comes to missile defense. i cannot imagine this president taking it to the limit with the russians because nothing he has done has convinced me that he has committed to missile defense. let s just stop here. let s pause for a moment and discuss. where do we begin with how untrue both of those sound bites are. you have to differentiate lindsey graham and jon kyle in this respect. jon kyle, and even democrats will tell you, jon kyle rolled up his sleeves and before the white house was even focused, did a lot of work on this to make this treaty better. that being said, some of the things he was saying yesterday did not seem to line up with the reality of his results. he got the president to bend his way on many, many issues. the treaty in its own terms makes sense. it brings about some reductions which are useful.
it s depleted. it s getting old, and what we ve done as a result of this treaty is made our country far more secure and at the same time put in place verification senator, somewhere to get some questions in. let s go to andrea mitchell. senator, the fact is that inspectors will be on the ground for the first time in a year with this treaty. so when you vote, and you have been a leader on the modernization, you have another $4 billion for modernization of weapons, do you think there will be more than the 11 republicans who voted for cloture? where do you think john mccain is? john mccain will have to speak for himself. i know there were lots of negotiations under way on the floor last night and i don t know where that ends up. he certainly is someone i respect, as i do jon kyl who played a great role in modernization. the fact is, you re right andrea, we ll have verification on the ground. there are half the facilities we had to inspect under the old s.t.a.r.t. treaty which incl
and missile defense act of 2010 in that every question we ve asked regarding nuclear defense or modern nation, has been answered, this is very balanced. to me this is not even a close call. i m glad to support it. i ve been integrally involved, in almost every meeting that has taken place. it s the right move for our country. senator, you ve been working very hard foresix months. jon kyl has as well. even the white house will say, dick durbin will say he s offered a great deal to make this a better treaty. yet jon kyl and other republicans are saying this was rushed. you just said it yourself, you guys have been working very hard on the details on the s.t.a.r.t. treaty for six months. is this bill rushed? look, there are a lot there were some process issues that were legitimate. there were a lot of things that happened that really don t even
him he can run on those. it s really hard for a body for the congress to say we did something mcconnell, as much as we may know him around this table, the people don t know him. when the republican nominees start to emerge, they become the face, not mcconnell and not boehner. mike barnicle, how fascinating that this president has politically matured since his loss. he struck a deal with republicans on taxes, a deal his base hated. he struck a deal with jon kyle on s.t.a.r.t., added $85 billion in spending on nuclear weapons, didn t get kyle s vote, got eight other republicans. he s actually playing by washington s rules now and not listening to bloggers on the far left. well, he might still be doing that. well, he might be listening but doesn t let them guide his policy. it appears from looking at it that a couple of things have
hello. yes. no, you re not interrupting anything. you know, if i was calling you and you had all those reporters in front of you, you d be dieing to take my phone call, right? mr. president, i really appreciate that. it s an incredible thing that these kids have done. we owe you a little gratitude. that lesson you gave them on the white house basketball court really paid off. we have not lost since you ve been inaugurated. how about we keep that streak going for a couple more years, huh? all right. good morning. that is gino ar emma. 89 in a row. it is wednesday, december 22nd. welcome to morning joe. with us onset, msnbc contributor mike barnicle and the president of the council on foreign relations, richard haass. good morning everyone. that was fun. i watched it last night with my girls. you have been following them for a very long time. well, i was a reportr in connecticut for almost a decade. usually they d lead with it when they won, as in the top story of the