On and off today I watched the Senate debate on the New START Treaty, and I have to admit that I found the whole spectacle deeply depressing. I wasn’t encouraged through monitoring Twitter, my email lists, and the blogosphere, and thereby coming to the realization that somehow progressives have become almost completely disengaged from the issues of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, and are far more invested in other issues that are important but, let me say, of less monumental importance. I don’t want to engage in a war of “my issue is more important than your issue,” because the Senate is debating a range of important issues that include progressive taxation, the budget, gay rights, immigrant rights, nuclear issues, and bilateral relations with Russia. I will just say that I am not happy that there is almost no evident interest or angst from the progressive community about the outcome of the START ratification effort. When I was coming of political age, the left was deeply invested in nuclear issues and in many ways we had an ally in Ronald Reagan, although it certainly didn’t seem that way for the majority of his presidency.
I blame Bush and the influence of the neo-conservatives for discrediting the idea that America has a legitimate and morally justifiable role in pushing and enforcing non-proliferation issues. It seems like the left just thinks we’ve lost the moral authority to lead and that all effort to safeguard the world against the spread and use of nuclear weapons is just some cloak for illegitimate imperial ambitions that are incapable of masking our hypocrisy.
In any case, you may disagree, but you can’t possibly countenance the behavior described by Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee.
“I felt like momentum was growing for START,” Corker said, adding that since Reid announced he was holding votes on DADT and DREAM, it has had a “chilling effect.”
“I’m watching support for the treaty erode, because of highly partisan political issues being brought up solely because activist groups in the Democratic Party want this done,” he continued.
Corker said he wasn’t issuing a personal threat, and was merely commenting on the reaction of his Senate GOP colleagues. When I pressed Senator Corker on whether Republican Senators would really base their decision on START on whether Reid held a vote on DADT, Corker didn’t answer directly.
“That being thrown into the middle of this debate is causing many Republicans to want to see START pushed back and candidly is causing them to oppose it,” Corker said. “This is hardening them against passage of this treaty at this time.”
If any senator is willing to vote against a treaty with Russia that is of vital importance to both our national security and our credibility as a leader against the proliferation of nuclear weapons because they don’t like having to vote on other issues, then that senator doesn’t deserve the tiniest bit of respect and the people should rise up and insist that they serve our country no longer. I’m serious. You can oppose the New START Treaty on substance, but not on procedural grounds and not for narrow political purposes. Anyone who doesn’t understand that should be drummed out of office.
I really cannot endure this kind of governance. It’s going to drive me mad.
Best start padding your room now then. (I am) ‘Cause it’s not going to stop anytime soon.
or I could just buy a straightjacket…
Maybe there will be one under the Christmas tree…
I agree it’s highly disconcerting to watch elected officials use the nuclear safety of the free world as a hostage… but since the stimulus, the federal judiciary, the doc fix, the omnibus bill and probably other necessary action has been treated the same, I’m kinda numb to it now.
Unless it actually fails to pass, in which case I’ll be stunned and very upset.
Thus, another letter to Majority Leader Reid earlier this pm and then a series of letters to Senators Durbin, Inouye and Murray requesting they read and urge the Majority Leader to act – though I have zero delusion that any of them will ever see the missives. But, that citizen thing just keeps me going …
You know the wealthy benefactors of the Republican party would have the most to lose in the event of a nuclear shootout. Money is useless if radioactive. Has the GOP become so stupid that they have forgotten their main constituency? This is a rhetorical question.
The republican party has spent the last two years voting against policies that they have previously favored. It seems the republican position on just about every issue has been “if Obama and the Democrats are for it, then we’re against it.”
United States geographical isolation is a major factor leading to seeing everything only in terms of the usa – and progressives seeing our international relations only as “cloak for illegitimate imperial ambitions”. This is so usa-centric. There are serious crises and conflicts that concern other nations, they are not “all about us”. We can participate constructively in resolving or at least keeping a cap on some (the direcion of JFK, Carter, Clinton and now Obama). Our refusing to participate does not resolve these crises and conflicts as if they were all about usa meddling, they aren’t. Staying on the sidelines is not the constructive alternative to Bush-Cheney.
Good thing Obama believes in bipartisanship. It’s been very effective in bringing the GOP to the table. I hear the tax cut ushered in a new era of cooperation!
You are in luck. There is an option to a straightjacket. Bob Corker is up for re-election in 2012. All you need to do is discover a winning candidate to replace him. And one who was a progressive wouldn’t hurt.
Tennessee has 95 counties; the smallest is Pickett County with a population of 4945; the largest is Shelby County (Nashville) with a population of 897,492. The total population of the state is 6,214,889 and is the 17th largest state in the US. It is 440 miles long and 12 miles wide. The media markets are Chattanooga, Cookeville, Jackson, Johnson City/Kingsport/Bristol (Tri-Cities), Knoxville, Memphis, Nashville.
East Tennessee is logistically the most difficult part of the state, being on the western slopes of the Appalachian Mountains. There are 33 counties in this region, whose media markets are Knoxville and Johnson City/Kingsport/Bristol.
It has nine Congressional Districts (7 Republican – 2 Democratic); the Democrats are Jim Cooper and Steve Cohen. Cooper represents TN-04, a rural and small city district in Middle Tennesee between Nashville and Knoxville. Steve Cohen represents TN-09, the greater Memphis urban area down to the Mississippi line.
The Presidential vote in 2008 was 1,479,178 for McCain/Palin and 1,087,437 for Obama/Biden (57%-42%). That means that it will be a uphill slog to convince voters to support Democrats for statewide office. The last Democratic governor was Phil Bredesen, who served two terms. The governor-elect is a Republican. Bredesen is 67 years old. In 2002, Bredesen won 50.7%-47.6%; in 2006, he had token opposition and won 68.6%-29.7%. The General Assembly has 99 districts and is split 49 R-48 D-1 IR after the November election. The Senate has 33 members and split 19 R – 14 D.
Given the fact that Corker is a first-term Senator, now is the time to get him out of the Senate before he gains seniority and does real damage.
Well, I’m crushed that START can’t be passed when al Qaeda’s number one goal is to set off a dirty bomb on an American city. I already screamed at Deminted’s aide this week & he will not vote for it. Guess I’ll call Graham & tell him he can’t use DADT as a reason to leave loose nukes lying around Russia, not matter how much butthurt he has. The prior START treaties passed in 2 and 5 days with high 90 votes. They’ve had this since April.
Personally, I don’t follow domestic policy that closely any longer b/c the GOP is just too frustrating to watch. Now they’ve brought the crazy to everything in FP too. We can’t go to war with all these countries & that’s probably the GOP’s solution to everything is.
For all of Corker’s posturing, I think that START will be passed. He just tried to take it hostage in order to kill something else and mostly to cause delay.
The main question right now is whether the DREAM act gets and up-or-down vote.
you keep on hedging things, BooMan. You keep on acting like the MSM, which has a financial stake in pretending that the GOP are legitimate.
I’ll say it again – they are not. they are soulless parasites, and you need to accept that, and proceed accordingly. Stop being depressed about these mofos and tell it like it is. you expect some sort of rationality from them in governing. it’s not there. they don’t give A SHYT about this country. PERIOD. plain and simple.
stop being part of the lying press that pretends that they do.
Obama fool me once, shame on him; Obama fool me twice, shame on me. No more. We’re never going to find salvation through OUR government. WikiLeaks is showing us that it’s just too damn corrupt and cannot be salvaged. And wait til we see the other 240,000 documents.
It’s time to join with our brothers and sisters in the UK, France, Greece, Ireland, Iceland, Spain, wherever… and start something new. Because Obama and the international establishment surely are not on our side.
Wake up, my friends… TURN ON. TUNE IN. DROP OUT.
The people opposing START are not going to be swayed by this, that’s not why they’re opposing the treaty. It’s blindingly obvious it should be ratified but there are really no arguments to make against the treaty except “WAAHMBULANCE! OBAMA BAD!”
How do you engage with someone who doesn’t give a fuck and is dumb as a fuck?
Also with our continued support of rogue nuclear states like India, Pakistan and Israel you better fucking believe we have no moral authority in that. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t work to stop proliferation but it means that once again, our government doesn’t actually give a fuck about treaties that apply to it.
So basically there’s nothing I can do.
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