* The other day Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz called Majority Leader Mitch McConnell a liar right on the Senate floor. Among those coming to the defense of McConnell and Senate decorum was Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah and the Senate’s president pro tempore. “Such misuses of the Senate floor must not be tolerated!” he declared.
In his own defense, Cruz proclaimed: “Speaking the truth about actions is entirely consistent with civility.
“Moreover,” he might have said, “it worked. Calling out McConnell over an Export-Import Bank amendment has gotten me all this media attention. Since I don’t care how I look in front of the establishment, so what. I’ve already maxed out on book interviews and even went on “Hard Ball” with Chris Mathews. I’ve got to make the first-debate cut, and here’s some red meat for my tea party base. This is what you have to do to break through the Trump-candidate news cycle right now.”
* At a certain level, you know that Iranian domestic politics includes an agenda-driven rationale over the international nuclear agreement. Maybe something like this:
“We’re not allowed to join a nuclear club that already includes North Korea and Pakistan?”
“We’re being lectured to by the only country to ever actually use a nuclear weapon?”
“Their Republican Party is revolted by the prospect of making a deal with our ‘regime.’ Well, we still remember Iran-Contra, even if they don’t.”
* Turkey has agreed to let the U.S. military use a key air base near the border with Syria to launch airstrikes against ISIS. It follows months of U.S. appeals to the region’s only NATO member, the one with the 500-mile Syrian border.
“The United States and Turkey have decided to further deepen our cooperation in the fight against ISIL (ISIS),” said State Department spokesman John Kirby. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter could very well have added: “Thanks again for helping yourself. Finally.”