Sen. Schumer and 7 other Democrats are making a terrible choice siding with GOP on Iran bill

[UCmeNdc]

Chuck Schumer, the expected replacement as top Senate Democrat when Harry Reid retires at the end of his term, has made a big splash in the past few days by saying he supports a bill designed to give Congress the clout to wreck a deal with Iran. He is not, of course, the only Democrat backing the Corker-Menendez bill, S. 615, the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015. Since March 26, when Schumer quietly signed on as the latest of eight Democratic co-sponsors of the bill, it's had 21 co-sponsors, including one independent, Sen. Angus King of Maine.


http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/04/07/1375968/-Sen-Schumer-and-seven-other-Democrats-are-making-a-terrible-choice-on-Iran-bill?detail=email


What is wrong with these guys?

[leveymg]

1. What is wrong with them: AIPAC. Here are the 21 Bill cosponsors:

https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/615/all-info#cosponsors
Cosponsor Date Cosponsored
Sen. Menendez, Robert [D-NJ]* 02/27/2015
Sen. Graham, Lindsey [R-SC]* 02/27/2015
Sen. Kaine, Tim [D-VA]* 02/27/2015
Sen. McCain, John [R-AZ]* 02/27/2015
Sen. Donnelly, Joe [D-IN]* 02/27/2015
Sen. Rubio, Marco [R-FL]* 02/27/2015
Sen. Heitkamp, Heidi [D-ND]* 02/27/2015
Sen. Ayotte, Kelly [R-NH]* 02/27/2015
Sen. Nelson, Bill [D-FL]* 02/27/2015
Sen. Risch, James E. [R-ID]* 02/27/2015
Sen. King, Angus S., Jr. [I-ME]* 02/27/2015
Sen. Paul, Rand [R-KY] 03/03/2015
Sen. Collins, Susan M. [R-ME] 03/09/2015
Sen. Bennet, Michael F. [D-CO] 03/10/2015
Sen. Rounds, Mike [R-SD] 03/10/2015
Sen. Blumenthal, Richard [D-CT] 03/17/2015
Sen. Alexander, Lamar [R-TN] 03/17/2015
Sen. Murkowski, Lisa [R-AK] 03/19/2015
Sen. Heller, Dean [R-NV] 03/24/2015
Sen. Schumer, Charles E. [D-NY] 03/26/2015
Sen. Sasse, Ben [R-NE] 03/26/2015

[Arkana]

3. It warms my heart to see no evidence of Sens. Warren or Markey on that list.

[Cal33]

19. In fact, Hillary, Elizabeth and Bernie are all for the Obama, Kerry and European nations'

negotiating with Iran. Please read the item just written in this forum, asking members'
support by signing the petition.

[Blue_In_AK]

44. Murkowski, one step forward, two steps back.

I've suspected that she and Alaska junior senator Dan Sullivan are playing good cop, bad cop. He famously signed the Cotton letter, while she didn't, gaining applause here; now she signs onto this, and he doesn't. I miss Mark Begich.

[earthside]

2. 'My' Senator among them.

Michael Bennet of Colorado.

Bennet also opposed Pres. Obama on Keystone.

We really do have like two Repuglican U.S. Senators from Colorado now.

Bennet is up for reelection next year and is running to the right as fast as he can, which unfortunately is not that far a distance in the first place.

Not to be surprised, however, Bennet is a former employee and associate of Phil Anschutz.

Other Democrats supporting Corker-Menendez bill S. 615: Tim Kaine (Va.), Joe Donnelly (Ind.), Bill Nelson (Fla.), Michael Bennet (Colo.), Richard Blumenthal (Conn.) and Bob Menendez (NJ)

[olegramps]

10. I agree with your assessment of our senators. Both corporate Repuks.

[QuestionAlways]

15. Not surprising, most of these are from states with

large or important Jewish populations. For these Senators it is a matter of survival. I may not like it, but I understand it. We have to remember there is not one democratic party, but rather 50 state democratic parties.

[qwlauren35]

16. Interesting about Jewish Populations

Maryland has a reasonably large Jewish population but Mikulski (retiring) and Cardin aren't on the list. Thank God.

I'd be doing some letter writing, calling and petitioning if I thought they'd screw the president like that.

[Behind the Aegis]

17. Also interesting is how that population is "blamed" for the situation.

If it is the "Jews", then it certainly doesn't explain the other Senators' choice to move this POS legislation forward. It is also "interesting" how it is only 'certain' Senators are accused of "fealty to Likud". What about the others? Some things never change.

[QuestionAlways]

23. I am not blaming Jewish people for this

but as a former New Yorker I know they tend to be more active in politics then most people, and I respect them for that. Most of them also tend to be on the left politically, and I think that is good. Most of them support a two state solution for the sake of peace there. But they will always support, no matter what their personal feelings, the official position of the Israeli government when it comes to the security of Israel. The Holocaust is very real to them which means a Jewish homeland is very important. And their Representatives in congress will tend to reflect that.

[villager]

29. Could you be a little more patronizing, perhaps?

No "they" (meaning "we" in my case) do not "always support, no matter their personal feelings, the official position of the Israeli government."

Horseshit!

Especially not when that government is being (mis)"lead" by Likud.

And neither of my two Jewish Senators -- who have a large, active Jewish population in L.A. as part of their base -- is on that list.

[DeadLetterOffice]

33. +1

This Jewish New Yorker agrees with neither my senator nor the Israeli government.

[villager]

34. One of the progressive Achilles' Heels is feeling free to ascribe monolithic traits to Jews

Though they wouldn't do such "otherizing" to any other group.

[QuestionAlways]

35. Sorry if I offended you, I apologize

I am just speaking from my own experience from discussions I have had with friends who happen to be Jewish. I did not understand why they believed what they believed. I should not have generalized based on a few discussions, but all my friends were in agreement.

[villager]

36. Ok. But that was just your own personal sample. Not "all Jews."

Indeed, the crazier Bibi, Likud, and their policies get, the more "daylight" continues to grow between what (many) American Jews support, and what the Israeli right supports.

[Behind the Aegis]

37. You were doing so well, right up until...

"But they will always support, no matter what their personal feelings, the official position of the Israeli government when it comes to the security of Israel."

Wrong! Many Jews do not blindly support Israeli positions, even those of us who are "pro-Israel" and Zionists. As others have already pointed out, you are making generalizations based on your own experience, but it does not reflect reality. American Jews are Americans. The concept of "dual loyalty" is a long standing anti-Semitic meme.

[QuestionAlways]

42. Point well taken

Perhaps it is because I am in my 60's and my friends are of the same age group. Whatever actions Bibi takes, they are behind 100%

[LeftishBrit]

20. Not really

Schumer comes from a state with a large Jewish population, but most of the signers don't. In Indiana, 0.3% of the population are Jews; in North Dakota, 0.1%. By contrast, Massachusetts and Maryland have 4% Jewish populations, and don't appear to be represented among the signers.

Looking at the list, what the Democratic signers do seem mostly to have in common - Schumer again being an exception - is that they come from 'red' states, or at least states that are not reliably 'blue'; that in most cases, the other senator from their state is a Republican; and that they thus do not have safe seats. (In Menendez' case, his seat is unsafe for a different reason: I understand that there are criminal proceedings against him!) I would guess that their real problem is that they are trimming to the Right in case some Republican hawk comes along and defeats them at the next election for being too 'soft'.

The Jewish vote in American elections is generally overwhelmingly Democratic, in any case.

[Smithryee]

26. Excuse me, but Colorado is not a red state.

It's a blue state, shaded with a little bit of purple.

[villager]

30. Then please quit sending shitheads to the Senate.

Thanks.

[Smithryee]

31. First, we need to get rid of Bennett

as he is responsible, as a chairman of the DSCC, of the 2014 election losses.

That's the first step. We don't normally send shitheads to the Senate...

[villager]

32. Well, Ben "Nightmare" Campbell, anyone?

Not only a shithead -- a Trojan Horse!

Your "blue" officials need to be... actually blue! (And I know it's a long haul. Good luck and keep fighting!)

[LeftishBrit]

38. I said red *or* not reliably blue

According to what I looked up, Colorado voted for Bush both times, and Obama both times; and has one Democratic and one Republican senator. I wasn't saying that it was super-Republican, just not somewhere where a Dem senator has an automatic safe seat.

I wasn't intending to insult your state. People who live in the Oxford West and Abingdon constituency post-2010 don't get the right to insult anybody else's constituency!

[Smithryee]

25. That ass needs to be primaried..

I was thinking about drafting Morgan Carroll or even Jared Polis. Actually, now thinking about it, Jared Polis is a better fit, and he can self-fund if necessary, but hopefully won't have to.

[Chan790]

43. Disappointing. I'll have to call Blumenthal on Monday to voice my opposition to Corker-Menendez.

He's usually pretty good about listening to constituents. I hope I can change his mind on supporting a bill that will march us to war when he ran against the reckless warmongering and fiscal irresponsibility of the GOP; he's also a former Marine so he should know better than to support legislation that sends us into needless wars.

[Robbins]

4. Schumer

He has sided with GOP on iran.He cares more about neocons In Israel than the democratic president In white house.

Back In 2006 when lieberman lost primary and both obama and Hillary accepted it he wanted to continue supporting lieberman.

Schumer as democratic leader In senate would be disaster.He has proven he is a DINO.Democrat In name only.He makes Hillary look like a mainstream dem to liberals not wild on her.

We have a chance for peace and he wants to wreck It.

[djean111]

5. This is the new Democratic Party. And we are supposed to vote for it, of course.

[geek tragedy]

6. No, they are not the Democratic party.

Vast majority of Democrats--and of course the President himself--oppose this legislation and want to pursue a diplomatic solution.

They are fringe outliers--conservaDems and LieberDems.

[djean111]

8. IMO there are more and more of them - and we are told we MUST vote for them.

[geek tragedy]

9. I would say fewer and fewer.

The 'Scoop Jackson' Democrats have always been a problem. LBJ was the biggest US warmonger in the 2nd half of the 20th century.

[summerschild]

7. Schumer makes me sick. So do all these other warmongers.

I voted for Obama twice hoping to get out of wars everywhere, since he condemned stupid wars and I never saw one that wasn't stupid. I specifically and explicitly voted AGAINST Hillary Clinton because she was a hawk.

Now look what we've got.

[Cosmocat]

11. THIS is why I say the Democratic Party is useless

This is a repeat of the AHCA.

They SHOULD have championed that. Said it was not perfect, but better than what we had, screamed about the positives and relentlessly hammered the republicans for not having any ideas. Not given them a inch on it.

Instead, they cowered in the corner and let the republicans run with it and got their asses handed to them in 2010.

This is like the letter to Iran - that was a political no brainer, cause those morons were THAT wrong about it. They had the fucking high ground and never even TRIED to walk up on top of it, much less make hay with it.

This is a good deal, flat out. AND, it is the right thing with no equivocation.

All democrats should be behind this, and slamming the shit out of republicans for war mongering and open sedition.

This party is beyond useless. The republicans treat EVERYTHING, I mean this president chewing gum even, as a moment to go to DEFCON 1.

Democrats have been at DEFCON 5 for almost a decade now, outside of mustering up just enough energy to get this president elected twice.

As for Shumer, this asshate voted for the IWR.

IF this party was not worthless, the other senators and party would hold that over his head and beat him mercilessly and make it clear if he does not change his position here, he will not be the party leader in the senate.

Fat fucking chance.

[66 dmhlt]

12. Any Sen. showing more fealty to Likud than America is UNFIT to be a pary leader

Simple as that.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

13. Reid needs to shut this down ASAP

He's not out of the Senate until 2017. He and Durbin need to start cracking the whip a bit IMHO. I'm going to get on my Senator ASAP (Donnelly)

[MBS]

18. + 100 n/t

[ancianita]

22. Durbin? He can't whip cream.

[karynnj]

40. He actually has been a good whip

How many times in the years where we had control did we not have the numbers when Reid called a vote - other than when we KNEW that would be the case and we did so anyway.

I remember that it was Durbin, backed by Kerry, who argued strongly that the Democrats should vote on not extending the tax cuts for those with high incomes BEFORE the 2010 elections , while allowing extension for some period for the rest. (They even agreed to Schumer's higher threshold) This was an issue where more people agreed with us -- and it was Reid and Schumer and others who decided it could give Democrats (?) a tough vote.

In fact, it could have better focused who each party stood with.

[karynnj]

39. It would seem that Lugar signing a letter calling for no legislation until June might help with him

At minimum it gives him cover and I would imagine that Lugar is a big deal on foreign policy - especially in Indians - where he lost in the primaries - not in the general election.

link to thread on letter - http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026479445

[world wide wally]

14. How can they possibly consider this asshole for Democratic Senate leader?

Why are the Dems deserting us?

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

28. It's 'his turn'.

There's a lot of entitlement floating around in DC and those who want to run things.

[Myrina]

21. Agred.

n/t

[Smithryee]

24. My idiot Dem Senator is backing Schumer

and he's about to get his ass booted out in '16 - via a primary.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

27. "Chuck Schumer, the expected replacement as top Senate Democrat when Harry Reid retires"

Bad choice. I hope the other Dem Senators who aren't part of the seven are taking note of this, and reconsidering their votes for Schumer for minority leader.

[UCmeNdc]

41. Schummer is a fool for the Republicans.