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America has a Moscow Mitch problem

Hugo Stiglitz

By Hugo Stiglitz
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Thermos H. Christ
Thermos H. Christ

I’m so sick of the Dems = identity politics line. Identity politics is the ONLY thing the GOP can run on because they have no actual popular policies. Dems are out there running on health care plans a

Pancho
Pancho
tx 3 putt
tx 3 putt

How can one person be such a failure of a human being …. Mitch McConnell is the reason why the United States hasn't passed a renewed Voting Rights Act. He is the reason why the United States hasn

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Francisco 2.0

Francisco 2.0 32543

Posted
Posted

 Mitch is working on the Kentucky GOP to change the law so...the governor can't appoint Mitch's successor:

https://theintercept.com/2021/03/04/kentucky-mitch-mcconnell-senator-replace/

 

Quote

SENATE MINORITY LEADER Mitch McConnell has compiled a short list of successors in his home state of Kentucky, preparing for the possibility that he does not serve out his full term, Kentucky Republicans tell The Intercept.

The list is topped by his protégé, state Attorney General Daniel Cameron, and also includes former United Nations Ambassador Kelly Craft, whose billionaire coal magnate husband is a major McConnell donor, as well as Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams, a former McConnell Scholar.

 

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Under current law, the power to appoint McConnell’s replacement falls to Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear. But new legislation McConnell is pushing in the Kentucky General Assembly would strip the governor of that power and put it into the hands of the state GOP. 

McConnell’s scramble to secure his legacy comes as his position in the party he effectively built from the ground up is increasingly shaky. McConnell’s denunciation of former President Donald Trump — even as it was accompanied by a vote of acquittal and a pledge to endorse the former president in 2024 if he is the GOP nominee — has brought on calls for his censure by party leaders across the state. A candidate running in McConnell’s mold would face an uphill climb through a primary in the new Republican Party — unless, that is, the candidate has the benefit of incumbency. 

 

Quote

The 79-year-old McConnell has held his Senate seat since 1985 and handily won a seventh term last November.

The new legislation, Senate Bill 228 — dubbed by some inside the state Legislature as the Daniel Cameron Election Bill — was filed on February 10, 2021, during the Kentucky General Assembly’s 30-day “short” session. The bill alters current state statute that allows the governor to appoint a replacement in the event of a vacancy to the U.S. Senate. If the bill becomes law, the appointment to fill a vacancy will be selected from a list of three names submitted by the state executive committee of the same political party as the senator who held the vacant seat. According to the bill, the appointee from that list will then serve until a successor has been elected by voters. The legislation goes on to list instructions on when elections take place in the event of a vacancy.

 

Spoiler

How long the appointment would last depends on when the vacancy occurred.

Republicans are concerned a successor appointed by Beshear would be someone of Beshear’s own party — rather than who McConnell would like to replace him. 

Republican state Sen. Tom Buford, the single co-sponsor on the bill brought by Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers, said there has been a discussion for “several years” about changing the way Kentucky replaces U.S. senators.

“It just seemed if we did have a change of venue of U.S. Senate that it would be proper and appropriate the political party that held the office would be the political party that replaced it until the next election cycle, that being in this case Republican,” he said.

“No specific reason why now,” Buford continued in a phone interview, adding that he believes both McConnell and U.S. Sen. Rand Paul are in “good” health. Buford did say things could have turned out bad for Paul in 2017, after the junior senator was attacked by his Bowling Green, Kentucky, neighbor Rene Boucher. Paul suffered six broken ribs and ended up having part of his lung removed as a result of the attack. 

“That could have resulted in death, so … it sounded like a good idea,” Buford said, listing reasons why Kentucky Republicans would seek to change the law in the months after McConnell’s reelection to seventh term in the Senate. 

“Leader McConnell has discussed the legislation with [Senate] President Stivers and is fully supportive of the measure,” a spokesperson for McConnell confirmed.

Multiple sources say it is McConnell who is pushing this bill, but the claimed reasons for why he is pushing the legislation vary from health concerns to the makeup of the upper chamber.

McConnell’s health has been a concern since boyhood. In 1944, he contracted polio and with his mother’s persistence, the young McConnell recovered and learned to walk again. In 2003, McConnell underwent a triple bypass heart surgery. In late October 2020, McConnell dismissed concerns over his health after appearing with bruised and bandaged hands days before his reelection. The previous year, the Kentucky Republican spent weeks recuperating after a fall which forced him to have surgery for a shoulder injury. 

Other Republicans in the Kentucky Legislature, who asked not to be identified over fear of reprisal from their party, see this move as less about McConnell’s health and more about hand-selecting his replacement and giving that successor the benefit of incumbency. One frustrated Republican elected official, who declined to be named for the same reason, referred to the bill as McConnell’s “escape hatch.”

Inside a small two-story house that carries McConnell’s name, the leadership of the Republican Party of Kentucky is monitoring plans, and according to some, there are already discussions on who could replace him in the event of a vacancy for his seat. There are already three names that consistently come up on the potential list.

McConnell is interested in his legacy, and by picking his replacement, he would cement his vision in Kentucky and national politics.

McConnell has played an outsized role in the public life of those on the list to replace him. It was McConnell who ensured an endorsement for Daniel Cameron from Trump; McConnell also secured a speaking role at the Republican National Convention and an Oval Office meeting for Cameron, who served as McConnell’s general counsel and has a father-son relationship with the senator. Likewise, when many expressed doubts over Kelly Craft’s lack of experience and continual absence from her previous post, it was McConnell who shepherded the megadonor through the Senate confirmation process for the U.N. ambassadorship. His ties to Craft date back to 2004. 

This legislation is reflective of the long game McConnell has played his entire career.

Michael Adams is not as close to the minority leader as the others on the list, but he does run in the same circles as those in McConnell’s inner circle, like Scott Jennings, who ran a super PAC that spent millions to bolster McConnell’s reelection efforts in the bluegrass state. 

Others close to McConnell say he is backing the bill because of the razor-thin margins in the U.S. Senate. For those Republicans, McConnell is seeking to protect the upper chamber from adding an additional Democrat. 

The truth is probably somewhere in between all of these theories: McConnell is 79 years old, he’s a master of the Senate, and he’s focused on his legacy in a state that still strongly supports Trump. This legislation is reflective of the long game he has played his entire career. 

The legislation is currently before the state Senate and then would need to pass the House. Beshear, the Democratic governor, is reportedly opposed to the bill, but Republicans have held veto-proof majorities in both chambers since 2017. 

 

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SKJ

SKJ 1317

Posted
Posted

Someone put this turtle on his back before this greasy, slimy piece of shit gets his way again. 

I loathe this motherfucker and can't wait till he's rendered powerless. 

 

Such a piece of shit bitch

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UpperWestside

UpperWestside 6263

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Biff Tannen said:

Moar of this please.

giphy.gif

This message sent by Senator Markey is a good reason, among several others, for him to have kept his senate seat over Joe Kennedy. I would bet one of the more delighted people to see that message to McConnell would be Congresswoman Cortez. Let’s keep those bills coming and put senators on the record of being against a voting rights bill named after not only an icon of the Civil Rights movement, but also one of the greatest Americans to have ever lived. It will not end well for the senators who want to halt societal progress and the ability of the entire populace to exercise their right to vote. 

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SydneyCarton

SydneyCarton 49325

Posted
Posted

To the shock of no one, a disingenuous piece of shit who hates America:

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/01/mcconnell-says-gop-will-oppose-biden-infrastructure-plan.html

Quote

Any hopes that Washington could scrape together a bipartisan infrastructure package took a hit Thursday.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told reporters the more than $2 trillion plan the White House unveiled Wednesday “is not going to get support from our side.” The proposal would invest in roads, bridges, airports, broadband, water systems, electric vehicles and job training programs, and raise the corporate tax rate to 28% to offset the spending.

 

The Republican also vowed to oppose the broader Democratic agenda under President Joe Biden, who passed his first major initiative last month in the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package.

“I’m going to fight them every step of the way, because I think this is the wrong prescription for America,” McConnell said at a news conference in Kentucky.

Unless 10 Republicans break with McConnell or Biden revises the plan to win GOP votes, his comment all but assures Democrats would have to use budget reconciliation to pass the infrastructure bill on their own. Biden has said he wants to win GOP support for the plan. But Republicans have opposed any tax increases, saying they could hinder the U.S. economic recovery.

Responding to McConnell on Thursday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki questioned whether the Republican Senate leader agrees that the U.S. needs to update its infrastructure and expand broadband access. She said Democrats and Republicans need to resolve differences over how to pay for the investments.

“If you don’t want to raise the corporate tax rate — still lower than it’s been over the last 70 years and across decades — if you don’t want to do that, if you don’t want to put in place a global minimum tax, what are the alternatives? We’re happy to hear those proposals,” she said.

 

Even if they use reconciliation, Democrats will have to balance competing interests among themselves to approve a bill. Some progressive lawmakers have called to include more ambitious measures to fight climate change in the plan. Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and other lawmakers from New York and New Jersey have pushed to include a repeal of the cap on state and local tax deductions in the plan. The change is expected to benefit higher-income taxpayers.

Biden and his advisors got initial Republican input on the Covid relief package, then moved to pass it on their own when they realized the GOP would accept only a much smaller bill than they sought. They appear to be taking a similar approach on infrastructure.

“We’ll have a good-faith negotiation with any Republican who wants to help get this done. But we have to get it done,” Biden said when unveiling the infrastructure plan in Pittsburgh on Wednesday.

No Republicans in Congress voted for Biden’s broadly popular Covid plan. Corralling GOP support for another multitrillion-dollar bill — which includes tax hikes — appears more challenging.

“The odds are longer for Republican support on this,” said Howard Fineman, an MSNBC contributor and a correspondent for RealClearPolitics, in a phone interview.

“The last thing was about fighting a disease, for God’s sake, and they couldn’t get any Republicans to vote for it,” Fineman said. “This has less emotional heft in that sense.”

 

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Brandywine

Brandywine 1326

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On 3/24/2021 at 1:15 PM, Js1 said:

 

 

He's just a lying ass hole. Always has been and always will be. He's just marking his time until he gets the Reps back in power and if he can stretch the Dem's agenda for a year and not get anything done he'll win. The Dems have to be bold and move on what they're going to do, immigration, guns, infrastructure, etc, before the next year is taken up with the midterms, then nothing will get done. Don't waste time. We've all seen this before, if Mitch gets back into power he will totally ignore anything the Dems want to do. The Dems have 7 months before all the noise will be about the midterm elections.

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DigglerontheHoof

DigglerontheHoof 21516

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1 hour ago, Brandywine said:

He's just a lying ass hole. Always has been and always will be. He's just marking his time until he gets the Reps back in power and if he can stretch the Dem's agenda for a year and not get anything done he'll win. The Dems have to be bold and move on what they're going to do, immigration, guns, infrastructure, etc, before the next year is taken up with the midterms, then nothing will get done. Don't waste time. We've all seen this before, if Mitch gets back into power he will totally ignore anything the Dems want to do. The Dems have 7 months before all the noise will be about the midterm elections.

amin laughing GIF

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UpperWestside

UpperWestside 6263

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Posted

Dear Senator McConnell,

Your desk in the senate is over there. You can have a nice front row seat to continued legislation being passed that helps your constituents. You have chose to fight this legislation yet have no say in it becoming the law of the land. Luckily for America your objections to progress and positive change for society as a whole are as powerless as Chris Davis swinging a baseball bat. 
 

Sincerely,

Everyone you have ever stepped on in your life to get to the spot you now occupy.

PS The pasture is that way. Enjoy it.

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Fudge Nuggets

Fudge Nuggets 19407

Posted
Posted
On 4/1/2021 at 3:48 PM, UpperWestside said:

Dear Senator McConnell,

Your desk in the senate is over there. You can have a nice front row seat to continued legislation being passed that helps your constituents. You have chose to fight this legislation yet have no say in it becoming the law of the land. Luckily for America your objections to progress and positive change for society as a whole are as powerless as Chris Davis swinging a baseball bat. 
 

Sincerely,

Everyone you have ever stepped on in your life to get to the spot you now occupy.

PS The pasture is that way. Enjoy it.

chosen

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Biff Tannen

Biff Tannen 46061

Posted
Posted
On 4/1/2021 at 1:29 PM, Brandywine said:

The Dems have to be bold and move on what they're going to do, immigration, guns, infrastructure, etc, before the next year is taken up with the midterms, then nothing will get done. Don't waste time. We've all seen this before, if Mitch gets back into power he will totally ignore anything the Dems want to do. The Dems have 7 months before all the noise will be about the midterm elections.

Getting rid of or reforming the filibuster is the only way this gets done.  There's a whole thread about it somewhere.

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SKJ

SKJ 1317

Posted
Posted
12 hours ago, Biff Tannen said:

Getting rid of or reforming the filibuster is the only way this gets done.  There's a whole thread about it somewhere.

That's right. 

Kill filibuster

Pass HR1

End voter suppression 

Pass all the shit that fixes this shithole

Keep Republicans out of majority by getting out the vote every 2 years. 

Profit

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Michael Knight

Michael Knight 13187

Posted
Posted
7 hours ago, Horn Under a Bad Sign said:

McConnell and the Republicans are on the wrong side of history. It's fascinating to watch the self-immolation. 

It's more fascinating to watch it not hurt them in anyway. Like in history class when you wondered why didn't the German people do anything to stop the Nazis, now you know the answer

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JimmyJames

JimmyJames 12271

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Moscow mitch says it’s fine for corporations to donate money to politicians, like himself,  but it’s not ok for them to express political opinions like on the Georgia voter black voter suppression law. 
 

I cannot think of a better argument against the Supreme Court decision in Citizen United if I stayed up all night. Money is different than speech. Duh. 
 

Unlimited donation Money is not free speech. It’s a recipe for oligarchy. Is that what Americans want?

 

 

 

 

 

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JimmyJames

JimmyJames 12271

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5 hours ago, Michael Knight said:

It's more fascinating to watch it not hurt them in anyway. Like in history class when you wondered why didn't the German people do anything to stop the Nazis, now you know the answer

Moscow Mitch would have been a high level nazi who after authorizing the killing of Jews probably was smart enough to escape to Argentina.

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PenelopeWitherspoon

PenelopeWitherspoon 19279

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Posted
5 minutes ago, 4th&Five said:

Season 1 What GIF by Curb Your Enthusiasm

Ole Mitch and Thune are desperate to return to power.  Someone who has been diagnosed with what Walker has, along with his CTE issues (come on, you know he has it), and whose education and intellect leave a lot to be desired, should have zero business holding office in the highest legislative body in the US.  There needs to be a serious reckoning, and the GOP needs to get fucked.

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atomheartbevo

atomheartbevo 90547

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Posted
5 minutes ago, PenelopeWitherspoon said:

Ole Mitch and Thune are desperate to return to power.  Someone who has been diagnosed with what Walker has, along with his CTE issues (come on, you know he has it), and whose education and intellect leave a lot to be desired, should have zero business holding office in the highest legislative body in the US.  There needs to be a serious reckoning, and the GOP needs to get fucked.

All that matters is the internal polling numbers they are seeing, which means they think Walker is their best shot.  

With that said, Walker being their best shot means the Dems have a chance to hold on to the seat, because he is not somebody you want to build a future power block around.

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PenelopeWitherspoon

PenelopeWitherspoon 19279

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8 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

All that matters is the internal polling numbers they are seeing, which means they think Walker is their best shot.  

With that said, Walker being their best shot means the Dems have a chance to hold on to the seat, because he is not somebody you want to build a future power block around.

Agreed.

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Longhorn_Fan68

Longhorn_Fan68 34079

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

All that matters is the internal polling numbers they are seeing, which means they think Walker is their best shot.  

With that said, Walker being their best shot means the Dems have a chance to hold on to the seat, because he is not somebody you want to build a future power block around.

blocking was never his strong suit

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bolverk

bolverk 30231

Posted
Posted

Party over country.

Also from the interview:

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Thursday that he won't commit to hearings for a potential Supreme Court nominee if he's the Senate Majority Leader leading up to the 2024 election.

Link to interview is at the bottom of the piece: https://www.axios.com/mcconnell-supreme-court-biden-gop-senate-8eeb99fa-bf73-42be-a649-a87f2737494b.html

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Chad Fuck

Chad Fuck 18091

Posted
Posted
12 minutes ago, bolverk said:

Party over country.

Also from the interview:

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Thursday that he won't commit to hearings for a potential Supreme Court nominee if he's the Senate Majority Leader leading up to the 2024 election.

Link to interview is at the bottom of the piece: https://www.axios.com/mcconnell-supreme-court-biden-gop-senate-8eeb99fa-bf73-42be-a649-a87f2737494b.html

"I say many things I'm sure people don't understand." 

The arrogance.  Fuuuuuck you Mitch.

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Satchel

Satchel 6982

Posted
Posted
18 minutes ago, bolverk said:

Party over country.

Also from the interview:

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Thursday that he won't commit to hearings for a potential Supreme Court nominee if he's the Senate Majority Leader leading up to the 2024 election.

Link to interview is at the bottom of the piece: https://www.axios.com/mcconnell-supreme-court-biden-gop-senate-8eeb99fa-bf73-42be-a649-a87f2737494b.html

Republicans have lost their way. They’re irredeemably unethical and immoral.

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