On that letter to Iran
I believe the blatant disrespect of the current administration by Sen. Tom Cotton emphasizes his inept attempt at grandstanding and has racist overtones. It is one matter to disagree with President Barack Obama, but to send correspondence to warn another country of impending negotiations with this country is disrespectful and unpatriotic.
We are aware he apparently is a puppet for the Koch regime. His every strategic move since election has been attempts to upstage the president and ridicule his policies.
It is obvious his “home training” is as oblivious to him as my respect for the “Southern confederacy.”
Nationalism does not trump morality. He can play the white supremacy card, but there will be reciprocity.
However, a lion never loses sleep over the opinions of sheep.
DEBORAH SPRINGER SUTTLAR
Little Rock
It changed my mind
I’ve been voting for 45 years. Voted for Reagan, Clinton, Bush and Obama; always the best candidate that I believed in. Been thinking of voting for Jeb Bush as the next president, if he gets past the cattle call.
Then Tom Cotton’s megalomania and the Republican Party’s desperation got to me. Now I will vote for the Democrat candidate for our next president regardless of who it is.
Well done to Tom and all of his supporters!
WILLIAM S. SMITH
Springdale
Damage to integrity
What was freshman Sen. Tom Cotton thinking when he, along with 46 other Republican senators, signed an open letter to Iran threatening to nullify any diplomatic agreement signed by President Barack Obama?
This action has seriously damaged the credibility of any agreement made by the United States. How can other countries trust the integrity of our government if a few radicals in the Senate think they can revoke our promises after the next election? Our strength as a nation depends upon us keeping our word with our friends and our enemies.
Disagreements between political parties are nothing new. A healthy debate is necessary to reach any agreement and move the government forward. By engaging in these ultra-partisan antics, these senators have not only undermined the authority and integrity of the office of the president of the United States, they have damaged the integrity of their own office.
DIAN CULBREATH BURGER
Alexander
Ashamed of our state
I can’t believe that Sen. Tom Cotton would lead a mutinous group of senators into writing a letter that undermines the authority of the office of the president of the United States on an international stage. Not only is this embarrassing to our country, but I believe it borders on treason in that they all are attempting to scuttle a multinational peace agreement that is intended to avoid a future war that we cannot afford to engage in.
I’m ashamed to be a citizen of this state.
LINDA JIRKA
Mountain Home
Hit new political low
While I am not surprised at Tom Cotton being the initiator of the recent letter to Iran about current negotiations, I am dismayed that so many Republicans signed that letter and supported his idiocy in undermining our president.
The point is that President Barack Obama does have the authority to work on a multinational agreement. I’m sure even Iran recognizes this letter as just propaganda.
I believe this type of action by 47 Republican senators is abhorrent and without precedent. It establishes a new low for partisan politics.
JOHN BODENSTEINER
Hot Springs Village
Perplexed by graffiti
In Arkansas, is graffiti really a big deal? In other places, such as Detroit and Chicago, it is a bigger deal, but should we really make a big deal out of something that isn’t that too important?
REBEKAH WALKER
Little Rock
Reactions to outrage
A busload of white fraternity boys at the University of Oklahoma chanted racist slurs, it got caught on video, and now the fraternity has been closed and at least two of the chant’s “leaders” expelled.
Racism is never acceptable. This is not a “boys will be boys” issue—if these young men are old enough to vote, be drafted, and otherwise be treated as adults responsible for their actions, then their expulsion is the natural consequence of their choices, and much deserved as such. In this world of social media, acting stupidly and immorally has rapid results. Yes, these young men have free-speech rights, and some will say that the school’s response is the death of the First Amendment. But free speech is not free of consequences.
Now let us consider who was injured by the chant. How many black OU students were harmed? Offended, certainly, as is anyone with a shred of decency, but really hurt? The media reaction, and that of OU President David
L. Boren (a former Democratic U.S. senator), is as if the fraternity guys had been rioting, shooting at police, looting local businesses, and killing people. You know, like the media outrage at the actual violence after the Michael Brown verdict last year. Well, actually, I’m still waiting for that.
These young men are getting what they deserve, but the rest of us need some grown-up perspective on what rises to the level of outrage in our society today.
STEPHEN DAWSON
Little Rock
Let us all be grateful
Things to be grateful for:
Tom Cotton was not in the Senate when President John F. Kennedy was negotiating an end to the Cuban Missile Crisis. I do not want to think about the letter Cotton would have sent to Nikita Khrushchev.
Tom Cotton was not in the Senate when Henry Kissinger was negotiating an end to the Vietnam War.
Tom Cotton was not in the Senate when General Douglas MacArthur was negotiating the Japanese surrender to end World War II.
Tom Cotton was not in the Senate when General Ulysses Grant was negotiating an end to the Civil War.
I could go on, but you can see we have much to be grateful for. In 2020, we should keep our eyes open and see to it that Tom Cotton is not in the Senate more than one dangerous and embarrassing term.
EARL BABBIE
Hot Springs Village
Upside-down world
After some thoughts about how upside-down our world is, I now consider Tom Cotton and 46 other Republicans to have committed a traitorous act. Similarly, I consider Arkansas Sen. Jason Rapert and Rep. Justin Harris to have committed traitorous acts in their wanton disregard for human rights and Christianity.
I’ve found how to fill my retirement time—I can work on recall petitions.
MICHAEL PREBLE
Camden