In what could be the lie of the year, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) blamed Democrats for his years of Senate obstruction.
The New York Times reported,
Mr. McConnell has no regrets and makes no apologies. He says it was Democrats who froze Republicans out and employed the Senate more as a political platform than a legislative one.
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“It was not about legislation,” said Mr. McConnell, who easily survived a primary challenge from the right and went on to win his general election for a sixth term representing Kentucky, despite being a top target of national Democrats. “It had nothing to do with an outcome. The Senate basically didn’t do squat for years. I don’t think most members of the Senate wanted it run that way.”
Now that McConnell is in charge of the Senate, he wants the American people to believe that his campaign of obstruction never happened. Sen. McConnell’s argument also defies common sense. The Kentucky Republican was trying to claim that Democrats obstructed their own president. Senate Democrats tried to pass legislation all through the Obama years, but they were thwarted and blocked with regularity by Republicans who adopted a strategy of saying no to everything.
Sen. McConnell is sending the false impression that legislation is going to flow out of the Senate now that Republicans are in control. If much legislation isn’t passed, McConnell is setting up Democrats to take the blame. McConnell’s claim that Democrats are to blame for the lack of legislation passed in the Senate because they didn’t want to do anything is a flat out fantasy.
The truth is that Republicans lack the sixty vote majority that is required to pass the vast majority of legislation. McConnell’s record of legislative accomplishment probably won’t be much better than Harry Reid’s was. The Republican strategy hasn’t changed. They will accomplish little while pointing fingers and blaming Democrats. If McConnell’s plan is to hope that the American people have forgotten what he has done, he time as Majority Leader could be over after the 2016 election.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
