Mitch Perry
Like so many other Democrats who are coming out in support of the P+5 nuclear deal with Iraq, Delaware Senator Chris Coons said yesterday that while “it was a very hard choice,” he was going to back Barack Obama in the most important foreign policy accord of his presidency.
“I will support this agreement because it puts us on a known path of limiting Iran’s nuclear program for the next 15 years with the full support of the international community,” Coons said during a speech at the University of Delaware. “The alternative, to me, is a scenario of uncertainty and isolation.”
Coons’ decision came on the same day that fellow Democrat Sen. Bob Casey (Pa.) announced he would back the deal after what he called “six weeks of intensive review.”
It’s also looking good for the Obama administration on the House side. Rep. Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, and Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, both voiced their support for the deal yesterday, and 10 other Democrats have announced their support over the past two days, including Joaquin Castro of Texas.
Three Florida House Democrats have yet to weigh in: DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Orlando Congressman and Senate candidate Alan Grayson, and the Tampa Bay area’s Kathy Castor.
What will DWS do? She’s set to accompany Vice-President Joe Biden to the David Posnack Jewish Community Center in Miami-Dade County tomorrow, and there is some thought that she could announce her support for the deal there.
But there is tremendous pressure on her from Jewish groups and others to oppose the deal, which is bitterly opposed by the Israeli government. Congressman Grayson has said he’s conflicted about how he’s going to vote, and says he probably won’t make his decision public until right before the vote in Congress, scheduled to take place in two weeks.
Grayson’s Democratic Senate opponent, Patrick Murphy, has been excoriated on social media for the past 48 hours after announcing his support for the deal, with critics blasting him for using language in his statement echoing Neville Chamberlain, the British prime minister who thought appeasing Nazi Germany at Munich back in 1938 would prevent war.
“Patrick Murphy’s rationale for supporting the Iran nuclear deal reveals a dangerous naiveté and a stunning ignorance of recent history,” a spokesman for the group American Crossroads said on Tuesday.“Perhaps the next time young Patrick wants to express himself on an issue of critical international security, he should avoid references to one of the greatest diplomatic blunders in history.”
Technically, Murphy’s words did not duplicate Chamberlain’s, but they were close enough for critics to pounce.
Beyond all these histrionics, there is this reality: To override a veto by the president, opponents of the nuclear deal must convince at least four of the 11 remaining undecided Democratic Senators to join them.
In other news…
There was some unhappy folks out and about in Tampa yesterday:
Residents still infuriated that the Hillsborough County Metropolitan Planning Organization gave the go-ahead to the controversial Tampa Bay Express toll lanes project expressed themselves yesterday.
Two dozen plus activists crowded in front of the Tampa Police Dept. headquarters as well, saying they reject Mayor Bob Buckhorn’s plans for a police Civilian Review Board.
Jim Norman wasn’t the only Republican to enter the Hillsborough County Commission District 6 race yesterday. Say hello to Tim Schock, a South Tampa resident who calls himself a fresh face and voice for GOP voters to consider.
Jeb Bush isn’t going to take it anymore from Donald Trump. Well, in his own way the former Florida Governor is going after Donald Trump for his ideological inconsistencies, as if thats matters to Trump Nation.
