The New START Treaty finally will be ratified by the Senate today, only eight months after President Obama sat down with Russia to sign the thing in front of news cameras. This seemed like a done deal; who in their governments would really oppose drawing down the ridiculous stockpiles of aging nuclear weapons to help avoid accidental extinction of the species? In our case, Republicans who refuse to vote for anything Democrats want, that’s who. This is a huge defeat for dumb ol’ hack Jon Kyl, who was supposed to keep his party opposing this for no reason at all and thoroughly embarrass this country in front of those Russians.
“The administration did not negotiate a good treaty,” said Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona, the No. 2 Republican and the leader of the opposition. “They went into negotiations, it seems to me, with the attitude with the Russians just like the guy that goes into the car dealership and says, ‘I’m not leaving here until I buy a car.’ ”
Oh, now it’s a bad treaty. It’s funny it took him eight months to decide that. Previously, the problem was that the Democrats didn’t give him enough hundreds of billions of dollars of defense spending to make the deal. But then they did, so he just blocked it to block it. But kudos for finally coming up with an actual reason to block the treaty, which is that this is actually a bad treaty. That sort of rationale is so old school.
Meanwhile, Russia is busy trying to figure out the right ratio for diluting blood transfusions with as much vodka as possible. And also they’re busy laughing heartedly at us. So it’s the perfect time to strike.
Another war! That’s something we can all get behind! [NYT]
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Kyl was just hoping to get more pix of Putin with his shirt off out of the deal.
The Dems should have added more tax cuts for the rich. They would have encountered much less resistance then.
We're already into negative territory on tax cuts for the rich. We are now arguing about how much in the way of tax payments we have to make to them to keep Gawd's Own Party happy.
How about instead of tax cuts we just give surplus nukes to the top 2 percent of the country? Win-Win-Win.
We'll have to give tributes to them. Shiney nuggets of gold.
If you didn't know that senators spend almost no time in their home states, you'd think the Arizona sun had cooked Kyl's brain and shriveled the terminal "e" on his name until it fell away like a scab.
You know who else have a lack of vowel movements? Those socialist commies in Poland and Czech and Slovenia and places like that.
Where in the name of all that is holy, did that graphic come from???
In the end, Don Johnson killed the girl to feed his dog.
Hey, spoilers!
She didn't have good taste, but she sure tasted good!
A Boy and His Dog.
Brings back memories, doesn't it? Like the duck and cover. My little wooden desk was going to protect me from nuclear holocaust but; my teacher stood stoic at the board teaching math concepts as she melted. Dedication. That's what we need nowadays. Dedication.
In kindergarten, they took all 2000 of us down the basement and into the boiler room, which was pretty much like crawling through an asbestos mine in Quebec.
Full of stinking Frenchmen?
Yes, we did the under the desk thing too; and I always liked the drama of hearing the sirens being tested. Later in Basic ('67) our NBC training largely consisted of practicing lying down "ass to blast" when we saw the bright flash. Vietnam base alerts when we were being rocketed were the same siren. I went to Sydney on R&R and saw Hair along with a bewildered Aussie audience. They ran the same siren tone in the play at one point and it was the only time I really had a moment of fear it was so unexpected.
Actually, dedication doesn't count for shit according to conservatives. The only important thing is that we pry tenure from our teachers' claws, and then education will be magically solved for the rest of time!
Actually, after further study, I think that drawing is simply a poor representation of the Balanced Rock at Arches National Park in Utah.
Senator Kyl, that's ironic… eight months ago, we got rid of a car company. Had we known they were shopping…
Now the Republicans do have a reason to oppose the treaty; they are afraid it would block the stupid "missile defense" systems that Bush wanted to put in Eastern Europe, the ones that don't actually work and serve no real purpose except to antagonize the Russians and is just an incredibly moronic idea all around.
I didn't say it was a good reason.
Retarded climate change denier extraordinaire, President Klaus of Czech Republic is a huge fan of sticking our missiles in his forests. We must not disappoint him, for our relationship with him and his tiny country shall foretell the future of
our dominationcentral Europe.We don't want to piss off the Czechs, because they are the drunkest country in Europe and could easily start a big bar brawl that spirals out of control; that is how World War I got started after all (back when they were part of the Austria-Hungarian Empire).
You better Czech yourself before you wreck yourself!
…I'm very, very, very sorry for the above outburst.
You wouldn't say those missile defense systems serve no real purpose if you worked at Raytheon or had a job at the "closed" Fort Greely, AK, which is now repurposed as a missile base. Their purpose is redistribute FICA withholding from minimum-wage workers in blue states and redistribute it to highly paid defense contractors in AL and AK, the reddest of red states.
START is what Bill Gates wants you to click when you want to shut down your computer, so it stands to reason that the START treaty should be what you sign when you want to stop accumulating nuclear devices. And speaking about silly names, how about Jon Kyl?
Switch his names and it's not so silly, after all.
As long as Obama's people don't get the same idea Bill had and insist on using that Stone's song when he finally signs the thing. Tacky.
We can compromise: Russia can extinctify half our species, providing it's the Republican half.
Wasn't this a job for SuperPalin? Isn't she supposed to be keepin a watchful eye on those pesky Ruskies? Why can't these fuckin' Palin people just do their damned jobs?
She was watching Putin but she quit halfway through, for Jeebus i think, but I never was really clear on that.
She quit because she never quits.
Who knew that GOPer would put his own personal interests ahead of nuclear disarmament and non proliferation?
Cough Cheney cough Rove cough Libby cough W cough.
And yet. And yet, nary an utterance in the vaunted , librul Fourth Estate ™ of the dreaded word; "obstruction". And the only reasons these assholes are now playing ball, (and hopefully shamed in to voting for the first responders bill as well), is because they got called out by a satirist on a FUCKING COMEDY news show. Jesus H. Tittyfucking Christ.
Just goes to show how completely fucked we are.
Eleventy thumbs up!
Thumbs up for the tittyfucking, anyway.
Take a cursory look at John Kyl and tell me he doesn't have chronic constipation and dangerously smelly feet.
You've pretty much nailed all Republicans, I think that's why they cry all the time.
And breath that would knock a buzzard off a gut-wagon.
Jan Brewer, John McCain, John Kyl, Joe Arpaio…….is it a requirement that you be a complete asshole to get elected to office in AZ?
Yes
Obviously
Ben Quayle also.
In Ben's defense, he's actually not an asshole. Totally unqualified to be in Congress, but not… oh fuck it.
How can the offspring of Dan and Marilyn be anything but a butthole?
I beg to differ. Remember his staring zombie rendition of "Barack Obama is the worst President in the history of the United States" campaign ad?
Of the many Republican victories across the country, his was one of the more painful ones. That kid shouldn't be on the Scottsdale City Council, let alone in the United States Congress.
Remember when Barry Goldwater set the standard for Arizona assholes? Ah, the innocence of youth!
I mean, umm, err, that is to say, uhhh…
isn't that the basic premise of arms reduction treaty negotiations in the post-Cold War world?
I mean, sometimes, you really just fucking need a car, and you take the best deal you can get at the dealership.
All seriousness aside, just what is it that makes START a bad treaty?
That's easy – the signature.
Obama wants it.
DEMONRAT IN WHITE HOUSE.
Kenya, Bill Ayers and the Rev. Wright become nuclear powers?
Horizontal proliferation of TruckNutz is (are?) off the table.
Also, lackbay residentpay.
And John Kyl negotiates like a guy who does all his research online, compares three or four models, settles on the car that best suits his needs, finds the car dealership offering the lowest price on Autotrader.com, goes there intending to buy the car and then walks out as soon as he realizes, from the picture hanging on the wall, that the owner of that particular dealership is black.
Fuck you, John Kyl. Fuck you and your bullshit.
I am sad that I can only give you one point for this comment.
This is not surprising, since beloved Arizona has sent two Johns as members of the Senate's Massengill Caucus, the MC, or the Douche-a-teriate as it is known to insiders.
Sorry for this out of place rant, but I couldn't figure out another contact address. Just saw one of your "sponsored ads" which was designed to look like a Wonkette story about a congressman supporting "career colleges" and leads to a link lobbying against a bill that would keep all that loan money away from "colleges" that take money from poor people and neither train them effectively or get them jobs. This is an area absolutely in need of regulation. All of the "career training" available at these rip off academies is or should be available at local community colleges or programs sponsored by community organizations. These schools have done nothing more than take money and waste people's time for years. I know Wonkette readers are smart enough not to be fooled by this advertising, but there's got to be some standard regarding the ads you run? Doesn't there?
But are Wonkette readers smart enough to take their money while supporting the bill they don't want? Time will tell.
"Standards"?
In HERE?
Say, you MUST be new to Wonkette!
And since you are, one question: Do you want to hit the Jew over the head with this bag of sugar, or beat out that rhythm on a drum?
Actually I was here long before giant Cambell Brown, but this irked because it looked like a Wonkette story. It made me feel cheap and used. Cruel Wonkette!
Faster Pussy, Kyl Kyl !
Overheard at the Bunny Ranch?
Russ Meyer! thou should'st be living at this hour: America has need of thee.
Senator Kyl also opposes the treaty because it was printed double-sided. He reads all bills (and treaties, in this case) after having them stapled to the walls of his McMansion. He races around finding the pages, treasure-hunt-style, and carefully reads each page after he finds it. He cannot possibly vote for a treaty whose even-numbered pages he was unable to read, or even find.
Space-Race? Is that a new ethnic group for the right to hate?
Watch the next defense budget – Kyl will add billions to replace the nukes we dismantle with sparkling new "modern" ones.
All I want for Xmas – for Kentucky to secede
Arizona too, where Kyl is from.
Thank you sir, a two-for-one sale is even better.
Reagan would never have negotiated a disarmament agreement with the Russians!
The bombing will start in five minutes.
I suppose that's why nobody got upset over Bush's zany antics at the '04 White House Correspondents Dinner, when he faked looking for the WMD from Iraq. By comparison to Reagan, it was tame.
The boy in the picture looks like he's about to take a big bite out of that doggie's snout.
Star Wars NOW! Don't let the Russians fool us out of Reagan's dream! Can't lose our deterrent capabilities now! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyJjngsudW4
Kyle deserves to be referered to as No. 2.
Jowly fartsack Kyl knows about treaties cuz why? Every national security expert has said this has to be done. But JohnJohn hasn't had enough turns being GOP douchenozzle of the month. Go gag on the corporate cash cock, you piece of shit.
Kyl should have taken a page from McCain's speech – "I oppose this treaty because there are Marines at Walter Reed with no limbs – they deserve these nuclear weapons."
Remember, this is is the same party that is trying to block medical treatment for firefighters and cops who were injured on 9/11; they will try try to block everything the Democrats want, even if it's non-controversial, and even if blocking it makes them look horrible.
And even if blocking it increases the chances of getting us all killed by loose nukes at salad bars.
"..Mr. Obama mounted an unusually relentless campaign to win over enough Republican senators to bypass their party’s leaders."
Thassright, he bad, he bad. Stealth jujitsu, bitches.
Damn, they make it sound like it was Cockslapalooza 2010.
He should have been doing that the last two years.
Don't forget, according to Jim DeMint, Jesus hates it when you…
Ratify an arms-reduction treatyso close to ChristmasChristianity's most sacred holiday
Jon Kyle is a decent human being. [citation needed]
No citation will be forthcoming – his mother is deceased.
Bob Dole thinks arm control is overrated.
McCain seconds that motion.
Dated, but win.
Really gives our opposition to Iran's (offensive) nuclear programme moral authority when the Republicans (the party of serious foreign policy (or so the media would have us believe)) come out against non-proliferation.
keep his party opposing this for no reason at all
Aww, c'mon. "Petulance" is a reason.
The strange thing about this manifestation of the Republican scorched-earth policy is that most Americans are barely aware of this treaty and the arguments about it. Couldn't they have gotten the NRA to say it will lead to the repeal of the Second Amendment or something? Or it will increase the cable bill. Americans notice increases in the cable bill.
“The administration did not negotiate a good treaty,”
They didn't negotiate with the Russians the way they usually do with the GOP?
Hey, isn't that one of the pages from Glenn Beck's The Overton Window: The Coloring Book?
SPEAK ABOUT DESTRUCTION!
http://tiny.cc/6vnln
Just like kids will play with most anything –
The rethugs will play politics with nuclear disarmament and anything else that might hustle up money or a vote. They are like crack ho's with money and drugs.
John Kyl, if that really is your real name; get a life, a job, a girlfriend, a boyfriend, a hobby, a human face, a tic-tac and please, shut the fuck up. Just because you are from Azzholia, doesn't mean you HAVE to be an ignorant fucking rube.
Hooray, a return to diplomacy! Now all we have to do is ratify the land mine ban, the convention on the rights of the child, climate change treaties, the declaration of the rights of indigenous peoples, and…
How long is the lame duck session?
Why is there a 'shroom cloud in the middle of the desert? Russkies nuking Area 51? Bastards.
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