Ladies and gentlemen: Mitch McConnell.

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Ladies and gentlemen: Mitch McConnell.

Post by Amskeptic » Thu Oct 18, 2018 9:11 am

Paul Begala
CNN
October 10, 2018
Once in a while, a politician becomes so powerful and yet so destructive that he or she does real damage to the branch of government in which she or he serves.

Obviously, Richard Nixon damaged the presidency, Newt Gingrich turned the House of Representatives into a mixed martial arts arena, and Roger Taney forever stained the Supreme Court with the Dred Scott decision. But it takes someone special, someone rare, someone spectacularly Machiavellian and malevolent, to screw up all three branches of government.
Ladies and gentlemen: Mitch McConnell. The soft-spoken Kentuckian has, in just a few short years, done lasting damage to the presidency, the Senate and the Supreme Court: the hat trick of democracy destruction.
To wit:

The presidency.
American intelligence knew Vladimir Putin's henchmen were attacking America, using cyberwarfare tactics to undermine Hillary Clinton's campaign. Yet when the nonpartisan leaders of our intelligence community briefed McConnell, his reply -- according to a new book by Washington Post reporter Greg Miller -- was purely partisan: "You're trying to screw the Republican nominee." McConnell not only refused to condemn the Russians, Miller writes, he threatened to attack the US intelligence community, labeling its call to defend America an act of partisan politics.
By helping hobble our defense against the dark arts of Putin, McConnell has tainted Donald Trump's presidency. The noted media scholar Kathleen Hall Jamieson has carefully examined the Russian effort, and has concluded that without Russia's help, Trump would not be President.
Trump's legitimacy is questionable -- in part because McConnell refused to defend our presidential electoral system when it came under foreign attack.

The Senate.
McConnell has broken the Senate. By refusing even to meet with President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee, Judge Merrick Garland, and by blocking hearings on his nomination, McConnell deeply harmed the comity on which the Senate is supposed to run.
I am amused by the notion that, somehow, former Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid is the one who broke the Senate when he eliminated the filibuster for lower court judgeships. Right. If only Reid had been nicer to sweet ol' Mitch, then he wouldn't have been so doggone mean when he got power.
In truth, Reid had no choice but to limit the filibuster on lower court nominations, given McConnell's abuse of it. McConnell invoked the 60-vote rule to block Obama's nominees as often as it had been used in all previous US history. Under all the presidents before Obama, 86 nominations had been blocked by filibuster. In just the Obama presidency alone, McConnell used the filibuster to block 82.
McConnell's naked partisanship has crippled the Senate. One wonders how it will ever recover.

The Supreme Court.
Which brings us to the high court. Not content with simply stealing Garland's seat for Trump, McConnell rammed through the nomination of the profoundly unpopular Brett Kavanaugh. The court now has four justices appointed by Presidents who originally came into office after losing the popular vote.
The McConnell court is now every bit as partisan as one of the panels on my old show, "Crossfire." Except on "Crossfire," we didn't wear robes and pretend we were somehow above the fray. For decades to come, American citizens upset about any erosion of their constitutional rights -- civil rights, LGBTQ rights, voting rights, women's rights, reproductive rights, consumer rights, environmental protections -- can thank McConnell.
Legacies are often hard to predict when a politician is still in office. Not this time. When you see bitter, hateful, vengeful hyperpartisanship infecting our national life -- from the White House to the Senate to the marble palace of the Supreme Court -- you can thank the "Gentleman from Kentucky."
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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Re: Ladies and gentlemen: Mitch McConnell.

Post by Abscate » Fri Nov 16, 2018 5:51 am

Simply put he is the archetype “ party over Country” politician in the extreme.

There are examples on both sides, but no one extreme as Traitor McConnell

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Re: Ladies and gentlemen: Mitch McConnell.

Post by Amskeptic » Sat Nov 17, 2018 9:51 am

Abscate wrote:
Fri Nov 16, 2018 5:51 am
Simply put he is the archetype “ party over Country” politician in the extreme.

There are examples on both sides, but no one extreme as Traitor McConnell

Just for fun and fair and balanced . . . name a democratic example.
I will research.
Colin
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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Re: Ladies and gentlemen: Mitch McConnell.

Post by Abscate » Sat Jul 06, 2019 3:28 am

There aren’t as extreme examples on the left, although the members of the DNC who tainted the Primary process are in the ballpark, but the Republicans in NC who open;y support gerrymandering might have even passed Mitch.
acknowledge freely that this would be a political gerrymander, which is not against the law,” said Representative David Lewis, the chair of the state House redistricting committee. He also said, “I think electing Republicans is better than electing Democrats. So I drew this map to help foster what I think is better for the country.” And he suggested the committee draw maps that would produce 10 Republican and three Democratic U.S. House districts, on the basis that he didn’t think it would be possible to come up with an 11-2 map.
This is a domestic enemy of our Constitution.

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Re: Ladies and gentlemen: Mitch McConnell.

Post by Amskeptic » Sat Jul 06, 2019 8:23 pm

Abscate wrote:
Sat Jul 06, 2019 3:28 am
There aren’t as extreme examples on the left, although the members of the DNC who tainted the Primary process are in the ballpark, but the Republicans in NC who open;y support gerrymandering might have even passed Mitch.
acknowledge freely that this would be a political gerrymander, which is not against the law,” said Representative David Lewis, the chair of the state House redistricting committee. He also said, “I think electing Republicans is better than electing Democrats. So I drew this map to help foster what I think is better for the country.” And he suggested the committee draw maps that would produce 10 Republican and three Democratic U.S. House districts, on the basis that he didn’t think it would be possible to come up with an 11-2 map.
This is a domestic enemy of our Constitution.

We have some additional characters in Wisconsin who show a lack of appreciation for this country in their nefarious self-centered agendae.
I do not subscribe to "both sides do it." It is not about sides. It is about individuals with names. There are dirty rotten scoundrels who must be called out. The entire Sackler family, for example.

Hey, how about that #4 spark plug, huh?

Image
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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Re: Ladies and gentlemen: Mitch McConnell.

Post by Abscate » Wed Jul 17, 2019 9:31 am

I could not get that #4 to bite right. Threads did not look bad, and weren't spewing alloy, but it isn't right.

Sorry if I left you a turd - I asked the crew to reach out to you about getting an (insert) on your recommendation done. Im out of date on that stuff so didn't specify more.

I need to get them to up their tool game, too.

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Re: Ladies and gentlemen: Mitch McConnell.

Post by tommu » Wed Jul 17, 2019 11:01 am

Abscate wrote:
Sat Jul 06, 2019 3:28 am
This is a domestic enemy of our Constitution.
I assume that (even if they will never say it) they believe the constitution, the country and power is only for them by right. That's what they're fighting for.

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Re: Ladies and gentlemen: Mitch McConnell.

Post by Amskeptic » Sat Jul 20, 2019 7:41 am

tommu wrote:
Wed Jul 17, 2019 11:01 am
Abscate wrote:
Sat Jul 06, 2019 3:28 am
This is a domestic enemy of our Constitution.
I assume that (even if they will never say it) they believe the constitution, the country and power is only for them by right. That's what they're fighting for.

The damage being wrought daily is startling. Our acquiescence and fatigue is tragic.
Colin
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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