Tag: mitch mcconnell

#rsrh Mitch McConnell… discusses… National Popular Vote.

(Via Hot Air Headlines) I don’t particularly want to muck with the Senate Majority Leader’s play, here – but I’m not particularly worried about the National Popular Vote*, and here’s why:

So far, California, seven other states, and the District of Columbia (all of which have large Democratic majorities) have passed legislation taking the National Popular Vote pledge. Those states and D.C. account for 132 electoral votes. The compact says it is to take effect when states with a total of at least 270 electoral votes have agreed to it.

Continue reading #rsrh Mitch McConnell… discusses… National Popular Vote.

#rsrh Shocker: Speaker Boehner, Senate Minority Leader McConnell…

…apparently get along well.

I presume that the goal of the New York Times here is to try to get Republicans currently riled at McConnell also riled at Boehner, and vice versa.  Which is their privilege as an unofficial, yet obvious Democratic party house organ; but I fail to see why the obvious truth that the two men have decided to work together is such a surprise.  As Samuel Johnson once noted:

Depend upon it, sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.

…and God knows that four years of Democratic control of Congress and three of the Presidency have certainly done much to slowly strangle the fiscal life out of the country already.  That the two top Republicans in Congress have decided in response to act like adults and not like spoiled, petulant children is hardly newsworthy, is it?

(pause)

Don’t answer that.

Moe Lane

(Via Hot Air Headlines)

#rsrh QotD, That’s a Damn*d Lie edition.

From Joshua Green’s otherwise enjoyably-peeved article (“Strict Obstructionist*”) on Mitch McConnell:

Nobody anticipated the Republican swing only two years later…

That’s a damned lie.  The entire party has been planning a “Republican swing” since roughly two seconds after we heard the President tell us “I won.”  And Senator McConnell – who I still have some fondness for as a politician – had damned little to do with leading the charge.

I swear to God, these people are desperate to find a Republican leader to attack, once and for all.  Can they freaking wait until the primaries are over, at least?

Via Ben Smith.

Moe Lane

QotD, excellent advice edition.

From a New Hampshire Union Leader editorial crediting the Tea Party with ensuring that Senate Minority Leader McConnell would refuse to play ball on the Omnibus:

The truth is that without the constant vigilance currently provided by what can loosely be called the Tea Party movement, Republicans would be just as happy as Democrats to squander taxpayer money. They are only acting frugal now because they know they’re being closely watched, so keep watching.

For the rest of your lives, in fact: civic duty never ends.  Just in case nobody’s ever mentioned that.

(H/T: Real Clear Politics)

Moe Lane (crosspost)

QotD, Mitch McConnell edition.

Interesting gambit from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell here.

“Over the past week, some have said it was indelicate of me to suggest that our top political priority over the next two years should be to deny President Obama a second term in office,” Mr. McConnell says. “But the fact is, if our primary legislative goals are to repeal and replace the health spending bill; to end the bailouts; cut spending; and shrink the size and scope of government, the only way to do all these things it is to put someone in the White House who won’t veto any of these things. We can hope the President will start listening to the electorate after Tuesday’s election. But we can’t plan on it.”

You see, in some ways this is a bit disingenuous; when it comes to killing bad bills and worse existing legislation, Congress has more tricks at its disposal than is commonly admitted*.  Two-century old legislatures usually do.  The question is going to be, will the Senate minority back up the new House majority when the latter uses some of those tricks?  – Because I’ve talked to about a third of the new House freshman Republican class directly, and they have all said the same thing: they have plans when they get to Washington, DC.  Plans that usually involve getting rid of Obamacare.  And I imagine that the rest have similar sentiments.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

*Mostly involving funding.

Sen Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and the ‘big mistake’ of the stimulus.

(H/T: Instapundit) He does a discreet amount of I-told-you-so in this bit about just how useless that ‘stimulus’ package was for the economy:

…which is perfectly within his rights to do so, given that he turned out to be correct. But it’s actually not too late to do something about that; as Senator Kyl (R-AZ) notes, we’ve not even spent 10% of the money allocated as of yet. We could stop, reset, and try again with something that’s something more than merely a vast payoff for Democrat-friendly groups and factions.  Something efficient, cheaper, and targeted with specific goals in mind.  Easiest thing in the world to do, really.

All the President has to do is get up there and admit that he was wrong, and that we were right, and he needs our help to fix his mess.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.