Always Listen To Mitch McConnell

Those of us who spend our lives following politics are always looking for a “tell.” We are always trying to find that one honest piece of information that will tell us which way the political winds are really blowing.  Politicians being the chameleons that they are, make this a difficult task at best.  So it is a really big deal when someone uncovers a way to predict in some fashion ebbs and flows of our political discourse.

Just a few days ago Washington Post columnist Ezra Klein provided us with the key to predicting the path of our politics.  So simplistic was Klein’s approach that we thought we would pass this little nugget on to those of you that follow this blog. 

According to Klein, the most accurate way to predict the direction of our politics is…to listen to what Mitch McConnell says. 

That’s it! 

That’s it?

That is it!

You all know Mitch McConnell…right?  Kind of frumpy…plastered down hair…wears those little Himmler glasses…pasty complexion…jowly.  He serves as the Republican Minority Leader in the Senate.  According to Klein, McConnell has been quite transparent in telling us the direction our politics will trend over the foreseeable future.

For example, in 2010 when voters swept Republicans into control of the Congress, you would have expected the victors to be preaching freedom, liberty, bi-partisanship, co-operation, compromise, working together to get things done for the American people…blah…blah…blah.  Not McConnell.  He said that the Republicans’ “number one priority was to make President Obama a one term president.”  Then he and his fellow Republicans spent the next 18 months blocking every initiative the president put before Congress.

A few months ago McConnell announced that the Senate would not be approving any further presidential appointments until after the election.  Later, he told reporters not to expect any major legislation to be passed until after the election.  Check the records and you will find that McConnell has been true to his word.

As recently as this past weekend he was pressed three times by a FOXNEWS reporter as to what he would say to the 30 million Americans who would be left without health care if McConnell made good on his promise to repeal Obamacare.  Every other Republican, when asked the same question said that they had an alternative plan…but refused to go into specifics.  Not McConnell.  “That (providing coverage for 30 million uninsured) is NOT the issue.  We are not going to turn the greatest health care system in the world into a European socialist system.”  Leave it to McConnell to tell the uncomfortable truth…covering the uninsured is NOT the Republican goal.  Repealing Obamacare is.  Republicans have no alternative plan and have no interest in universal health care.  McConnell was the only one willing to tell the truth.

So if you really want to know what’s going on in American politics…we suggest you take Ezra Klein’s advise when he says:

“I always listen to what Mitch McConnell says.”