Republicans Love Their Party More Than They Love Their Country

Nothing has put that on display more than the debate in the Senate over the New Start Treaty:

The Senate floor debate on New Start turned increasingly harsh as supporters of the treaty prepared for a procedural vote on Tuesday to close off further discussion. The treaty’s fate appeared to be entangled by unrelated factors, including an acrimonious deadlock over a spending bill, anger among some Republicans over passage of legislation ending the ban on gay men and lesbians serving openly in the military, and the widespread view that approval of the treaty would help rejuvenate a weakened president.

So Republicans are more than willing to scuttle a major strategic arms control treaty because they've lost on other issues and because they don't want to do anything that might cast the President in a more favorable light.

Republicans, particularly those in the Senate, are not patriots.