Ditch Mitch KY

The story that Senator Mitch McConnell is trying to be an “absentee” leader has legs: nationwide legs

Matt Gunterman July 17th, 2007

Wow. Wow. WOW!

You know, the ultimate goal of the wider Ditch Mitch movement is to defeat Senator Mitch McConnell at the ballot box in November 2008.

However, our penultimate goal is to ensure that, defeat or no defeat at the ballot box, the nation comes to know Mitch McConnell for what he really is: a smarmy, self-interested, bile-infested, money-grubbing, influence-mongering redneck from Alabama. We are making certain that the legacy of McConnell is exactly the one his filthy career deserves.

And, while we’re well on our way to accomplishing both objectives, we’re really getting across the latter point these days.

This article from the Associated Press’s Julie Hirschfeld Davis highlights several important aspects. I’m linking to the article as it appeared in Forbes.

GOP Senator Walks a Narrow Line on Iraq

WASHINGTON - Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell was conspicuous by his absence when key Republicans met with White House officials last week on how to limit party defections on Iraq.

And weeks earlier he had raised eyebrows among some of his colleagues by disappearing into the woodwork in the immigration debate, then voting against President Bush’s plan.

Lately, the laconic Kentuckian who is supposed to be Bush’s point man on Capitol Hill has been anything but.

McConnell - a stern-faced strategist in a chamber full of bombastic orators - has never been the type to seek the spotlight, and his allies say his recent approach is in keeping with his low-key style.

Stung by the criticism that he was being an absentee leader, McConnell struck back late last week, moving daily strategy meetings on Iraq into his Capitol office suite, rushing to join news conferences and schedule TV appearances, and making a rare impromptu stop in the Capitol to chat with reporters on the war.

“I don’t know how visible visible is, but I’ve had numerous meetings - I met with the president (July 11) on the subject, I’m involved in working the votes on the floor. I think you’re being spun on this issue,” said McConnell.

[...]

Still, McConnell is battling a perception among some top Republicans that he has shrunk from the debate on Iraq - just as he did on immigration - in efforts to insulate himself on a difficult issue that could affect his own re-election.

McConnell - like many of the Senate Republicans who have distanced themselves from Bush’s war policy - is to face voters in 2008. He won his last election with 65 percent of the vote in Kentucky, but with the political climate for Republicans deteriorating, the leader could be particularly vulnerable to charges that he has marched in lockstep with Bush.

“McConnell knows he can’t take anything for granted, and he doesn’t,” said Al Cross, who runs a rural journalism center at the University of Kentucky. “The immigration vote was the real signal that he knows he’s not a shoo-in for re-election.”

[...]

Privately, however, some Republicans and their top aides express alarm that McConnell has recently hung back on more divisive issues, allowing party rifts to be highlighted and weakening Bush’s position where he can least afford it.

In many cases, Sens. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., who chairs the party’s communications operation, and Trent Lott, R-Miss., the whip, have instead taken the lead. It was Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who stepped in to organize daily strategy sessions on Iraq last week before McConnell began holding them in his office.

[...]

“I have a number of my members who are in favor of it, and out of respect for them, I’m not going to announce how I’m going to vote - yet,” McConnell said late last week, with the plan still emerging.

That’s little comfort to the White House as it tries to beat back the idea that Republican support for Bush’s war policy is eroding by the day.

“The White House needs him badly right now, but McConnell’s first constituency is his colleagues,” said John J. Pitney, a Claremont McKenna College political scientist. “If they’re expecting a minority leader who’s going to fall on his sword for the White House and sacrifice Republicans seats, they’re not going to find anybody. McConnell is the best that they’re going to get.”