Comments

Is McConnell retiring? — 25 Comments

1. If true, good riddance indeed to “Cocaine Mitch” (and to the senile Feinstein as well)! Many will never forgive the GOPe turtle for having announced (not once, but twice!) that, in an ailing republic beset with multitudinous problems caused from within (“We have met the enemy, and he is us”), nothing was more important than our ill-advised and costly policy of support for the most corrupt regime in Europe.

2. Risk. Duely reminded. Opportunity knocks, but retromingency stings, too

3. Cornyn would be just the kind of disaster that could ooze his way into the position, that Republicans would vote for. I’ve been disgusted to have him as one of my Senators almost since he got into office. He’s got all the worst behaviors, including advocating for Red Flag laws, a Texan, no less.

   Mike Davis or Rand Paul, now there’s a couple of hard-backed Republicans that I could get solidly. It’ll never happen though, much to our discredit.

4. j e:

   No, McConnell never said that. The assertion that he said that is based on a truncated quote. I deal with the question in this post. Here’s my discussion of the fuller quote:

   To paraphase: he’s saying that the GOP got what it basically wanted for defense and at least didn’t get an increase for non-defense items (and even got a “real dollar cut” for non-defense items). Then he goes on to refer only to the defense side of the bill, and says we need to make sure the Defense Department can deal with “major threats” from Russia and China; that’s obviously not about Ukraine, because China is not involved there and he also has talked about China being a big defense issue in a related statement I’ve already quoted in this post. And then he adds “providing assistance for the Ukrainians to defeat the Russians.” When he then says “that’s the number one priority for the United States right now,” it should be clear that he means number one defense priority, and he’s speaking primarily of threats from both Russia and China to the US and then adding on the Ukraine part as a threat from Russia under the “defense against Russia” category.

   So what’s up with the truncated quote? Why make things even more bitter on the right than they already are, by not at least giving the context? I can almost guarantee most people so very angry about what he said will never learn what he actually said.

   There are many reasons to be angry with McConnell, but let’s stick to what he actually does and what he actually says.

   And here’s the actual McConnell quote, which also appears in that old post of mine:

   This omnibus bill — it’ll be on the floor — provides a real dollar increase for the Defense baseline and a real dollar cut for the non-Defense baseline — if you exclude veterans. That is absolutely critical and breaking the pattern we’ve had in the past when we’ve ended up in one of these situations where every time Republicans tried to get an increase in defense, we would in effect have to pay a ransom to the Democrats on the domestic side, wholly aside from the needs of the country. So let’s step back and say, “What are the real needs of the country right now?” In the defense part of our expenditures, making sure the Defense Department can deal with the major threats coming from Russia and China — providing assistance for the Ukrainians to defeat the Russians. That’s the number one priority for the United States right now — according to most Republicans. That’s sort of how we see the challenges confronting the country at the moment. So admittedly, I’m pretty proud of the fact that with a Democratic president, a Democratic House, and Democratic Senate, we were able to achieve through this omnibus spending bill, essentially all of our priorities.

5. Can’t say I’m thrilled about Cornyn or Thune. Barrasso sounds more promising.

6. Kentucky law on replacing the US Senator, in case of vacancy, was changed in 2021 by the legislature.
   https://spectrumnews1.com/ky/louisville/news/2021/03/03/ky–senate-passes-bill-restricting-selections-for-interim-u-s–senator

   Gov Beshear will have to choose one from a list of three, submitted by the R party. One imagines that they will mindful of Mitches dotage in doing so.

   GOOD TO KNOW.

7. Good ridden, hardly matters who replacement is since he seemed to be a Anti-Trump anyway.

8. shes more lucid, then half the dem delegation, now turtle, who has salvaged veruca salt (murkowski twice) who dinged the tea party then, and the maga caucus more recently,

9. As long as a KY court doesn’t rule the law to be unconstitutional.

   As for the new Senate leader, I’m assuming we end up with another Swamp Thing. I don’t think there’s enough Republican senators out of the Uniparty for anything else: there’s Rand Paul, and maybe Ted Cruz and Tom Cotton.

10. A lotta good neck meat being taken off the market but maybe the black market will be more assertive.

11. hawleys another, the new guy from north carolina, budd, the one from louisiana, kennedy but it gets thinner as you go into the ranks,

12. Aren’t there any questions about the constitutionality of that Kentucky law restricting the governor’s choices in filling a U. S. Senate vacancy? It seems doubtful to me but I’m not a lawyer.

13. I doubt the new squish will be as adept at selling out as Mitch was. His giving in to the Dems before the Republicans took office was unforgivable. I’ve never bought the idea he’s an asset, anyway.

    But having had shingles, I feel sorry for Chi-Fi.

14. Re j.e., nothing was more important than our ill-advised and costly policy of support for the most corrupt regime in Europe:

    Russia . . or Belarus?

15. Between McConnell and Cornyn, I rather have McConnell.

16. Roosia and Bellaroosia are fighting against the WEF, and Davos, and Soros except that Ukraine must be dealt with first, because, NATO!

17. Speaking of quotes, McConnell has declared Ukraine “the most important issue we face.” I wonder what that cost Z man ?

    The GOP Senate is hopeless. Paul or Hawley would be too good. No chance. 2024 is supposed to be a good year for the GOP in the Senate. I have no doubt they will figure out a way to lose.

18. McConnell is a ghastly character. He faced a vigorous primary challenge in 2014 and it’s regrettable he was not bounced at that time. Of course, he’s been Majority-Leader-for-Life because the Senate Republican caucus is so useless. His conduct in 2022 should have persuaded them to remove him, and there he is with the assent of all but 10 Republican senators.
    ==
    The professional history of Cornyn and Thune suggests they’ll be just as bad. Barasso has had a work life apart from electoral politics and political staff jobs, so should be preferred.

19. But having had shingles, I feel sorry for Chi-Fi.
    ==
    Feinstein was traveling between coasts while her husband was back in California expiring from cancer. The people who rule us are not normal.

20. Aren’t there any questions about the constitutionality of that Kentucky law restricting the governor’s choices in filling a U. S. Senate vacancy? It seems doubtful to me but I’m not a lawyer.
    ==
    The precedent is that the procedure for filling a vacancy can be delineated in state law. Of course, that’s void if the procedure might be beneficial to a Republican.

21. @j e

    On the whole well said, but..

    nothing was more important than our ill-advised and costly policy of support for the most corrupt regime in Europe.

    I’ll give you costly, and it is certainly not the most important issue (I am perhaps the resident Anti-Putin Hawk, but even I have stated I would give up Ukraine in an instant if I thought it would get our country back), but I do not believe it is Ill-advised, at least on the fundamentals. The Ukrainians have been helping us for about two decades and served with us in Iraq and Afghanistan, and we swore to support them against aggression in exchange for a host of things like denuclearization.

    Well, Putin decided to break Russia’s part of those agreements and invade the country…. While underlining how he really, really did not have a war machine prepared for a war this serious. I don’t know about you, but helping one of our great strategic enemies and a close partner of the CCP and Iran self-destruct on Ukrainian defenses is I think a rather cheap and beneficial policy to cripple a fervent enemy (well, more than he was already crippling himself). Lord knows we could use the credibility given Biden and co’s sell out in Afghanistan.

22. re: Paul

    I was in a very busy airport last year on one of the concourses waiting for a connecting flight. I noticed Rand Paul make a purchase at the same shop and go sit by himself near the window. No security, no aides that I could see. I walked up to him just to tell him I fully supported him and appreciated what he did for the country. A short exchange and I moved on to give him space (I’ve never understood how people feel like they can monopolize someone else’s time simply because they recognize them as famous).

    I found it sad that no one around us seemed to know who he was. And that he felt comfortable without security given the vicious attack he suffered.

23. well you look at how he favored murkowski who is good for nothing, over kshibaka, deploying monies away from races that were worthy, in 2010, he helped her win over miller, now the delaware race never goes anywhere, but he and rove collaborated in knee capping the tea party,

    isn’t it crystal clear they are in on the destruction of this country, because orange man bad,

24. like the vacancy law in massachussetts, changed more time than you can count, then again what is the point of a charlie baker,

25. she hired a chinese asset as her driver and office manager, but barbara lee, she was?? a soviet asset, katie porter, only more vaccuous, i forget who is the third contender,

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