Mitch McConnell, the man who broke America

[MBS]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/mitch-mcconnell-the-man-who-broke-america/2017/04/07/8e12f1d8-1bbd-11e7-9887-1a5314b56a08_story.html?

By rights, McConnell’s tombstone should say that he presided over the end of the Senate. And I’d add a second line: “He broke America.” No man has done more in recent years to undermine the functioning of U.S. government. His has been the epitome of unprincipled leadership, the triumph of tactics in service of short-term power. After McConnell justified his filibuster-ending “nuclear option” by saying it would be beneficial for the Senate, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said this: “Whoever says that is a stupid idiot.”

. . .

Back in 1994, McConnell lamented to the conservative Heritage Foundation that Republicans hadn’t used the filibuster enough: “I am a proud guardian of gridlock. I think gridlock is making a big comeback in the country.” For the next quarter-century, he made sure of it. Back then he was fighting all attempts at campaign-finance reform and spending limits, championing disclosure of contributions as the antidote. But when the Supreme Court allowed unlimited “dark money” in campaigns without disclosure, McConnell reversed course and has fought all attempts to enact disclosure.
. ..
McConnell famously declared in 2010: “The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.”ProPublica’s Alec MacGillis, author of a McConnell biography, “The Cynic,” reports former Republican senator Robert Bennett’s account of what McConnell told fellow Republicans after Obama’s election: “Mitch said, ‘We have a new president with an approval rating in the 70 percent area. We do not take him on frontally. We find issues where we can win, and we begin to take him down, one issue at a time. We create an inventory of losses, so it’s Obama lost on this, Obama lost on that.’ ” And that’s what he did. By 2013, for example, 79 of Obama’s nominees had been blocked by filibusters, compared with 68 in the entire previous history of the Republic. After Justice Antonin Scalia’s death was confirmed last year, it took McConnell less than an hour to say that the vacancy should be filled by the next president. He called keeping Obama’s nominee off the court “one of my proudest moments.”

While other Republicans have at times been willing to criticize President Trump’s outrages, McConnell has been conspicuously quiescent. Although his predecessors at least attempted collegiality, McConnell practices no such niceties . . .In the current cycle of partisan escalation, it’s only a matter of time before the filibuster is abolished for all legislation, killing the tradition of unlimited debate in the Senate dating back to 1789. The Founders did this so minority rights would be respected and consensus could be formed — and McConnell is undoing it. Two years ago, when a Democrat was in the White House, McConnell said he would only abolish filibusters of Supreme Court justices if there were 67 votes for such a change. This week, he employed a maneuver to do it with 51 votes. It suited his momentary needs, but the damage will remain long after McConnell’s tombstone is engraved.

[joet67]

1. "...root and branch", my ass. As far as I'm concerned he deserves to have

a debilitating aneurysm on live tv, but only if it doesn't take his life but instead makes him drool for duration as he sits in his own fecces in a wheel chair somewhere. Hate to sound so brash, but I was inspired by a fairly new poster who just today told them like it is.

I feel the same way about Rush Limpballs, who deserves the same fate. Ideally, the two of them would be in the same nursing home shitting on each other all day.

Sorry I can't be a little more restrained, but there really isn't much to talk about, politics-wise now that we have a completely broken system of government. We are about an inch and a half from being a completely politically-failed state, give or take an inch. McConnell is the proximate cause of most of it, and Limpballs sure did a psychological number on the sheep.

[Dustlawyer]

15. +1!!!! Right there with you on this!

I don't believe in Heaven or Hell so I would like McChinless to spend his remaining time here on earth in a living Hell, he more than deserves it for what he has done to the people of this country!

People of Kentucky who voted for this SOB all of these years, you have a lot to answer for. When you saw this turtle head poking out you kept sending him to DC. After all that he has done you just re-elected this bastard who keeps screwing you! Now he is making sure you lose your health care and have a SCOTUS pick that will rule in favor of the wealthy and corporations over you for the next 40 years. He is overturning a protection instituted by the Founding Fathers when he doesn't rate enough to carry their wigs. He is tearing our country down and making it a fascists utopia!

I hope those that voted for him all lose their government benefits!

[RainCaster]

38. How would we know?

This brain dead asshole has not exhibited a single sign of humanity in his entire life. How would we know that his brain has stopped functioning?

[oasis]

2. Mitch M is such a sorry sack of dog excrement.

[PdxSean]

3. Good grief, Kentucky. WTF?

To see one man, unchecked, cause so much misery and hate. Even the Tin Man had a "heart," but McConnell is the embodiment of a human shell - utterly empty on the inside.

[FailureToCommunicate]

12. Yeah, what is it about Kentucky?

Gov Matt Bevin:

?1473777974

[democratisphere]

4. There is a special place in hell reserved for Mitch McConnell for his two-faced​,

hypocritical, destructive, anti-democracy, smarmy, greedmongering, smirk-faced behavior. You get what you give.

[MBS]

5. You bet. n/t

[Soxfan58]

7. I believe in karma

I hope he faces his hell in this life.

[caroldansen]

6. However, 61 senators signed a petition including some republicans on it to give to him

to put it back. He has one more chance to be a halfway decent person. We'll see. P.S. But dont hold your breath.!!!!!!

[BumRushDaShow]

8. "He has one more chance to be a halfway decent person."

Not happening. That Grinch will never repent. He either needs to be impeached or voted out of office (and that is up to the people of KY).

[Soxfan58]

9. Typical !

Repugs, like my Sen Collins vote to repeal the fillibuster so they can get their asshole on the court ,then say it so important we need it back for the good of the institution. What till the next supreme court justice?

[dae]

21. The repubs that signed that letter just as soon wipe their collective

arses with a copy. I hope I'm around when karma catches up with Mitchy and the rest.

[C_eh_N_eh_D_eh]

10. That wasn't to reinstate the filibuster.

That was to preserve the filibuster on *legislation*. The nuclear option we just saw only applied to SCOTUS nominees.

[Volaris]

24. I have a feeling that won't last.

As soon as some Dem senator mentions how factually horrid their 'tax reform' bill is and suggests it should be filibustered, the idiots will nuke legislative filibuster, too.

I wish them much success; godspeed and good fucking riddance to them. Removing the legislative filibuster is handing Democrats the sword needed to carve the GOP body politic into the regional pieces they so rightly deserve to be, and in so doing save this nations future from the worst excesses of our Village Idiots.

Please proceed, Mitch. PLEASE.

[dem4decades]

11. Failed to mention his role in electing Russia's favorite candidate to the White House.

When Obama wanted a bipartisan message on the Russian hacking McConnell said NO. Fuck him, I hope the history books reflect how he destroyed America.

[Volaris]

30. That's because McCONnell was in on the heist.

Every single reputable poll had Hillary winning. No way in hell would he have held the SCOTUS seat open unless he had reason to believe that a democratic president WOULDNT get to fill it. He KNEW.

Because his chickenshit, treasonous, turtle ass was in on it.

[stuffmatters]

36. Yep, Trump solidified Mitch's collusion by promising his wife Chao Sec'y of Transportation

Last edited Sat Apr 8, 2017, 07:51 PM - Edit history (1)

Funny how Mitch all of a sudden went "Full Trump," strongarmed, menaced Obama, the CIA and FBI away from making public the investigation on Trump and Russian campaign connex; then Mitch's Wife turned up with probably the richest slush ,graft
Cabinet position of all once Trump (with Mitch's help) gets through their Privatized Infrastructure Bill.

[pegisue74]

42. This guy is dirty

I will never forget how this chinless, spiteful,piece of feces treated my President. I live in Ky. I am a small blue dot. I want to spit in his face! I hope this SOB dies a slow painful death. Yes, I will declare a national holiday when this bastard dies. I don't know what its going to take to take him down. The people of Ky are not educated enough to see beyond their Fox news. Heaven help us. I am scared of whats to come. President Obama made me feel safe. I trusted his judgements and respected his intelligence.

[dalton99a]

13. It's a shame that only the good die young

and evil people live forever

[bronxiteforever]

14. I hope they install his official portrait in all capital urinals

Such an evil grifter.

[dae]

23. Once the old bastard is dead and buried Democrats should make it

mandatory to piss on his grave. No pilgrimage, not a Dem.

[RainCaster]

39. We could do that

Simply print up a crate of urinal screens with a picture of the turtle on it. Or better yet, we could sell them on this site. We used to sell the coolest swag for DU here - whatever happened to that shop?

[delisen]

16. We are in a war with Russia and we are in a Civil war with Republican Party

Russian and Republicans began working together working together against us during the last election cycle.

Most Americans don't yet realize what has been happening; It is best to face facts as Mitch O'Connell did when he decided to oppose Obama.

As cited above by the OP: “Mitch said, ‘We have a new president with an approval rating in the 70 percent area. We do not take him on frontally. We find issues where we can win, and we begin to take him down, one issue at a time. We create an inventory of losses, so it’s Obama lost on this, Obama lost on that.’ ” And that’s what he did. By 2013, for example, 79 of Obama’s nominees had been blocked by filibusters, compared with 68 in the entire previous history of the Republic. After Justice Antonin Scalia’s death was confirmed last year, it took McConnell less than an hour to say that the vacancy should be filled by the next president. He called keeping Obama’s nominee off the court “one of my proudest moments.”

First steps for us: 1. Acknowledge the aims, strength and brutality of the the forces against us.
2. Do not underestimate the power of those forces. They are not stupid. They have been gaining strength for decades. They see victory in sight and are not going to compromise.
3. Understand that the power of the people is vast but hidden.
4. Be prepared for surprise attacks and the talent of the opposition in using unanticipated events to their advantage.
5. Understand that people are free to vote against what you perceive to be their economic self interest. People are multi-dimensional-not simple cogs in an economic machine.
6. Accept the fact that a percentage of people, about 20-25% are authoritarian by nature-a free democracy will always be a challenge for them. They rise up against democracy and seek Strongmen to rule when they fear things are out of control.
Their needs are emotional. They prefer a smaller paycheck in an ordered society rather than a bigger paycheck in a disorderly one. They are willing to sacrifice money for perception of order.

[gordianot]

18. You nailed it! +1000

[BlancheSplanchnik]

45. And they'll always go for the short-term power/profit....

They're incapable of thinking about the long-term consequences to others. Nothing exists outside of their own immediate cravings. NOTHING.

McCONnell...the ugly little buzzard-turd who's been dreaming of revenge since he was an ugly, rotten, conniving little kid that everyone hated. I'd love to hear what he was like from people unfortunate enough to have known him.

[delisen]

47. I would like to know more too--bizarre that his first wife is feminist.

She would seem to have made a much better senator.

I haven't been able to get a handle on how this self-important well-fed men in Congress can do the really horrible things they are doing to the children in our country, withholding health care, pollution, lead poisoning.

[yuiyoshida]

17. He had a lot of help though

and the Republicans are spending huge vasts amounts of money, on the rich life. Tax payer money being looted straight from the Treasury.

[JudyM]

19. His tombstone cant be engraved soon enough.

If only.

[dae]

22. I second your emotion JudyM. I have long thought McConnell the

most despicable Republican of all and that is quite an accomplishment.

[JudyM]

33. Definitely. It's astounding that we let him get away with it all. Vicious, depraved S.o.B.

If only ...

[Chasstev365]

20. A treasonous pig!

Anyone at the infamous meeting on Jan 21, 2009, who vowed to obstruct everything President Obama would try to do should have been voted out of office.

McConnell (one of the ring leaders of that meeting) loathes the rule of law and average Americans. His a self rightious grifter. Echoing an earlier post, WTF, Kentucky?

[Frequent Ranter]

25. I Truly, Deeply, Passionately Hate That Man

That is, if a reanimated mummy can even be called a man!

[elleng]

26. Repug tactics:

'We do not take him on frontally. We find issues where we can win, and we begin to take him down, one issue at a time. We create an inventory of losses, so it’s Obama lost on this, Obama lost on that.’ ” And that’s what he did. By 2013, for example, 79 of Obama’s nominees had been blocked by filibusters, compared with 68 in the entire previous history of the Republic. After Justice Antonin Scalia’s death was confirmed last year, it took McConnell less than an hour to say that the vacancy should be filled by the next president. He called keeping Obama’s nominee off the court “one of my proudest moments.”'

[msdogi]

27. alison lundergan grimes

Kentucky had a good chance to dump McConnell, Democrats did not turn out to vote. I am hopeful for 2018.

[Docreed2003]

28. It'll be a grand day...

Last edited Sat Apr 8, 2017, 12:07 PM - Edit history (1)

When I can buy the most expensive bottle of Kentucky bourbon at my local package store and make the drive north to Kentucky to piss all over that tombstone. I'm not typically a nasty person, but I truly wish the absolute worst on the evil bastard. A debilitating stroke, as the first poster said, would be too kind of a start for karmic repayment of all his atrocities. That smug, racist, evil SOB deserves the worst the world has to offer.

[SledDriver]

29. He should be filleted from his asshole...

And then some...

And when that turtle motherfucker dies, there should be a urinal over his gravesite... not porta-potty, a urinal... FUCKING TRAITOR!

[LakeArenal]

31. It's not Russia. It's oligarchs...

Rich white men raping the planet and its people.

It began with Reagan.

Henry Kissinger: Control Oil And You Control Nations. Control Food And You Control The People. With privatization they are getting closer to controlling everything.

Trickle Down, my ass.

The Russian people are in the same boat as us. If only we could coordinate the resistance with them. It is the people who will die in their staged wars. Young people. But it will be the oligarchs that reap the profit of the "military industrial complex".

[Nitram]

32. McConnell's name will live in infamy. If the republic survives him.

[CrispyQ]

34. I want to see McConnell in an orange jumpsuit even more than Trump. -nt

[lastlib]

43. Second only to Cheney and G.W. SToopidSon

And presiDunce Tinyhands

[bluedigger]

35. Honorable mention goes to Kentucky's voters.

Thanks a ton, you douchenozzles.

[Thor_MN]

37. My bucket list of graves to piss on just keeps getting longer.

For Chinless Mitch, I think I'd have some asparagus first, even though I don't care for it.

[joanbarnes]

40. ...and he's ugly too.

[flying-skeleton]

44. BRAVO !!

[dlk]

46. The Banality of Evil

Every time I see McConnell's face, I'm reminded of the phrase, "the banality of evil." He looks so benign and, yet, has caused untold damage to our democracy for years. He is truly the face of evil!

[yurbud]

52. he looks like a benign tumor in an inconvenient place

[cstanleytech]

48. Personally I would not be surprised if Mitch was one of the people in bed with the Russian and

coordinating what to leak and when to leak it.

[world wide wally]

49. I only have 3 things to say

1} Fuck McConnell
2} Fuck Republicans
3} Fuck Kentucky

P.S.
Fuck deplorables

[SergeStorms]

50. ...."the damage will remain long after McConnells tombstone is engraved".

It can't be engraved soon enough for my liking.

[JHan]

51. This needs to be the thing that defines his "Legacy" forever.