Mitch McConnell Threatens To Burn Down The Senate If Democrats Take Away His 'Precious'

[TexasTowelie]

Not since John C. Calhoun, the fiercely pro-slavery senator states’ rights advocate for state interposition, nullification and secession (he nearly precipitated a civil war with the nullification crisis over tariffs in 1832-33, and his political doctrines did serve as the doctrinal foundation of the Confederacy in the Civl War almost 30 years later), has there been a senator as destructive and malevolent as Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

As Adam Jentleson explained about his new book “Kill Switch,” the filibuster “was shepherded into existence by John C. Calhoun, who was a father of the Confederacy and the leading advocate for the slave power in the Senate during his time there. And it has always existed and been wielded primarily by senators who were interested in overriding progress against slavery and then overriding progress on civil rights. The filibuster is inextricably linked to the drive to oppress Black Americans. And today, it continues to primarily empower reactionary, conservative and predominantly white minority in Congress who benefit far more from its use than anybody else.”

On Tuesday, Mitch McConnell threatened to burn down the Senate (figuratively one hopes, but who knows in light of recent events), if Democrats dare to take away “my precious,” his weapon of mass destruction, the Senate filibuster.

Jake Johnson reports, McConnell Threatens to Sabotage Senate If Democrats Scrap Filibuster:

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell threatened Tuesday to grind the workings of the notoriously sluggish upper chamber to a complete halt if the Democratic majority attempts to scrap the legislative filibuster, a warning that was met with immediate derision given the Kentucky Republican’s elimination of the 60-vote rule for Supreme Court nominees less than four years ago.

In a speech on the Senate floor just hours after he dropped his demand that Democrats commit to leaving the legislative filibuster intact as part of a must-pass organizing resolution, McConnell cautioned that “destroying the filibuster would drain comity and consent from this body to a degree that would be unparalleled in living memory.”

Read more: https://blogforarizona.net/mitch-mcconnell-threatens-to-burn-down-the-senate-if-democrats-take-away-his-precious/

[634-5789]

1. Fuck that guy. Dump the filibuster and let's be the majority!

[gab13by13]

2. MINORITY LEADER is having a sad.

Elections have consequences.

[Vinca]

3. Mitch gets upset when Democrats act just like him. If it was beneficial for him, the filibuster

would have been gone.

[Iliyah]

4. Well we know that republicans do not play well with others .. .

eff him.

[Tarc]

5. 2022 can't come soon enough

We'll almost certainly have a cushion in the Senate from PA and WI pickups.

[Kid Berwyn]

6. Gravedigger of Democracy

A leading Holocaust historian just seriously compared the US to Nazi Germany

“If the US has someone whom historians will look back on as the gravedigger of American democracy, it is Mitch McConnell.”

By Zack Beauchamp@[e-mail] Oct 5, 2018, 11:21am EDT

Excerpt...

McConnell, in Browning’s eyes, is doing something similar — taking whatever actions he can to attain power, including breaking the system for judicial nominations (cough cough, Merrick Garland) and empowering a dangerous demagogue under the delusion that he can be fully controlled:

If the US has someone whom historians will look back on as the gravedigger of American democracy, it is Mitch McConnell. He stoked the hyperpolarization of American politics to make the Obama presidency as dysfunctional and paralyzed as he possibly could. As with parliamentary gridlock in Weimar, congressional gridlock in the US has diminished respect for democratic norms, allowing McConnell to trample them even more. Nowhere is this vicious circle clearer than in the obliteration of traditional precedents concerning judicial appointments. Systematic obstruction of nominations in Obama’s first term provoked Democrats to scrap the filibuster for all but Supreme Court nominations. Then McConnell’s unprecedented blocking of the Merrick Garland nomination required him in turn to scrap the filibuster for Supreme Court nominations in order to complete the “steal” of Antonin Scalia’s seat and confirm Neil Gorsuch. The extreme politicization of the judicial nomination process is once again on display in the current Kavanaugh hearings. ...

Whatever secret reservations McConnell and other traditional Republican leaders have about Trump’s character, governing style, and possible criminality, they openly rejoice in the payoff they have received from their alliance with him and his base: huge tax cuts for the wealthy, financial and environmental deregulation, the nominations of two conservative Supreme Court justices (so far) and a host of other conservative judicial appointments, and a significant reduction in government-sponsored health care (though not yet the total abolition of Obamacare they hope for). Like Hitler’s conservative allies, McConnell and the Republicans have prided themselves on the early returns on their investment in Trump.

This is the key point that people often miss when talking about Hitler’s rise. The breakdown of German democracy started well before Hitler: Hyperpolarization led Hindenburg to strip away constraints on executive power as well as conclude that his left-wing opponents were a greater threat than fascism. The result, then, was a degradation of the everyday practice of democracy, to the point where the system was vulnerable to a Hitler-style figure.

Source:

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/10/5/17940610/trump-hitler-history-historian

[TigressDem]

7. Wait, so why is it ONLY when DEMS filibuster or remove it that it's unprescedented power grab?

“destroying the filibuster would drain comity and consent from this body to a degree that would be unparalleled in living memory.”


Really McConnell? YOU DON'T REMEMBER DOING THE SAME IN 2017? HOW IS DOING WHAT YOU DO UNPARALLELED?

OH because someone ELSE is doing the doing.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/06/us/politics/neil-gorsuch-supreme-court-senate.html


Really McConnell? YOU DON'T REMEMBER bitching about DEMS USING the filibuster and then blowing it up in 2017 to get your Supreme Court nominee through with less than 60 votes?

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/10/01/fact-check-gop-ended-senate-filibuster-supreme-court-nominees/3573369001/




NOW yes, in 2013 Reid and Democrats lowered vote threshold on most nominees, but not for Supreme Court picks when Republicans tried to block MULTIPLE Obama nominees.

In 2013, Democrats held a majority in the Senate while President Barack Obama occupied the White House.

For four decades, a 60-vote supermajority had been required to advance all federal judicial nominees and executive-office appointments, per The Washington Post.

Then, Senate Republicans attempted to filibuster multiple Obama nominees to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, his pick for Defense secretary, and his choices to lead the National Labor Relations Board and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

In response, Reid orchestrated a move to lower the Senate vote threshold to 51 to confirm most presidential appointments — but not nominees to the Supreme Court.

[Hortensis]

8. Again? He must be getting good mileage out of this agitprop.

He knows we don't have the votes to eliminate the filibuster. Sinema and Manchin have promised to vote against it.

[markbark]

9. Change the rules.

Moscow Mitch wants to keep the filibuster?
Fine.
Change the rules to the "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" settings.
You want to filibuster something? OK... Start talking. The filibuster lasts as long as you can talk. No potty breaks, no tag-teaming, no NOTHING! If it's that important, you'll keep going.

[SmartVoter22]

10. Force McConnell's bluff

There will never be 100% agreement, from every House and Senate Republican, to follow thorough on Mitch's threat.

There is too much money, needed in every district 'back home'. Say hello to Biden's First Budget.

I can hear the backlash now... IF MITCH FOLLOWS HIS OWN THREAT:

Mitch will cost 100,000 jobs,
Sen Doofus will cost 50,000 jobs if he votes against the budget...
Florida House republicans face backlash is they vote against budget...
Qanon: Reagan was always a commie socialist pedophile pizza eating bastard. impeach him!.

and then try to defend the Defense not getting any money. Tax cuts over defending the nation? That's a great plan Mitch.

[SlogginThroughIt]

11. Ok let him do it.

Let him show himself to be the anti-American shitbag that he is. Fuck him. And wheb we rebuild the senate it will not be 2 senators per state but more like the House where it is decided by population. So that states like Wyoming are not over represented in comparison to a state like California.

[bdamomma]

12. does

he realize that he IS NOT the Majority Leader no more. Mitch STFU.

[Buns_of_Fire]

13. It "would drain comity." There's any left to drain?

Oh, yeah. The "do it my way and we'll get along fine" comity.

Screw that. Issue each senator a cane and have at it.

[stillcool]

14. effing ahole...

someone needs to kneel on his neck.

[MiniMe]

15. Isn't it already at a halt?

What an ass!!

[Hermit-The-Prog]

16. Moscow Mitch should be put in a corner with a bottle. Let him talk to the walls.

[PufPuf23]

17. DNC should form a task force specifically to deal with McConnell

McConnell does not know what it is to act in good faith and be an honest broker.

The task force should be a full court press:

1) Opposition research
2) Media, both written and live appearance
3) Development of a strong Democratic opponent
4) Expansion into the Kentucky and GOP direct to McConnell support network
5) Appeal to McConnell's financial supporters

Not give a day respite; have a clear an concise analysis of every position and decision made by McConnell by clear communicators that McConnell is bad for the USA and people of the USA. Give McConnell and his supporters no respite. Every iota of weakness generated in any day being a success.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

18. Kill the fucking filibuster

And mitchy can't dominate the Senate.

Who gives a shit about mc connel and his fee fees?

Fuck mc connel.

He is shit in a human suit.

Take away his power.
Make him suffer.