Speaking to Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) about his recent letter to the leadership of Iran, Face the Nation moderator Bob Schieffer provocatively asked his guest “do you plan to check with the North Koreans to make sure that they know that any deal has to be approved by the Congress?”
Throughout the interview, the CBS host repeatedly hit Cotton from the left over his decision to write a letter signed by him and 46 other Senate Republicans to the Iranian leadership warning them that any nuclear agreement will not have the force of law without approval from Congress.
Schieffer then wondered why Cotton chose to directly write to the leadership in Iran, comparing the letter to nothing more than an op-ed in an American newspaper:
Why did you decide to try to convince the Iranians that they needed to be weary of dealing with the United States why not take your argument to the American people? Why didn't you write open letter in the New York Times or something?
Despite Schieffer's objections, Cotton insisted that "Iran's leaders needed to hear the message loud and clear. I can tell you they are not hearing that message from Geneva."
The CBS host continued to channel liberal objections to the GOP letter, specifically those of former Secretary of State Madeline Albright:
[F]ormer Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told our local affiliate here WUSA that what you did was akin to during the Cuban Missile Crisis if a senator had called Nikita Khrushchev and told him he couldn't be certain that President Kennedy could back up any deal he made with him, do you see a comparison there?
While the CBS host was quick to tout the former Clinton official’s condemnation of Cotton, he failed to mention that numerous members of the Democratic Party have spoken to world leaders to lobby against official U.S. foreign policy. In fact, Former Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy actually wrote a letter to Yuri Andropov, former General Secretary of the Soviet Union, seeking to obstruct negotiations between President Reagan and the Russians.
Instead of acknowledging that Cotton’s actions towards Iran do have precedent, the CBS host concluded the interview by asking “do you feel that you have not weakened the president's hand here and do you have any regrets about the way you went about this?”
For his part, Cotton shot back and pointed out in the past, presidents have used skepticism from an opposing political party to actually gain leverage from a foreign adversary rather than offer up concessions:
When past senators like Joe Biden or Jessie Hems communicated directly with foreign leaders, past presidents like Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton did just that. The fact that President Obama doesn't see this letter as a way to get more leverage at the negotiating table just underscores that he is not negotiating for the hardest deal possible. He's negotiating a deal that is going to put Iran on the path the to a bomb if not today or tomorrow then ten years from now.
See relevant transcript below.
CBS’s Face the Nation
March 15, 2015
BOB SCHIEFFER: Well, Senator, it’s not exactly news to say that the Congress can pass laws to change whatever laws or agreements there are on the books. But why did you decide to try to convince the Iranians that they needed to be wary of dealing with the United States why not take your argument to the American people? Why didn't you write open letter in the New York Times or something?
TOM COTTON: Iran's leaders needed to hear the message loud and clear. I can tell you they are not hearing that message from Geneva. In fact, if you look at the response of the Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, it underscores the need for the letter in the first place because he made it clear that he does not understand our constitutional system. He thinks that international law can override our constitution.
SCHIEFFER: Well, Senator, are you planning to contact any other of our adversaries around the country, for example, do you plan to check with the North Koreans to make sure that they know that any deal has to be approved by the Congress?
COTTON: Bob, right now, I and most every other senator wants to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. That’s why it’s so important that we communicated this message straight to Iran because they're not hearing from Geneva. And remember this is not parliamentary democracy. The Islamic Revolution of Iran has been killing Americans, hundreds of Americans for 35 years in Iraq and Lebanon and Saudi Arabia. They killed Jews around the world from Israel to Bulgaria to Argentina.
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SCHIEFFER: Earlier today, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told our local affiliate here WUSA that what you did was akin to during the Cuban Missile Crisis if a senator had called Nikita Khrushchev and told him he couldn't be certain that President Kennedy could back up any deal he made with him, do you see a comparison there?
COTTON: No. I would disagree. And Secretary Albright was part of the Clinton administration that entered into the fundamentally flawed framework with North Korea. But more fundamentally what we did was to send a clear message to a dictatorial regime, we didn't coddle or conciliate with the dictators in Iran. We told them that the American people, 71% of the American people in a recent poll will not accept the deal that puts Iran on the path to a nuclear weapon. 71% of the American people are right, and that’s for whom we're speaking.
SCHIEFFER: What do you want to happen here? What is your alternative here? Let's say that the deal falls through, then what?
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SCHIEFFER: I just want to make sure, do you feel that you have not weakened the president's hand here and do you have any regrets about the way you went about this?
COTTON: No regrets at all. And if the president and the Secretary of State were intent on driving a hard bargain, they would be able to point to this letter and say, they're right, as Secretary Kerry said on Wednesday in his Senate testimony, any lasting deal needs to be approved by Congress. When past senators like Joe Biden or Jessie Hems communicated directly with foreign leaders, past presidents like Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton did just that. The fact that President Obama doesn't see this letter as a way to get more leverage at the negotiating table just underscores that he is not negotiating for the hardest deal possible. He's negotiating a deal that is going to put Iran on the path the to a bomb if not today or tomorrow then ten years from now.
