Richard Lugar is the most knowledgeable senator in either party on arms-control issues. He is pleading with his fellow Republicans to support a treaty, called New START, which would reduce atomic stockpiles while renewing inspections of Russian installations that have lapsed since January.

“Please do your duty for your country,” he said in a message to his colleagues. “We do not have verification of the Russian nuclear posture right now. We’re not going to have it until we sign the START treaty. We’re not going to be able to get rid of further missiles and warheads aimed at us.”

But in today’s Washington, appeals to the national interest over partisan interest make virtually no impact. Not a single Republican has joined Lugar in openly endorsing the treaty and the lead GOP negotiator, Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona, has said the Senate should not even consider the pact during the current lame-duck session of Congress.

There’s not enough time, insisted Kyl, and the issues are too complex. But that is clearly not true. The Foreign Relations Committee has held 18 hearings on the treaty since it was signed seven months ago and the White House has held more than two-dozen meetings with Kyl or his staff. Obama even met Kyl’s excessive asking price for backing the agreement, $85 billion over 10 years to modernize America’s nuclear arsenal – and Kyl still stiffed them.