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Sen. Tom Cotton once told Cassandra Butts that he was blocking her nomination to be an ambassador
Tom Cotton once told Cassandra Butts that he was blocking her nomination to be an ambassador because he knew she was Obamas friend, and knew it would hurt Obama.
She spent 835 days waiting, and then died of leukemia.
Thats who @TomCottonAR is.
Link to tweet
?s=20
An Obama Nominees Crushed Hopes
Frank Bruni June 6, 2016
In early 2014, after decades of government and nonprofit work that reflected a passion for public service, Cassandra Butts got a reward or so she thought. She was nominated by President Obama to be the next United States ambassador to the Bahamas.
.........................
The Senate held a hearing about her nomination in May 2014, and then nothing. Summer came and went. So did fall. A new year arrived. Then another new year after that.
When I met her last month, shed been waiting more than 820 days to be confirmed.
...........................................
.................................
At another point Senator Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican, put a hold specifically on Butts and on nominees for the ambassadorships to Sweden and Norway. He had a legitimate gripe with the Obama administration over a Secret Service leak of private information about a fellow member of Congress, and he was trying to pressure Obama to take punitive action. But that issue was unrelated to Butts and the Bahamas.
Cotton eventually released the two other holds, but not the one on Butts. She told me that she once went to see him about it, and he explained that he knew that she was a close friend of Obamas the two first encountered each other on a line for financial-aid forms at Harvard Law School, where they were classmates and that blocking her was a way to inflict special pain on the president.
Cottons spokeswoman did not dispute Buttss characterization of that meeting, and stressed, in separate emails, that Cotton had enormous respect for her and her career.........................................
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Sen. Tom Cotton once told Cassandra Butts that he was blocking her nomination to be an ambassador (Original Post)
riversedge
Jun 2020
OP
sad story. the entire concept of holds needs to go. vote up or down and move on nt
msongs
Jun 2020
#4
I don't normally say things like this, but I hope he suffers the same fate that she did.
George II
Jun 2020
#11
Laelth
(32,017 posts)1. Nice guy! n/t
-Laelth
gibraltar72
(7,506 posts)2. The best of Republicans.
sinkingfeeling
(51,457 posts)3. I think Tom just might be MF45's illegitimate son.
msongs
(67,413 posts)4. sad story. the entire concept of holds needs to go. vote up or down and move on nt
bronxiteforever
(9,287 posts)5. Kick and recommend for visibility
leftieNanner
(15,114 posts)6. Really wish we had a Dem running against him this year.
marble falls
(57,097 posts)7. The entire Frank Bruni/NYT OpEd can be read here ...
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/07/opinion/an-obama-nominees-crushed-hopes.html
Another excerpt:
<snip>
When Butts died on May 25 she had acute leukemia, but didnt know it and hadnt felt ill until just beforehand the Bahamas had gone without an ambassador for 1,647 days.
All Cassandra wanted to do was serve her country, Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to Obama, told me. Looking back, it is devastating to think that through no fault of her own, she spent the last 835 days of her life waiting for confirmation.
Maybe the Bahamas, Norway and Sweden arent pivotal to us. But we have relations with each. We have ambassadors or mean to. How do we guarantee the countrys security and get its business effectively done when the Senate shows such disregard for that? How do we look on the world stage?
<snip>
With her Harvard degree and, later, her connection to Obama, she could have turned to the private sector and really cashed in. That wasnt her way. She worked for various Democratic office holders on Capitol Hill, for the N.A.A.C.P.s Legal Defense and Educational Fund, for the Center for American Progress and for Obama, including as deputy White House counsel.
<snip>
Thanks so much for posting this. I knew what a jerk Cotton is. I never knew what a treasure Cassandra Butts was. Thank you for making me look harder!
Another excerpt:
<snip>
When Butts died on May 25 she had acute leukemia, but didnt know it and hadnt felt ill until just beforehand the Bahamas had gone without an ambassador for 1,647 days.
All Cassandra wanted to do was serve her country, Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to Obama, told me. Looking back, it is devastating to think that through no fault of her own, she spent the last 835 days of her life waiting for confirmation.
Maybe the Bahamas, Norway and Sweden arent pivotal to us. But we have relations with each. We have ambassadors or mean to. How do we guarantee the countrys security and get its business effectively done when the Senate shows such disregard for that? How do we look on the world stage?
<snip>
With her Harvard degree and, later, her connection to Obama, she could have turned to the private sector and really cashed in. That wasnt her way. She worked for various Democratic office holders on Capitol Hill, for the N.A.A.C.P.s Legal Defense and Educational Fund, for the Center for American Progress and for Obama, including as deputy White House counsel.
<snip>
Thanks so much for posting this. I knew what a jerk Cotton is. I never knew what a treasure Cassandra Butts was. Thank you for making me look harder!
niyad
(113,323 posts)8. F'n traitor cottonmouth strikes again.
Lonestarblue
(10,007 posts)9. Cotton is a jerk.
He is one of the worst of the GOP but sadly also typical. Republicans left behind any humanity decades ago.
Ilsa
(61,695 posts)10. We'll make sure he doesn't have the job he wants.
I'm sure he'll run for president soon. Maybe next cycle. His career needs to be thwarted by Obama's friends.
George II
(67,782 posts)11. I don't normally say things like this, but I hope he suffers the same fate that she did.
dalton99a
(81,513 posts)15. +1. Tom Cotton is a cruel, power-hungry psychopath and a dangerous fascist.
mountain grammy
(26,622 posts)12. He's a younger Moscow Mitch.
Despicable man.
gopiscrap
(23,761 posts)13. what fucking piece of shit
dalton99a
(81,513 posts)14. Cotton is goddamn racist trash.
JI7
(89,250 posts)16. Cotton always reminds me of those racists from old pics during civil rights and before
like those people terrorizing black kids for going to school . and the people at lynchings .