Who is Tom Cotton, and why did 46 senators follow him over the cliff?

There's no doubt, Tom Cotton looks good on paper.   Young (37), articulate, Harvard Law School graduate, decorated Iraq war veteran.   Elected to the U. S. House of Representatives, Cotton lost no time but took an activist role in the government shutdown to protest the Affordable Care Act.  While still in his first term in the House, he ousted Sen. Mark Pryor from his Senate seat in the Nov. 2014 election.   Barely two months as a new senator, Cotton pulled off what seemed to conservatives as a major coup with his letter.   Before the ink was dry on that letter, the right wing began talking of him as a presidential candidate in 2020.

Liberals have a different view.  Rep. Alan Grayson says he is "already on his way to marking himself as the premiere warmonger of the 114th Congress."  Digby, writing on Salon, called him:  "Ted Cruz with a war record, Sarah Palin with a Harvard degree, Chris Christie with a Southern accent."  Code Pink said:  "Whatever your characterization, this much is clear: this freshman senator is an arrogant bully and needs a time out."

What does he stand for, besides killing any negotiated agreement with Iran?  The following information is derived from an article by Medea Benjamin, co-founder of CodePink, Women for Peace:

1. Senator Cotton says the only problem he has with Guantanamo Bay prison is that "there are too many empty beds."   He insists that we should be proud of how we treat the "savages" detained there.   That pride apparently includes our use of waterboarding and the fact that a fair number of those "savages" turned out to be innocent.

2.  He likens the negotiations with Iran to the "appeasement of Nazi Germany" in the run-up to World War II.

3.  He claims that our military intervention in the Middle East makes us safer, while in fact it has been shown that all our military intervention there brings more recruits for the terrorist groups that threaten us.  He may actually believe this ideologically, but it's no coincidence that the National Defense Industrial Association made him their guest of honor just 24 hours after his notorious letter became public.   Just a meeting of common purpose?   Or a little inducement?   It's hard to say.

4.  Fear-mongering is his method.   In his recent campaign for the senate, he made the wild accusation that Hezbollah and the Mexicans are collaborating to bring terrorists across our border and attack us right here at home -- even in Cotton's home state of Arkansas, which of course is a bit removed from the Mexican border.   "It's not just an immigration issues, it's a national security issue," he says.

5.  During the 2014 Israeli invasion of Gaza that killed hundreds of civilians, many in their homes, including children, Cotton called the Israeli forces "the most moral, humanitarian fighting force in the world.”  He wants us to supply Israel with bunker-buster bombs for air strikes against Iran.   "The Emergency Committee for Israel donated $700,000 to his senate campaign last fall -- a nice sum for a first time senate candidate.    Again, just common purpose?   Or a little inducement, repaid in full by the letter?

6.  He calls food-stamp recipients "addicts," and says the system is "riddled with fraud and abuse" that results in long-term dependency.   This from the now-senator from Arkansas, which ranks #1 in the nation for number of residents who need assistance to put food on their tables.   But he would put much harsher restrictions on food stamps and severely cut the budget for welfare.    Given his constituents' level of needing government assistance, why did the people of Arkansas elect this man? 

7.  He opposes expanding women's rights, having voted against equal pay and the Violence Against Women Act during his first term in the House.

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"Ted Cruz with a war record, Sarah Palin with a Harvard degree, Chris Christie with a Southern accent."     Yeah.   But the problem is that then you've still got Ted Cruz, Sarah Palin, and Chris Christie.

Ralph