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Cotton and Rubio’s Own Goal

Iran hawks seem to specialize in using the most counterproductive and ham-fisted tactics.

Tom Cotton and Marco Rubio’s attempt to stuff the Corker-Cardin Iran bill with irrelevant and ridiculous amendments appears to have failed:

Many Republicans are ready to rebuff freshman Sens. Tom Cotton and Marco Rubio, who have offered measures that could upturn a broadly popular Iran nuclear review bill. They say Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has no choice but to leave behind scores of other GOP amendments, which still frustrates many who wanted to add their voice to the process [bold mine-DL].

The inept display that Cotton and Rubio have put on recently deserves a few more comments. Like other stunts that Iran hawks have tried in the last two months, the amendment gambit backfired spectacularly. Cotton and Rubio did not get to have votes on their amendments, which they were always unlikely to get because of the absurdity of those amendments. Because they tried to force the issue with a procedural maneuver, they have also ended up shutting out most of their colleagues that wanted to have their own amendments considered. The bill they were so desperately trying to sink will go ahead anyway, and contrary to their own purpose they may have actually expedited its passage without any changes. Corker-Cardin is an unnecessary piece of legislation that could still create problems for a nuclear deal later on, but if it has to be passed it is much better that it doesn’t contain any of the changes that Iran hawks wanted to make to it.

These Iran hawks seem to specialize in using the most counterproductive and ham-fisted tactics. Whether it was the invitation to Netanyahu or the obnoxious Iran letter, Republican hawks in particular have been finding new ways to drive skeptical Democrats into the White House’s camp. Now Cotton and Rubio are losing the support of their own Republican colleagues as well. Each attempt that the saboteurs have made to derail the deal with Iran has made a deal more likely to be completed and they have made it less likely that Congress can undermine the talks. Give Cotton and Rubio credit for scoring another timely own goal.

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