Like his esteemed colleague Lindsey Graham, Mitch McConnell is sounding remarkably whiny on the subject of the START Treaty.
I think if they’d taken more time — and I know that the members of the Foreign Relations Committee spent a lot of time on this, but the rest of us haven’t. And so all of the sudden we’re once again trying to rush things right here before Christmas Eve. I think that was not the best way to get the support of people like me.
Of course, prefaced by the statement "I’ve decided I can not support the treaty." The timing issue Graham and McConnell are bitching about is, of course, bullshit. Obama and Medvedev signed the pact months ago, giving Senators ample time to learn about the details of the agreement. Which Harry Reid reminded them of over the weekend.
On Sunday his office circulated a list of events, with pictures, that have occurred since President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed the pact on April 8.
They included:
Lady Gaga debuted her meat dress; the Chilean miners were trapped and released; Lindsay Lohan went to rehab, left, and went back again; the BP oil spill started and was months later contained; Kanye West released his latest album and apologized to former President George W. Bush; Prince William and Kate Middleton got engaged; Conan returned to Late Night; and Donovan McNabb debuted with the Redskins and was benched twice.
“One thing that apparently did not happen: Republicans taking the time to actually review the treaty,” Reid’s office said in circulating the list Sunday afternoon.
Thus far, four Republicans have said they will support ratification: Richard Lugar, Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, and George Voinovich, with Utah's Bennett signalling likely support. Four Republicans, Lugar, Bennett, Corker, and Alexander, voted against an amendment offered yesterday that would have added language on tactical nukes to the preambleof the treaty, which would have forced the parties back to the negotiating table.
The final vote requires the support of two-thirds of the Senators voting, meaning Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden's vote isn't strictly necessary. He is undergoing surgery today for prostate cancer. The cloture vote will be tomorrow, with the final passage vote likely scheduled for Wednesday.