There's always got to be the kids who are naughty and naughtier at Christmas. This year it's John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Tom Coburn. They're playing games with the lame duck in an attempt to stall as much as possible, but some of them are downright mean.
First, we have Lindsey Graham whining for his jammies and tea because he's tired. Poor guy. It must be rough sitting on everything all year long, blocking it as much as possible only to have to stay late and maybe miss hanging his balls on his Christmas tree. Or maybe he's a little nervous over the possibility of being outed. Whatever the case, he threw the first hissy fit today over all the work he's still got to do. After he was done with that hissy, he went on to apologize to Senator John Kyl for the Senate ratifying the new START treaty with the full co-operation of Republicans.
"I stand here very disappointed in the fact that our lead negotiator on the Republican side... basically is going to have his work product ignored and the treaty jammed through in the lame duck. How as Republicans we justify that I do not know," Graham said. "To Senator Kyl, I want to apologize to you for the way you've been treated by your colleagues."
Oops, Lindsey. No goodies for you this year. You've got to do better than that.
Meanwhile, we have John McCain playing the role of Scrooge McGrumpy in a petulant, whiny sort of way. In a last-ditch effort to scuttle the DADT repeal, McCain came to the floor tonight ready to bring the Defense Appropriations bill up for a vote. Of course, he was ready to do that because he and his bitch Mitch McConnell had inserted a poison pill amendment that would have undone the actual repeal.
Joe Lieberman, on the other hand, probably just earned an extra package under the tree for blocking their pathetic bigoted attempt to shoot holes in something the President is set to sign at 9:15 am today.
The amendment was on John McCain's wish list this year. But he's been naughty, so no amendments for him!
Finally, we have Tom Coburn, who may qualify for the Ebenezer-Unredeemed-Scrooge-Forever award for his random block on Harry Reid's effort to resurrect the 9-11 responders bill. In what could be one of the most cynical moves ever, Coburn claims the bill was never debated in committee. Chris Hayes, sitting in for Keith Olbermann, reminds us all that yes, it was debated. It's just that Coburn ditched the committee that day. I'm guessing he ditched to bloviate on the Senate floor about how horrible the Affordable Care Act was. Or he was out fundraising with his tea party buddies.
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Either way, Coburn wins the prize for being the meanest, most selfish, cynical, ugly SOB in the Senate. If I were Santa, I wouldn't even bother with coal. I'd pick up after the dog and put it in his stocking.
