Amazing

Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Even after everything we’ve seen, I was surprised that Tom Cotton was able to get almost the entire Republican Senate caucus to sign on to his letter advising Iranian hardliners to walk away from a bargain with President Obama and the other world leaders involved in the Iranian nuclear negotiations. But it’s almost more amazing to me how many of them are surprised this may not have been a good idea. Sen. Ron Johnson is the latest to try to distance himself from the letter he signed.

Here was John McCain’s take: “It was kind of a very rapid process. Everybody was looking forward to getting out of town because of the snowstorm. I think we probably should have had more discussion about it, given the blowback that there is.”

I mean, ya think?

These are weird times. First you have the Netanyahu speech — which in Israel now seems to have been either a political non-event and perhaps even a negative. Now you have the letter. What kind of bubble are these folks in?

One might say, “Since your views are on the other side, perhaps you’re in a bubble too?” And perhaps so. But there’s an objective bubble-ness if you do something that is essentially unprecedented in all of American history — in a rush out the door because of a snow storm — and then are surprised that the reaction is pretty intense.

How is this surprising? And why did they all sign?

Latest Editors' Blog
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: