I DIDN'T QUITE BELIEVE DIGBY...

so I used LexisNexis to get the 11/19 transcript of Andrea Mitchell interviewing Richard Burt, the diplomat who negotiated the first START Treaty in 1991.   Digby claimed that Burt admitted that GOP resistance to the new version of the treaty is just politics, not security considerations and she was correct:

MSNBC
November 19, 2010 Friday
SHOW: MSNBC SPECIAL 1:42 PM EST
Interview With Global Zero Chair Richard Burt
BYLINE: Andrea Mitchell
GUESTS: Richard Burt
SECTION: NEWS
LENGTH: 629 words

HIGHLIGHT: Ambassador Richard Burt negotiated the original START Treaty, back in 1991, he is now U.S. chair of Global Zero, a movement to eliminate nuclear weapons worldwide.


ANDREA MITCHELL, HOST "ANDREA MITCHELL REPORTS": Ambassador Richard Burt negotiated the original START Treaty, back in 1991, he is now U.S. chair of Global Zero, a movement to eliminate nuclear weapons worldwide.

I haven`t seen Richard Lugar that fired up about this issue in quite a long time. And it`s because on the face of it, what is the explanation when you read this treaty, the preamble to the treaty, what is the explanation for saying that this is bad for U.S. interest?

RICHARD BURT, FMR. U.S. AMBASSADOR TO GERMANY: Well, Andrea, it`s interesting. In the past and we`ve had arms control agreements negotiated and ratified during the Nixon presidency, during the Reagan presidency

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MITCHELL: Every Republican president has signed a deal.

BURT: Bush 41 presidency. And in those situations, of course, Republicans supported their Republican White House. If this treaty gets ratified, this will be the first time a Democratic administration has gotten a treaty ratified. So in a sense, there`s already politics injected into the situation.