Ron Wyden: from anti-NSA hero to pro-TPP AND pro-war with Iran DINO.

[geek tragedy]

If there's a more disappointing Senator than Ron Wyden, I certainly can't think of one.

First, he became "the scourge of the left on trade" by pushing hard for the TPP.

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/04/how-ron-wyden-became-the-scourge-of-the-left-on-trade-117101.html

Wyden worked for months with Orrin Hatch, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Rep. Paul Ryan and others to craft a deal that would allow “fast-track” status for the 12-nation TPP, as long as the Obama administration consults Congress.
Wyden insists those provisions will give Congress the input it craves without allowing members to carve up the deal with amendments. But critics said the final provision for potentially stripping fast track from a trade agreement was too weak to make a significant difference.
“Chairman Hatch said he would never accept changes that make it possible for Congress to remove fast track from an agreement that does not measure up, and he got his way,” Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch said, describing the reform Wyden obtained as “new curtains hung over the same brick wall.”

And now he's actively campaigning against the Iran nuclear deal, while pretending to study the agreement very closely.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/sen-ron-wyden-on-iran-deal-obama-flouting-congress-by-going#.olJ6v6QX4

Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, said Saturday that he has concerns about the nuclear deal with Iran, adding that that he believes the Obama administration is “flouting” Congress by going to United Nations to get approval first.

...

“First, when this all began the focus was on dismantlement, dismantling the facilities that would allow them to have a bomb. It seems this has kind of moved now towards to sort of accepting it and managing it and the like,” said Wyden. “So I’m going to be working my way through that.”
“At the beginning, and I’ve seen clips of this, we were really under the assumption that there would be anywhere, anytime inspections,” he added. “Now we’re hearing talk about like 24 days or something notice before inspections.”
“And third, I have some questions that I’m going to be talking to my engineering friends and physics friends about this question with respect to the centrifuges because that’s really crucial to Iran’s building of a nuclear weapon. And the challenge of course is that the Iranians don’t think in terms of months and years. They think in terms of decades and building that caliphate. So I’m going to take the time to do this right. Don’t to expect me to issue any proclamations on this in the next 15 minutes. I think the stakes here are enormous.”
“Right now, for me, more questions than answers,” Wyden concluded.

What a disappointment. What a jackass.

[Peregrine Took]

1. Ugh. I can't stand the sight of him.

Wish he could be recalled.

[neverforget]

2. the TPP and now this? I wish Peter DeFazio would primary him.

It would be an honor to cast my vote for DeFazio.

[davidpdx]

3. I agree

I've been voting for Wyden for decades now, first as a congressperson and now as a senator. The last few years have been a grave disappointment. If he votes no on the Iran deal that will be the straw that breaks the camel's back. I hope he is primaried and if he is I'll gladly donate to whomever is the best person to replace him.

[Freddie Stubbs]

4. What evidence do you have that he is "pretending" to study the agreement very closely?

[Bluenorthwest]

5. Yeah, a 'hero' to a few misinformed DU posters working their agenda. His actual record is that of a

Free Trader, so anyone affecting shock at his support for TPP is an idiot. Wyden voted for both NAFTA and CAFTA and all the others in between.

[geek tragedy]

6. True that. nt

[JEB]

7. Wyden is very disappointing

as is my Rep. Kurt Schrader. Neither will get my vote.