Cutting Through the Liberal Nonsense About the Logan Act and the GOP Open Letter to Iran's Despots

[mikegriffith1]

In their usual display of historical and constitutional illiteracy, some liberals are claiming that the 47 GOP Senators' open letter to Iran's terrorist-backing, Holocaust-denying despots somehow violates an obscure law known as the Logan Act. Liberals aren't upset about Obama's dangerously foolish drive to lift the sanctions on Iran and to allow Iran's fanatical leaders to get nuke weapons. No, they're outraged over the GOP letter to Iran.

The articles below point out that the Logan Act does not apply to U.S. Senators, since, among other reasons, they constitute part of "the authority of the United States." The articles also note that the Logan Act is of doubtful constitutionality, that it has never been enforced, and that it was passed by the same authoritarian-minded Federalist-controlled Congress that passed the brazenly unconstitutional Alien and Sedition Acts.

Liberals did not utter one word about the Logan Act when Jane Fonda went to North Vietnam during the Vietnam War and attacked the U.S. war effort, posed with a NV artillery gun, and betrayed U.S. POWs. Nor did liberals invoke the Logan Act when Nancy Pelosi visited Syria to chat with Assad, or when Democratic Senators visited the Soviet Union and other nations and made known their opposition to Reagan's foreign policy (Ted Kennedy even wrote a private letter to Soviet leaders condemning Reagan), or when Jim Wright and other Democrats wrote a "Dear Colleague" letter to Nicaragua's dictator Daniel Ortega in opposition to Reagan's foreign policy, etc., etc. Nope, not one peep from liberals about the Logan Act on those occasions.

Anyway, here are the articles:

Why Tom Cotton's Letter Did Not Violate the Logan Act

The Logan Act is Not a Friend to Liberalism

Conducting Foreign Relations Without Authority: The Logan Act (a 2006 article by the very liberal Federation of American Scientists)

"Sedition" and the Iran Letter

Democrats Who "Violated the Logan Act"

The Logan Act Talking Point

And it's worth noting that the Republican Senators might not have felt the need to write the open letter if Obama were not making the absurd and unprecedented claim that he can make a nuclear arms deal with Iran without the Senate's consent.

 

[mikegriffith1]

More articles on the Logan Act and the invalid liberal claim that the 47 GOP Senators somehow violated it when they wrote an open letter to Iran's mullahs.

Liberals Enough With Your Logan Act Histrionics - Matt Vespa

Did Speaker Boehner and the Republican senators violate the Logan Act - The Washington Post

Did The Left Scream Treason When Jimmy Carter And Jesse Jackson Lobbied Foreign Governments Against U.S. Positions Weasel Zippers

Did Obama Violate the Logan Act During His Iraq Visit (a very interesting article that makes a credible case that Senator Obama did in fact violate the Logan Act in 2008)

No Republicans Did Not Commit Treason Or Violate The Logan Act - Hardhatters

 

[Bfgrn]

So, what liberals did was traitorous, and what 47 Republican Senators did was patriotic...

 

[williepete]

I found it interesting in the National Review link that no one has ever been convicted using the Logan Act and not only was Logan not convicted, he went on to win a Senate seat.

"In a widely cited analysis, American University’s Steve Vladeck has proposed both that the act is “unconstitutionally vague” and that it would be “unlikely to survive the far stricter standards contemporary courts place on such content-based restrictions on speech.” Brazile’s bluster to one side, it is no accident that, in its entire 216-year existence, the measure has never been used to convict anyone. It will not be used in 2015."

Read more at: National Review

 

[Wildman]

47 Republican Senators did was patriotic...

now you are beginning to get a firm grasp on reality and legality.

 

[mikegriffith1]

So, what liberals did was traitorous, and what 47 Republican Senators did was patriotic...

Sigh. . . . Really? That's your response? Did you even read any of the links? Did you not note the differences between the cases in question? And did you miss the point that the Logan Act is of doubtful constitutionality, that it has never been enforced, and that it was passed by the same authoritarian-minded Federalist-controlled Congress that passed the infamous and brazenly unconstitutional Alien and Sedition Acts?

I mean, really, did any of you guys ever take a basic logic or critical thinking class in college (assuming you went to college)?

Why can't you just look at the facts and say, "Ok, this argument about the GOP letter violating the Logan Act is clearly rabid partisan nonsense"? I've called out several partisan conservative arguments as invalid, but I have yet to see a single liberal on this board do the same with regard to clearly bogus partisan liberal arguments.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

Sedition: conduct or speech inciting people to rebel against the authority of a state or monarch.

 

[Bfgrn]

So, what liberals did was traitorous, and what 47 Republican Senators did was patriotic...

Sigh. . . . Really? That's your response? Did you even read any of the links? Did you not note the differences between the cases in question? And did you miss the point that the Logan Act is of doubtful constitutionality, that it has never been enforced, and that it was passed by the same authoritarian-minded Federalist-controlled Congress that passed the infamous and brazenly unconstitutional Alien and Sedition Acts?

I mean, really, did any of you guys ever take a basic logic or critical thinking class in college (assuming you went to college)?

Why can't you just look at the facts and say, "Ok, this argument about the GOP letter violating the Logan Act is clearly rabid partisan nonsense"? I've called out several partisan conservative arguments as invalid, but I have yet to see a single liberal on this board do the same with regard to clearly bogus partisan liberal arguments.

I never said it violated the "Logan Act"...not a single Constitutional Law professor said it violated the "Logan Act"...it is internet "click bait"...

You prefer to deflect criticism of 47 Republicans whose hatred for the President of the United States trumps following the oath they swore.

So answer the question

 

[occupied]

It was a shitty backstabbing underhanded thing to do that strengthened the Iranian position that WE are not to be trusted in a deal. No one can deny that.

 

[jknowgood]

It was a shitty backstabbing underhanded thing to do that strengthened the Iranian position that WE are not to be trusted in a deal. No one can deny that.

Obama has proven he is not trustworthy. He cannot tell the truth even if it won't hurt him. He will still lie.

 

[Bfgrn]

47 Republican Senators did was patriotic...

now you are beginning to get a firm grasp on reality and legality.

Yes I am, you are a partisan hack and a pea brain...

 

[The2ndAmendment]

You prefer to deflect criticism of 47 Republicans whose hatred for the President of the United States trumps following the oath they swore.

So answer the question

They don't swear an Oath to the President of the United States, they swear an Oath to the Constitution of the United States you dumb ****.

And that Constitution gives the US Senate AUTHORITY in foreign affairs. It's outrageous that Obama would simply ignore them when their Consent is required for all foreign treaties and agreements.

You shouldn't be worried though, your boy king will probably pass an executive order to accomplish his foreign policy without the Senate, just like he's doing with the UN firearms treaties.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

It was a shitty backstabbing underhanded thing to do that strengthened the Iranian position that WE are not to be trusted in a deal. No one can deny that.

Obama has proven he is not trustworthy. He cannot tell the truth even if it won't hurt him. He will still lie.

Quit trying to change the subject. It was those senators who proved they cannot be trusted to uphold the oath they signed.

 

[occupied]

It was a shitty backstabbing underhanded thing to do that strengthened the Iranian position that WE are not to be trusted in a deal. No one can deny that.

Obama has proven he is not trustworthy. He cannot tell the truth even if it won't hurt him. He will still lie.

Don't blame this shit on Obama, the topic concerns the actions of the republicans who signed that letter. They attempted to sabotage delicate negotiations our president was carrying out as part of his duties on behalf of a foreign government (Israel). You just cannot dress that up as anything noble.

 

[Bfgrn]

Lawrence The 47 senators are not traitors MSNBC

 

[Darkwind]

It was a shitty backstabbing underhanded thing to do that strengthened the Iranian position that WE are not to be trusted in a deal. No one can deny that.

Obama has proven he is not trustworthy. He cannot tell the truth even if it won't hurt him. He will still lie.

Don't blame this shit on Obama, the topic concerns the actions of the republicans who signed that letter. They attempted to sabotage delicate negotiations our president was carrying out as part of his duties on behalf of a foreign government (Israel). You just cannot dress that up as anything noble.

Stating common knowledge is NOT sabotage and they did nothing of the sort. At least they didn't fly to Iran and sit down with their leaders and speak against the sitting President, as Pelosi did, eh?

Sometimes you clowns need a reminder that the power of the Presidency is limited and the world needs to understand, we have three CO-EQUAL branches of government, that they have to deal with when it comes to treaties and international deals.

 

[jknowgood]

It was a shitty backstabbing underhanded thing to do that strengthened the Iranian position that WE are not to be trusted in a deal. No one can deny that.

Obama has proven he is not trustworthy. He cannot tell the truth even if it won't hurt him. He will still lie.

Quit trying to change the subject. It was those senators who proved they cannot be trusted to uphold the oath they signed.

Obama is the one making the deal. Everyone knows he cannot tell the truth. No matter what, so he needs to be stopped until everyone is in on the negotiating.

 

[Bfgrn]

You prefer to deflect criticism of 47 Republicans whose hatred for the President of the United States trumps following the oath they swore.

So answer the question

They don't swear an Oath to the President of the United States, they swear an Oath to the Constitution of the United States you dumb ****.

And that Constitution gives the US Senate AUTHORITY in foreign affairs. It's outrageous that Obama would simply ignore them when their Consent is required for all foreign treaties and agreements.

You shouldn't be worried though, your boy king will probably pass an executive order to accomplish his foreign policy without the Senate, just like he's doing with the UN firearms treaties.

Pea brains like you and the pea brain Senate Republicans need a civics lesson, “It’s the Republican senators who signed the letter – including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and potential presidential candidates Ted Cruz of Texas, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Marco Rubio of Florida – who could use a remedial civics class. The Constitution gives the president broad authority to conduct foreign policy. The Senate’s “advise and consent” role covers formal treaties. The potential deal on Iran’s nuclear weapons program is not a treaty. It is a multinational agreement that involves Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia, as well as the United States and Iran.”

 

[Vigilante]

The HYPOCRISY of the subversives is MONUMENTAL..... Kerry did EXACTLY the same thing, even WORSE by going DIRECTLY to Nicaragua to cut deals and skipping the presidency completely!.....Watch and learn DemocRATS, then STFU you fools!

 

[Bfgrn]

It was a shitty backstabbing underhanded thing to do that strengthened the Iranian position that WE are not to be trusted in a deal. No one can deny that.

Obama has proven he is not trustworthy. He cannot tell the truth even if it won't hurt him. He will still lie.

Don't blame this shit on Obama, the topic concerns the actions of the republicans who signed that letter. They attempted to sabotage delicate negotiations our president was carrying out as part of his duties on behalf of a foreign government (Israel). You just cannot dress that up as anything noble.

Stating common knowledge is NOT sabotage and they did nothing of the sort. At least they didn't fly to Iran and sit down with their leaders and speak against the sitting President, as Pelosi did, eh?

Sometimes you clowns need a reminder that the power of the Presidency is limited and the world needs to understand, we have three CO-EQUAL branches of government, that they have to deal with when it comes to treaties and international deals.

CLOWNS like you and the pea brain Senate Republicans need a civics lesson, “It’s the Republican senators who signed the letter – including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and potential presidential candidates Ted Cruz of Texas, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Marco Rubio of Florida – who could use a remedial civics class. The Constitution gives the president broad authority to conduct foreign policy. The Senate’s “advise and consent” role covers formal treaties. The potential deal on Iran’s nuclear weapons program is not a treaty. It is a multinational agreement that involves Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia, as well as the United States and Iran.”