DNC will try to tie GOP presidential hopefuls to Iran letter

The Democratic National Committee will seek to tie all of the GOP presidential hopefuls to the controversial open letter to Iran signed by 47 Republican senators, according to talking points obtained by The Hill show.

Four potential Republican presidential candidates, Sens. Marco Rubio (Fla.), Rand Paul (Ky.), Ted Cruz (Texas) and Lindsey Graham (S.C.), signed the letter. The DNC is telling its Democratic surrogates and supporters to hold the rest of the field accountable as well.

{mosads}“We’ve already seen top GOP presidential contenders sign their names to this letter and can expect the rest of the field to join them in supporting a tactic that does nothing but damage our diplomatic process abroad,” the DNC talking points say.

“The questions everyone should be asking these presidential hopefuls is, do they support these kinds of tactics that undermine the President’s ability to advance our national interests around the world, and would they support these kinds of tactics from a Democratic Senate if they were sitting in the Oval Office,” the memo continues.

The White House is furious with Senate Republicans over the open letter to Iran, which warns any nuclear program deal it strikes with the Obama administration could be at risk once he leaves the White House.

The DNC talking points signal a larger push by Democrats to make the aggressive tactics of congressional Republicans on foreign policy an issue heading into 2016.

“It is not new information that the Republican approach to foreign policy is reckless and dangerous, but today Republican Senators crossed a line,” the talking points say. “This is a new low even for a party that has long abandoned the idea of politics stopping at the water’s edge.”

“Republicans have now moved beyond reckless rhetoric to actually working to undermine the ability of the United States to find diplomatic solutions to some of the world’s most pressing problems, like nuclear proliferation,” the memo states.

The open letter to Iran seems to be the final straw for Democrats, who are accusing Republicans of going through backchannels to thwart President Obama’s foreign policy agenda.

Democrats were already furious with Congressional Republicans for inviting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak on Capitol Hill without consulting the Obama administration first.

“The GOP has made it very clear what their approach to foreign policy is: shoot first, talk later,” the DNC memo says. “The answer seems clear, but for today’s GOP there is nothing that they aren’t willing to turn into a partisan stunt and no line they aren’t willing to cross to obstruct the President from doing the job he was elected to do.”

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), who spearheaded the letter, is calling on all of the potential 2016 presidential contenders to add their names to the letter.