Corker’s Dilemma

With the Democrat’s loss of House majority this week, some eager and angry representatives have their eyes set on dismantling the replacement START treaty.  From Josh Rogin on FP’s The Cable:

Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), one of three Republicans to vote for the treaty on Sept. 16 in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, hasn’t yet committed to voting for the treaty on the floor. He now says that he doesn’t think there’s enough time in the post-election congressional session to properly debate and vote on the pact.

“As Senator [Richard] Lugar has stated, Senator Corker believes it is far more appropriate to deal with major pieces of legislation like this in settings other than a lame duck session,” Todd Womack, his chief of staff, told The Cable.

Of course Corker may be feeling the heat back home.  Writing on Huffington Post, William Hartung had some sharp criticism of materials distributed by Heritage Foundation to Corker’s district:

The version of the flyer used to target Tennessee Republican Bob Corker– who supported New START when it was voted on in the Senate ForeignRelations Committee in September — is particularly egregious. Thefront page is marked “URGENT: Who Will Defend Us? . . . Our NationalSecurity Is at Stake — WILL YOU ACT?” The visuals include a picture ofPresident Obama shaking hands with Vladimir Putin (oh my heavens!),along with head shots of Obama, Putin, and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad all in arow. It only gets better on the inside, where Heritage asks, “Why didSenator Bob Corker vote in committee to put Russia’s military interestsahead of our own?” After lobbing its perpetual (and inaccurate) chargethat New START will limit U.S. missile defenses, the flyer goes on toclaim that “START . . . will only lead to more nuclear weapons in thehands of rogue states like Iran and North Korea?” Huh?

It should be interesting to see how the results of this latest election will impact U.S.-Russia relations..