Terri Whitehouse January 8th, 2008

The Courier-Journal’s James R. Carroll reports that the government agency in charge of enforcing campaign spending laws is unable to do so, thanks in no small part to Sen. Mitch McConnell’s well-documented obstructionism:

With only two commissioners in place since the start of the new year, the FEC is unable to issue finance rulings, file suits or levy penalties for violations of the campaign laws. Four votes are required for any decision.

McConnell insisted last month that the Senate vote on all four nominees together, including one who has drawn criticism for his previous work in the Department of Justice’s civil-rights division.

That nominee, Hans von Spakovsky, came under fire from Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., a presidential hopeful, and others for advocating policies in Texas and Georgia that critics said undermined voting rights.

…

[Fred] Wertheimer said McConnell has effectively shut down the commission.

“It leaves us appearing to be a banana republic,” Wertheimer said. “It is simply irresponsible for this commission to be shut down when we are on the eve of the Iowa caucuses, to be followed shortly by the New Hampshire primary and in a month by Super Tuesday.”

• 2008 KY U.S. Senate Race , Campaign Finance Reform , Minimum Wage , Obstructionism
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Matt Gunterman August 27th, 2007

Ryan Alessi over at the Herald-Leader’s PolWatcher’s blog, has this fantastic installment on the rather juicy connection between former Republican gubernatorial candidate and potential primary opponent to Senator Mitch McConnell (R) and Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid (D).

In short, they’re law school buddies, but don’t think this association would necessarily hurt Forgy in a Kentucky GOP race. The key is to understand how hated Mitch McConnell is in substantial factions of the Kentucky GOP (he’s very hated). In a primary election where turnout among McConnell Republicans might be suppressed because their man is the embodiment of everything about their party that turns their stomach these days and Forgy loyalists who hate McConnell with a passion and will turnout if for no other reason to cause McConnell trouble, it will be an interesting election.

An odd couple?

The prospect of a Republican primary next year between U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell — the Republican leader in the Senate — and former gubernatorial candidate Larry Forgy continues to capture the imagination of Kentucky political observers and has sparked any number of conspiracy theories.

Perhaps the most far-reaching game of connect-the-dots leads to the Senate’s top Democrat, Harry Reid of Nevada, who is an old law school buddy of Forgy.

Forgy has been rumbling all summer about potentially challenging McConnell, and last week he lobbed criticism at McConnell in a Washington Times article.

Forgy says his interest has nothing to do with his longtime friendship with Reid.

Forgy and Reid’s relationship dates to their time at George Washington University law school together in the 1960s. Reid graduated in 1964, while Forgy, who took a semester off to campaign for Kentucky U.S. Sen. Thurston Morton, got his degree in ‘65.

“Harry and I both worked our way through law school,” Forgy said. Both served in the U.S. Capitol security detail, working 4 p.m. to midnight.

“We were very close,” Forgy said.

Later, Forgy’s son, John, worked in Reid’s U.S. Senate office in Washington while attending the University of Georgetown.

And Forgy wrote a $1,000 check to Reid’s re-election campaign in 1998 — the same year McConnell served as chairman of the National Senatorial Campaign Committee that was trying to beat Reid and other Democrats. Reid ended up beating Republican U.S. Rep. John Ensign by about 500 votes that year.

The only other federal candidate in the last decade to whom Forgy has contributed was his sister, state Sen. Alice Forgy Kerr of Lexington, who ran for Congress in 2004. Ironically, it was McConnell’s key staff members — chief of staff Billy Piper and press secretary Julie Adams — who took time away from Washington to run that campaign.

Reid’s office declined to comment.

Forgy maintains that his frustration with McConnell stems from the senator’s reluctance to endorse Fletcher during the GOP primary and unwillingness last week to echo Fletcher’s opposition to casino gambling, which is the main message of the governor’s re-election campaign.

“The reason I have strong feelings about Sen. McConnell is the way he’s treated Gov. Fletcher. It’s that simple. If he helps Gov. Fletcher in this campaign and doesn’t sit down on him over there in Louisville, then he doesn’t have a problem with me,” Forgy said.

“Harry Reid has nothing to do with this,” he added.

McConnell has remained mum on Forgy.

But he is in the middle of a weeklong fund-raising circuit on Fletcher’s behalf that includes a Louisville fund-raiser last Thursday and events in Owensboro tonight and Lexington on Tuesday.

- Ryan Alessi

• 2008 KY U.S. Senate Race , Larry Forgy , Minimum Wage
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Joe Sonka July 13th, 2007

I was listening Kimberly Strassel of the Wall Street Journal this morning on CSPAN as she spewed out a bucketful of phony right-wing talking points. One of them was that the new Democratic Congress was a "do nothing" Congress, because they couldn’t get anything passed. The blame, of course, was on the Democrats, because they were just being too darned partisan and not compromising (i.e., giving in to whatever Republicans want).

Mimikatz at The Next Hurray swats this dishonest talking point into the third row, citing a detailed report by the Senate Democrats and calling out our boy Mitch in the process.

"Many people do not know that it is due to him that the Senate has accomplished virtually nothing, while the House has passed over 400 pieces of legislation.   Even bills that have been passed by a majority of both houses cannot become law because Bad Boy McConnell will not allow a vote on sending them to a conference committee.  We all know that McConnell would not allow a vote on the Webb-Hagel Amendment, leading Majority Leader Harry Reid to file a cloture motion that needed 60 votes.  Since the Dems had only 56 votes, debate could not be closed off and there was no vote on the substance of  Webb-Hagel.  McConnell promises the same on Levin-Reed and Feingold-Reid."

And let’s take a look at all of the important legislation that the House Democrats have passed, only to be obstructed by "nuclear option filibuster Mitch":

Senate Republicans blocked funding for the intelligence community  (National Journal Congress Daily, 4/18/07), …denying our country the tools to fight the war on terror. (DPC Report)

Senate Republicans blocked a vote on reforming the Medicare Prescription Drug plan“ (Boston Globe, 4/19/07) and denied seniors lower prescription drug prices. (DPC Report)

Senate Republicans blocked raising the minimum wage (New York Times, 1/25/07) delaying a much needed raise for hard-working Americans. (DPC Report)

Senate Republicans are blocking the appointment of conferees on the 9/11 Commission Recommendations (DPC Report)  leaving the United States vulnerable to terrorist threats.  (Washington Times, 3/14/07)

Senate Republicans are blocking the appointment of conferees on ethics reform  (DPC Report)  halting progress on the “most significant ethics reform since Watergate.” (Washington Post, 1/19/07)

Senate Republicans are blocking a bill to bring transparency to campaign fundraising  (The Washington Post, 05/09/07) denying the American people the right to know who funds Senate campaigns.  (Washington Post, 5/9/07)

Senate Republicans blocked a vote on holding Attorney General Gonzales accountable (Reuters, 06/11/07)  refusing to hold the Attorney General accountable. 

Senate Republicans blocked legislation to make forming unions easier  (Associated Press, 06/15/07)  siding with corporations against average American workers.  (DPC Report)

It’s quite clear that McConnell and his Grand Obstructionist Party (like Dewitt) are simply going to try to knock down any legislation that the Democrats and the American public want. Then, after grinding all legislation to a halt, they’ll simply sit back and criticize the Democrats for not getting anything done.

Will the MSM pick up this talking point? I think we all know the answer to that. The Democrats need to stay on the offensive and call out McConnell and his fellow obstructionists for blocking the legislation that America overwhelmingly wants and needs: change in our Iraq policy, lowering prescription drug prices, enacting the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, campaign fundraising reform and ethics reform. If the public can realize the nuance of this legislative process and how it is being manipulated by Mitch & Co. (and I’m sure they’re banking on Americans not being smart enough to figure this out), they’ll know that if they want this kind of reform to pass, they’ll just need to give the Democrats a bigger majority.

(crossposted at BlueGrassRoots)

UPDATE: from CoolerKing in comments, a great YouTube clip highlighting the Republican obstructionists:

• Filibuster , Health Care , Homeland Security , Iraq War , Medicare Part D , Minimum Wage , Mitch McConnell , Prescription Drugs , Senate Minority Leader , U.S. Senate
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Shawn Dixon June 27th, 2007

Kos front-paged a really powerful You Tube Video about Republican obstructionism in the Senate. Since the Democrats took power last Novemeber, the Republicans have managed to block progress on every key bills the Democrats offer aimed at helping middle class families.

As you will see in the video, sadly, Mitch McConnell is leading the charge to block important legislation in the name of big business.

• Minimum Wage , Mitch McConnell , Money-Grubbing , Uncategorized
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Jim Pence May 11th, 2007

Reporters ask questions and Senator Mitch McConnell stands there like a deer in the headlights and not knowing what to say or what to do until Senator Trent Lott bails him out.

• Minimum Wage , Senate Minority Leader
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Matt Gunterman April 25th, 2007

Media Matters highlights this outlandish bit of on-air racism from Fox News Radio’s John Gibson. Sadly, Senator Mitch McConnell has been using a similarly racist line of argument about Iraqis for months now. McConnell has to fire up his base, and that base is made up of every sort of racist and bigot this nation has to offer; it eats this stuff up.

Fox’s Gibson: U.S. invasion “unmasked” Iraqis as “knuckle-dragging savages from the 10th century”

On the April 23 broadcast of his Fox News Radio show, John Gibson argued that the Iraqi people — whom he described as “knuckle-dragging savages from the 10th century” — are at “fault” for the situation in Iraq.

While discussing Iraq, Gibson said: “The one thing that drives me up the wall is [people] saying, ‘Look at all the deaths you Americans have caused in Iraq.’ No! ‘Scuse me? We invaded the place, we knocked over Saddam, and then Iraqis began killing each other.”

Later in the show, Gibson agreed with a caller that the Coalition Provisional Authority’s 2003 decision to purge the civil service of all former members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party and disband the Iraqi army “was a mistake.”

Gibson then stated: “[B]ut who is doing this killing? Give me a break. These are Iraqis killing each other. So what did we do? If you’re saying it’s our fault that we unmasked them as knuckle-dragging savages from the 10th century — fine! I’ll take credit.”

[...]

• Iraq War , Minimum Wage , Racism
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Matt Gunterman March 13th, 2007

A story from the AP’s David Espo this weekend on Republican efforts to stifle a clean minimum wage hike for working Americans–the first in a decade–featured this quote by Senator Mitch McConnell, which I think is telling of how the man’s mind operates, “The minimum wage-tax relief package was a good early lesson for [Senate Democrats] as to how things will work.”

Yes, in an era of record corporate profits, growing disparity in incomes, and unprecedented national deficits, the first priority of Sen. McConnell and his cohorts is tax cuts, of course. It makes absolutely perfect sense to shift the true cost of a present-day living wage to future generations via increases in the national debt.

That point having been made, my main reason in highlighting this article is that it’s simply further evidence that Sen. McConnell is a man who is consumed by worry about his own status and what others think of him. Yes, imagine that: Mitch is emotionally underdeveloped.

From his own words, we see that his concern with the minimum wage hike isn’t that it would measurably improve the lives of millions. No, his concern is that he doesn’t feel he’s getting the proper respect he believes he’s due from the new Democratic majority. Well, he’ll show those snotty Democrats; national quality of life be damned!

Or, how about this little gem from Washington Monthly by Zachary Roth and Cliff Schecter:

[...] Earlier that week, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) had filed a sweeping amendment to a defense bill requiring all U.S. troops to be pulled out of Iraq by July 2007. Knowing his measure would attract little support as written, and hoping to maintain a unified Democratic message, Kerry had informed Sen. John Warner (R-Va.), who was managing the defense bill, that he was not yet ready to offer it for a vote. Warner agreed to give Kerry more time, then left the Capitol building to attend a memorial service at the Pentagon for victims of 9/11.

Soon afterwards, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the Senate number two, rose to speak, his light blue tie elegantly setting off the pinstripes. A pale, graying, and somewhat slight man of 64, McConnell looks more like a financial planner than a politician. He has an unblinking, vaguely android-like stare and gives the impression, even when speaking, of wanting to avoid being noticed. But today, he could not keep a hint of a smile from flickering across his normally impassive features. “Colleagues on the other side have said they were going to offer an amendment to advocate withdrawal by the end of the year,” he reminded the chamber. “Let’s have that debate.” With that, McConnell took Kerry’s measure, scratched out the Democrat’s name, replaced it with his own, and offered it for a vote.

What an absolute ass. See, for Sen. McConnell the Senate is not an institution for formal debate about competing visions for the future of the nation.

No, it’s a place for Sen. McConnell to show that he’s a master of the system. He’s like a little kid who recites his ABC’s ad nauseum for attention, but once the cute bit wears thin (and with Mitch there never was one), you just wish he’d shut the hell up.

And this peculiar neurosis of Sen. McConnell isn’t one that only affects his performance in Washington.

Why is there a civil war raging in the Kentucky GOP right now? Well, of the numerous reasons, one of them is that Sen. McConnell never felt that Republican Governor Ernie Fletcher was giving Mitch and his machine its proper respect.

As Gov. Fletcher himself is arguing in the primary, Sen. McConnell isn’t seeing the bigger picture of the future of Republicans in the state (not that I care). Sen. McConnell didn’t stand by his man, and that’s because Sen. McConnell is preoccupied with his own ego to think rationally about things like that.

Sen. McConnell’s flaws of personality and character, as they’ve been inserted into the operations of the U.S. Senate and the building of the state’s Republican Party, are causing big headaches for the nation and Kentucky.

It’s time to remove the source of the problem, and I must say that there’s a broad coalition forming to make that happen.

• Minimum Wage , Mitch McConnell , Senate Minority Leader , U.S. Senate
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