title:  Senator Who Once Betrayed America To Iran Has Gall To Accuse Harry Reid Of ‘Cancerous Leadership’
text: Senator Tom Cotton just put on a legendary show of hypocrisy on the floor of the Senate and my jaw has not quite left the floor. Cotton is known these days as  Tehran Tom  thanks to his poorly executed attempt to derail President Obama s nuclear agreement with Iran by organizing a secret letter that was sent to the Iranian government instructing the country to ignore the diplomatic agreement or else, so it s a little rich that he feels confident in lecturing another senator on  leadership. However, it s not just Cotton s shameless hypocrisy that is striking, but the apparently fully realized fantasy world he lives in. So powerful are the delusions and so blind is he to the real world, it s a wonder Cotton manages to walk through his office without bumping into a coffee table. Here s Cotton, a man who recently held up a crucial bill because it would have allowed the Iranian nuclear agreement to go forward, slamming Sen. Harry Reid for   don t laugh, this is serious   obstructing a defense bill. As a junior senator, I preside over the Senate. I usually do in the morning, which means I m forced to listen to the bitter, vulgar, incoherent ramblings of the Minority Leader,  Cotton said.  Normally, like other Americans, I ignore them. I can t ignore them today, however. Cotton tore into Reid for stalling a vote on a crucial defense bill, even though the bill eventually passed 98-0.  When was the last time the Minority Leader read a bill? It was probably an electricity bill,  Cotton quipped.Why was Reid holding up the bill? For one thing, Republicans decided to add an amendment that would allow religious organizations to legally discriminate against gay people (in defiance of federal law). It s a favorite pet project of the GOP and, you may have noticed, has absolutely nothing to do with funding the military. Reid may be forgiven for feeling like amendments like these are unfettered bullshit and intentionally placed in important defense bills so that people like Tom Cotton can grandstand about them.Ironically, another aspect of the defense bill that has led to controversy is amendment requiring women to register for the draft. Why is that in there? Well, it s a funny story.The move to require women to register for the draft had an unlikely origin, when Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.)   who opposes the Obama administration s recent decision to open up all combat roles to women   proposed the change in the House Armed Services Committee to start a  discussion.  But to GOP leaders  surprise, the committee approved his language, prompting them to yank out the provision in a Rules Committee maneuver before it could go to the floor.In other words, Republicans in both the House and Senate have worked overtime to shoot themselves in the foot then scream at Democrats for not providing them with bulletproof shoes.It s clear what going on here. The Republican-led Congress has bravely led Congress to its lowest approval numbers in history. It s function as an equal branch of government has been replaced by a level of gridlock so severe that almost nothing gets accomplished. Having gotten Congress to this point by obstruction, Republicans are eager to diffuse the blame by pretending  both sides  do it.In Cotton s hysterical screeching, there s a very real fear that nobody is buying it anymore. Even someone as delusional as him can see that.Watch Cotton s ravings below via C-SPAN:Featured image via YouTube