Another GOP Fraud
by Steve
Self-perpetuating myths run rampant inside the Beltway, and can continue for years as long as political reporters are willing to peddle the narratives despite evidence to the contrary. A current example is the alleged political acumen and legislative prowess of Mitch McConnell, who got fluffed today in the Washington Post by Paul Kane, who would have us believe that the lack of progress in the fiscal curb negotiations requires the intrusion of the master, Mitch McConnell to save the day.
“There’s no one better around here at coming up with solutions to complicated problems. He’s an expert at coming up with creative ways out of the binds we find ourselves in,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.), who is becoming McConnell’s top deputy as minority whip.
Yes, it’s always easy to get a fawning comment from a lackey to back up your central thesis, if you are willing to overlook that it was McConnell who hatched the GOP’s strategy of denying Obama anything during his first term even if it meant sinking the economy. That strategy worked out well, as evidenced by Congress’s current approval rating and the GOP’s losses last month. So now what is Kane peddling as McConnell’s possible contribution to resolving the current “crisis”?
Not known for his patience, McConnell weeks ago decided to do what he often does — skip ahead to the last chapter — even as Boehner still reached for a deal with Obama.
According to senators and aides, he told Senate Republicans that Obama had them cornered and taxes would go up on everyone if they did nothing, an outcome that polls showed the public would blame on Republicans. McConnell believed that Republicans would be better positioned to fight for more spending cuts and entitlement reforms in February, when Obama will be forced to seek another increase in the federal debt ceiling.
Yeah, that should work out well for Republicans. Hold the country’s credit rating hostage – again – until the electorate agrees to hurt itself with Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid cuts, even though none of those programs have contributed to our current debt problem, which is largely caused by the Bush tax cuts, the Bush wars, and the Bush recession. Yet here is McConnell, the alleged GOP master according to Kane and the rest of the Beltway scribes, with a plan guaranteed to fail once again.