opinion by Maylon Rice
Editor’s note: Maylon Rice has 40 years of experience working as a newspaper reporter, columnist and editor at several Arkansas newspapers. He ran, unsuccessfully for the Arkansas House of Representatives in 2012. A native of Warren, Rice lives in Fayetteville.
Opinions, commentary and other essays posted in this space are wholly the view of the author(s). They may not represent the opinion of the owners of The City Wire.
Arkansas’ Junior U.S. Senator, Mr. Tom Cotton of Dardanelle, had a bad week in the storied upper chamber of our nation’s capital.
We never have doubted Mr. Cotton’s propensity to vote “No” and to loudly do so. We are not sure where the frustration came in, was it the new baby boy at home not sleeping well or was it mounting frustration with the complex treaties with Iran have finally gotten to the affable Mr. Cotton.
Not only did he cast the lone “No” vote in a 98-1 decision on the Iran Treaty, but he refused to talk to news reporters following the vote. Even the easy going Arkansas press folks who tout his votes back home didn’t get a snippet of a quotation from Mr. Cotton. His press spokesman was also mum on the issue of his ‘no’ vote when all the other 98 United States Senators voted yea.
But from the gallery some of the home town press folks caught some of Mr. Cotton’s acerbic remarks to the Senate. And those quotes are doozies and worth reciting here today in this space.
Cotton was frustrated over some of the many amendments added to the treaty bill, plus these amendments were some complex procedural moves being made to push forward parts of the bill that certain sponsors wanted up front in the debate.
Cotton, the Harvard educated, Iran and Afghanistan veteran, and fresh face from Arkansas, was having not of that. No sir. Not one bit. On the historic floor of the U.S. Senate, where great words spoken by greater men and women have been spoken, Mr. Cotton had something to say as well.
He took to the floor of the U.S. Senate, no doubt with very few of the other 98 Senators in the chamber at the time, but a tongue lashing was about to be delivered. He criticized the other 98 U.S. Senators, including his own Senior Senator John Boozman of Rogers. While Cotton didn’t mention any of his 98 colleagues by name, he gave them all part and parcel.
“It’s fine if you want to vote no,” said Mr. Cotton. “But we need to vote.”
“If you (Mr. and Mrs. U.S. Senator) don’t want to vote, you shouldn’t have come to the Senate.”
He exhaled her for a Nano second before delivered the real crux of his message to the 98 others who call themselves U.S. Senators.
“If you are in the Senate, and you don’t want to vote, you should leave.”
What?
Cotton was calling out some of his fellow U.S. Senators and saying they should leave the U.S. Senate.
It must be time to call upon Boozman, who less than a year ago, called out U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas from Texas for some of his antics to halt the workings of the government. Or maybe Mr. Cotton should take a page from Boozman’s manual on decorum and diplomacy. Or maybe Boozman should meet with Cotton and go over that page on decorum and diplomacy.
No doubt Boozman learned team work at the University of Arkansas while being a member of the football Razorbacks. Boozman said this of the vote that frustrated Cotton: “While I understand my colleagues desire to strengthen the bill, and was supportive of some of their efforts, Congress cannot simply walk away without having a say in this vital national security matter than has been negotiated behind closed doors.”
Boozman then drove home the point as a counterpoint to Cotton’s efforts.
“Without this bill, there will be no review of the Iran deal.”
Cotton, who as far as I can tell is not into teamwork in Washington D.C., but it may be a new skill the rebel-rouser needs to learn. Calling out one’s colleagues in such a manner might make for some pretty eye-popping’ press, but being the lone “No” vote while the other 98 members of the U.S. Senate vote the other way is not always a good thing.
His inability to make better political decisions and reach not only across the aisle but within his own party could put Cotton in such a disadvantage one has to wonder if he is helping Arkansas and the Nation.