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Originally Posted by sa547
Except for Israel, do they have any explanation for saying "no"?
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The issue i keep hearing discussed is whether this will enable the Palestinians to bring a "war crimes" complaint against Israel and its practices in Gaza and the West Bank before the International Criminal Court.
Many in the United States, especially our military, hate the whole notion of the ICC.
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[The Court's] critics contend the court could subject U.S. troops and officials to the jurisdiction of a politically motivated prosecutor, who would use the court's jurisdiction over an American service member or public official to make a political point against the United States.
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http://articles.latimes.com/2011/may...l-icc-20110526
I'm not saying I agree with these views; most of the strenuous civilian opposition to the Court comes from unreconstructed neo-cons like John Bolton. Still ratifying the ICC treaty isn't high on the Obama Administration's agenda these days either, and any attempts to do so would be filibustered by the Senate Republicans.
As for the Susan Rice nonsense, Rachel Maddow is hardly alone in having the view that most of this relentless persecution is an attempt to pressure the President into naming my Senator, John Kerry, as Secretary of State. Scott Brown would almost certainly run again, and this time there are few obvious Democrats to run against him. I could see Governor Deval Patrick deciding to run. He has only two more years left in his second term and this might be the best opportunity for him to move up the ladder. He also has an existing state-wide campaign apparatus. Congresswoman Nikki Tsongas might be a possibility; her late husband was also a Massachusetts senator until he died from cancer. Other than name recognition, though, she has had little exposure outside her district north of Boston.
Otherwise we might be seeing a "parachute" candidate. When Brown ran in the special election after Ted Kennedy died, there was a lot of talk about bringing in Caroline Kennedy to run for her uncle's seat. Barney Frank would probably win if he ran, but I take him at his word that he is looking forward to retirement. That's too bad because a debate between Frank and Brown would be great political theater (Barney would mop the floor with Brown).
McCain may also have some personal grudge against Rice. She was a fairly vocal critic of his during the 2008 election, when Rice was Obama's chief foreign policy advisor. Lindsey Graham wants to succeed the outgoing Joe Lieberman as McCain's best buddy. As for Kelly Ayotte, the fact that I live in the next-door state and have heard nothing about her work as Senator says a lot. She got elected in the 2010 Republican surge having burnished her right-wing credentials when, as NH Attorney General, she argued the state's
appeal of an abortion ruling before the US Supreme Court.