC's failure in spite of all that PR money, all that arm twisting of media executives, all the general nastiness of this direct attempt to control the US Congress.  It seems that Bibi was not right in haughtily expressing a belief that the goyim were easily manipulated.

It is heartwarming that so many Jewish senators are going to vote with the administration.  pl 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/07/14/whip-count-where-the-senate-stands-on-the-iran-deal/

http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/west-of-eden/.premium-1.672416 

Comments

[Matthew]

Col: Not only are many US senators who happen to be Jewish going to vote with the Administration, but senators and representatives who happen to be Jewish will vote with the Administration at a higher rate than the rest of the members of Congress (with the possible exception of the Black Congressional Caucus).

Marinate in that, Bibi.

The only disappointing note is the complete lack of any Republican support. You would think that one or two brave souls would leave the reservation.

Apparently not.

[turcopolier]

Matthew

In re the GOP senators lack of guts, IMO that reflects the depth of mouth-breather control of the party in their states. I anticipate GOP retention of control of both houses. How about Patty Murray for Dem minority leader? pl

[William R. Cumming]

Senator Murray would be a good choice for the DEMS next Congress IMO!

[A. Pols]

You are right about the "mouth breather" element and its analogues in the other party. The role of unfiltered sentiment in voting decisions is hard to watch sometimes. The "man in the street" I encounter usually buys into the idea that nothing short of absolute capitulation from Iran is acceptable and it seems many senators take the same view: that negotiations with other countries should resemble police hostage negotiations where the outcome is the surrender and arrest (or death) of the hostage taker and the safe release of hostages, with no ultimate concessions made to the perp...

[Medicine Man]

A disturbing false analogy that is widely believed.

[oofda]

Concur- no way that Chuck shold be the next Democrat minority leader. Senator Murray would an excellent choice

[different clue]

Matthew,

I am not sure if Republican unanimity against Iran Agreement indicates cowardice. I suspect it shows that the Republican Senators put Party ahead of country, and hatred (for Obama) ahead of Party, and pure jealous envious spite over and above every single other thing.

[different clue]

William R. Cumming,

I would prefer Murray over Schumer or Menendez due to her pro-Agreement position.

But since she is one of very few Democratic Senators who supports Obama's TTP and TTIP Free Trade Agreements, and since she voted FOR every relevant Fast Track-related vote for Obama's TTP, I would rather see a pro-IranDeal Democrat who was also aGAINST TTP/TTIP become the Minority Leader.

[different clue]

A. Pols,

Most people-in-the-street get their info/input from the MSM or from friends, family and neighbors who get their input from the MSM. Very few folk-in-the-street read SST or even Prof. Cole's Informed Comment.

But what is the Senators' excuse? Given that they have all the access they want to all the information there is?

[rkka]

To my knowledge, no Republican has ever voted for anything Obama wanted.

Clinton got precisely the same treatment.

[JerseyJeffersonian]

Different Clue,

Exactly. Once the deal is done with Iran (and don't forget, all of the other participants in the negotiation/signing process), hopefully it will stick.

But the ongoing assault on national sovereignty embodied in these "Free Trade Agreements" (ISDS mechanisms chief among them), while temporarily in abeyance due to the failure to agree the TTP treaty, will continue to present a problem, as they are a central goal of the NeoLiberal Transnational Elites. We need a guardian at the gates in the Senate who is not onboard with all of this Fast Track hooey.

Eyes on the prize...

Regards to all,
JerseyJeffersonian

[Jose]

Hey, more money for the GOP!!!!

[Imagine]

Very bad optics. A group of 190 retired U.S. Generals and Admirals have signed an open letter to Congress calling for the tanking of the Iranian deal.
http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/documents/world/read-an-open-letter-from-retired-generals-and-admirals-opposing-the-iran-nuclear-deal/1703/

1. Any way that a different group of retired intelligent strategists could propose a counter?

2. How the heck can so many brass come out for a plan that favors a dangerous rogue nuclear state that poses a real and present threat to America, its wellbeing and sovereignty?

[Imagine]

Gen. Paul Vallely: Iran Already Has Nuke, Making Deal 'Moot'
http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/paul-vallely-iran-has-nuclear/2015/08/27/id/672307/

[Laura Wilson]

Matthew--

"Brave souls" does not equal GOP. There are none...they may not even have souls.

[William R. Cumming]

The Senate and House have been on a six-week long recess. When they return another budget crisis for FY 2016 looms by the end of September.

The legislative calendar looks like Free Trade Agreements will bow to another budget crisis and the Iran deal for now.

[DC]

This story reveals, yet again, that the Republican party is simply not functioning according to Federalist principles, and therefore is harming the body politic as a whole. With respect to the big picture in electoral politics, the effect of the "Trump Factor" may end up doing the republic a gigantic favor: by destroying (at least temporarily) the subversive effect of the "big donors" on local Republican politics, as well as playing a nice foil against the rolling HRC machine. The way its looking now, Trump will have to be kicked aside during the Republican national convention; the spectacle will not be a pretty one for all (especially his fans) to see.

[SAC Brat]

The Republicans were gung ho for TPP fast track. That must have made it truly rancid.

[robt willmann]

The projected vote count is a cause for optimism, and I think the agreement with Iran will not be blocked, but the opera is not over until the fat lady sings.

A "rally" is scheduled for 9 September 2015 in Washington DC, against the Iran deal. The sponsors -- at least those publicly revealed -- are said to be the Tea Party Patriots, the Center for Security Policy, and the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA). Senator Ted Cruz, and now Donald Trump, are going to appear and move their jaws around--

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2015/08/27/ted-cruz-seeks-to-team-up-with-donald-trump-at-iran-rally/

http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/27/politics/donald-trump-ted-cruz-iran-rally/index.html?eref=rss_politics

The tea party people are getting used and abused again.

The bloom is off the rose on Ted Cruz, but more on that later, because today is the start of Texas High School Football Season (a proper noun, capitalized), and so there is not much spare time.

[Diogenes]

Let's do some quality check on the list of 190 retired flag officers:

1. Admiral Richard Macke, then the head of Pacific Command, was ousted after telling reporters over breakfast that sailors and Marines who beat and raped a 12-year-old Japanese girl should have hired a prostitute instead of paying for the car they rented and used in the crime.
2. LtGen William G. “Jerry” Boykin was military head of counter terror warfare under Rumsfeld & Bush known for speaking in uniform to churches declaring that radical Islamists hated the United States "because we're a Christian nation, because our foundation and our roots are Judeo-Christian ... and the enemy is a guy named Satan."
3. LtGen McInerney Fox news paid terror monger who called for raising the DEFCON Level #1 before Sep 11, 2014 because of an existential terrorist threat to US http://www.redstate.com/2014/08/24/lt-general-calls-defcon-1-isis-911-threat/
4. VAdm John Poindexter who was convicted during Iran-Contra scandal on 5 counts of lying to Congress but conviction was reverse on appeal because they depended on testimony for which Congress had provided prior immunity.
5. MGen Richard Secord was the only military member convicted of lying to Congress in Iran-Contra who was sentenced: "The Grand Jury in April 1989 charged Secord with nine additional felonies as a result of his false testimony before Congress in 1987...Secord pled guilty to one felony count of false statements to Congress and on 24th January, 1990 he was sentenced to two years probation."
6. MGen Paul Vallely who has called for the immediate arrest of the President of the United States, Barrack Obama, for treason--he cites Obama’s disgraceful response to the Benghazi tragedy and then says, “We know he’s a radical Islamic sympathizer. He sympathizes with the Muslim Brotherhood.”
7. Large number of flag officers signing the letter against the Iran agreement have been treated to expense paid VIP tours of Israel through JINSA http://www.jinsa.org/programs/about-jinsas-generals-and-admirals-program-israel

You should be getting the idea by now...

[Liza]

Col.Lang:

The Netanyahu cartoon that you used also drew the attention of the Swiss ambassador to Iran. He showed the cartoon at a meeting of Iranian and Swiss businessmen. The Swiss foreign ministry has apologized, apparently anticipating that Netanyahu will not be amused.

http://m.sputniknews.com/middleeast/20150828/1026320054/switzerland-iran-netanyahu-cartoon.html

[Imagine]

yes, but it *looks* very bad. The facts have never had anything to do with the truthiness of this affair for the past 14 years. No one has time to do the research to see behind the furiously-cranking wizard's curtain, and get it thru the Senators' heads.