Blog Credo

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

H.L. Mencken

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Mitch McConnell Is A Loathsome Toad

Mitch McConnell vs. the Truth Bus

Odious and repellant looking Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-Liarsville) has unveiled the latest attack on Obama.  Breathtaking in its cynicism, stunning in its disregard for the truth, this latest attack is a perfect encapsulation of the GOP approach to politics.

Mitch the Toad says that Obama got everything he wanted from Congress.  Now, he amends that to include only the first two years, since even a liar like McConnell will not try and convince people that the current Monkey House has done anything but snoop around the uteruses of America and fundraise.

No, his argument is that from 2009 to 2011, Obama got everything he wanted from Congress.

I'm sure you remember how he muscled through the Stimulus Bill he wanted, got the public option, repealed the Bush tax cuts on the wealthy, initiated Cap and Trade and closed Gitmo.  Heady times!

In fact, Mitch the Human Toad created the measurably worst Senate in history when it came to obstructing a legislative agenda.  The creation of a de facto 60 vote minimum in the Senate meant that a small coterie of Senators in what passes for the Center were given effective veto power over any proposal.  Conservative Democrats like Ben Nelson, Mary Landrieu and Blanche Lincoln combined with Republicans like Olympia Snowe and Joe Lieberman and Arlen Spector to water down almost every single proposal.

The stimulus as planned was too small; the Senate made it smaller.  The public option died in the cloying embrace of Nelson and Lieberman.  Repeal of the Bush tax cuts on the wealthy and Cap and Trade went nowhere, dead before they hit the Senate floor.

And let's remember that the Democratic 60 vote majority lasted about 7 months.  The GOP extended the Minnesota recount for as long as possible in order to deny Al Franken the Democrats 60th seat for as long as possible.  And Scott Brown was elected in January of 2010.

So, the GOP played a game of delay and obstruction throughout Obama's first 24 months in office.  They then lie about it, counting on the short term memory of the American people, the complete impotence and ignorance of the official press corps and the inability of the Democrats to stand up and call a lie a lie.

This calls to mind Churchill's famous line, "Democracy is the worst form of government except for all the others."

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