Senator Jon Kyl is retiring after this lame duck session, after which he will undoubtedly step into a lucrative lobbying career. So he has nothing to worry about vis a vis his present job. Really, he hasn’t had a thing to worry about from the time he decided this would be his last Senate term. I mention this because on more than one occasion I’ve seen Kyl described as an intelligent guy who is reasonable deep down inside but is forced, forced to embrace whackadoodle right wing positions due to being surrounded by whackadoodle right wingers. I’ve posted before about my deep skepticism of the theory that Kyl is a closet moderate and his latest disgusting move only reinforces my feeling on that.

Yesterday Kyl joined 37 other Senators (GOP all) in blocking the US joining a UN resolution calling for more rights and dignity for disabled people. There was nothing in it that changed any US law or policy regarding disabilities and it was modeled after the existing Americans With Disabilities Act, signed by President Bush Sr. in 1990. While we still have very far to go in this country in addressing injustices against disabled people, the ADA was groundbreaking and arguably the most progressive national legislation passed before Obama’s health care law. The Republican opposition to ratifying the UN resolution was a trifecta of paranoid right wing horsepuckey: panic over “American sovereignty”, parental authority in homeschooling, and (of course) abortion. And Kyl went along with that because, why, exactly? Does he have a primary challenge to worry about? Really, when was the last time Kyl had to worry about that? If he truly is a “bridge between his party’s most ardent conservatives and more pragmatic centrists” then a lot of Kyl’s behavior and stances he’s taken over the past few years are inexplicable. Unless you’re like me and believe that Jon Kyl is a right wing nut every bit as nutty as Glenn Beck. Oh, and a big old mean misogynist too. It’s just who the man is.

Remember this needlessly cruel and stupid act of Jon Kyl as he exits the Senate stage, as I predict that the myth of Kyl as a sensible pragmatist will grow larger around him the longer he’s out of office. They’ll be calling him a “statesman” pretty regularly within the next couple of years.