MITT'S NOT THE ONLY REPUBLICAN FLIP FLOPPIN' FOOL-- COLEMAN, SUNUNU & VOINOVICH TURN AROUND ON TREATY

I think when I first heard about opposition to a treaty regulating access to the world's seas there wasn't anyone credible against it at all. When Reagan was preisdent he had endorsed it-- and vowed to live by it's regulations until it had officially passed. The U.S. military wants it. Even Bush is for it. The only opposition is from the "black helicopter crowd," nuts and loons like Jim Inhofe (R-OK) and John Bolten. And they don't like it primarily because they just hate the UN and the concept of the UN. But these are the kinds of folks who just DO NOT BELIEVE in organized society-- the kinds of people who refuse to fund fire departments but who are rich enough to have their own for themselves.

Steve Clemons at The Washington Note has the whole story today about how kooks like Bolton and Frank Gaffney have gotten to rubber stamp wingnuts John Sununu (R-NH), Norm Coleman (R-MN) and George Voinovich (R-OH) to start making noises about changing their votes to oppose the bill. Right wingers are suspicious because if environmentalists and the UN want it, there must be something they can find to hate in it-- even if two Bushes and a Reagan thought it was in the country's interests to ratify the treaty.

Environmental groups endorse the treaty's protection of global fish stocks, the US navy endorses its assurance of free movement and the oil industry's trade group endorses its promise of a level playing field for companies staking claim to drill in the Arctic.

But Republican antagonists in the Senate, several of whom have derailed the treaty twice in the past, discount even the Bush administration's backing. They yesterday blocked a preliminary ratification vote, and in doing so declared it an auspicious date for foes of international institutions.

"There is no better time to celebrate the 62nd birthday of the United Nations than to say we don't want it," said Jim Inhofe, the Oklahoma Republican senator who leads an annual effort to withhold US funds from the UN.

Inhofe... the craziest and most backward member of the U.S. Senate; figures. I called Andrew Rice, the exceptionally bright Oklahoma state senator who is running against him next year. I could see him rolling his eyes over the phone, embarrassed that of all the states in the country it had to be the one he's so proud of to be stuck with a nutcase like Inhofe.

"As a U.S. Senator who constantly portrays himself as a pro-national security public servant, Oklahoma Senator Jim Inhofe is now choosing to ignore the pleas of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Secretary of the Navy, among other military leaders, when they ask for Senate approval of UNCLOS.  American military leaders have made it clear that participation in UNCLOS will enhance our national security and that changes have been made in UNCLOS provisions to explicitly protect American interests.  And yet Jim Inhofe and a very small minority are working against our nation's best interests, simply because it might hurt the special interests he puts before the needs of Oklahomans again and again. Inhofe is clearly out of step with our national security needs."

The two most backward of the pathetic pygmies™ running for their party's useless presidential nomination, Huckabee and Thompson, have also weighed in against the treaty-- even if neither has much of a clue what it's about. "Huckabee, former governor of Arkansas, and former Tennessee senator Fred Thompson have pointedly broken with Mr Bush on the treaty. 'At a time when customary international law in this area has proven sufficient, I believe the efforts of treaty proponents would be better spent reforming the United Nations,' Mr Thompson said yesterday," attempting to curry favor with that same old Black Helicopter crowd.

Taylor Marsh and Matt Stoller, neither of whom spend smuch times riding black helicopters, have both written eloquently on this today. If, like me, you feel it's time to celebrate the impending end of the Bush Years but getting rid of detrius like James Inhofe, Andrew Rice's Blue America page is open... 24/7.