Crossposted from Hillbilly Report.
Mitch McConnell knows he may be a man in trouble. After four years of using the filibuster rules to obstruct moving our country forward after the failed policies of the George W. Bush years, policies he was instrumental in enacting he is sensing that Kentuckians are catching up with Americans in being sick and tired of his antics. Indeed, he is beginning his reelection bid earlier than ever because he knows one thing. We are tired of his brand of politics that would sacrifice most of the folks in our country at the reward of the very few, himself and his ilk.
McConnell knows we are tired of him and his failed politics of obstruction and regression for our whole country if he does not get his way. He told a few handpicked supporters as much and tried to portray himself as a "victim":
Of course, what he failed to mention is this. There is a very solid reason why so many in Kentucky and across our great nation want to "take him out". Quite simply he represents all that is wrong with our country and the way politics are conducted within it.
It all began with after the 2008 election. Though our economy was in shambles after he teamed up with George W. Bush to use the failed strategy of "trickle-down economics" to destroy the livelihoods of millions of Americans less fortunate than them Mitch McConnell did not see the recovery of our country as the job he should undertake. Here he is reaffirming his main goal for our country:
Yes, indeed there was McConnell promising to obstruct progress for millions of Americans his very policies left behind in a failed, selfish bid to do one thing. Keep Barack Obama from being reelected. And within that quote you here another reason Americans despise this man so much. His rank hypocrisy.
Yes, you did hear Mitch McConnell say that the way to end bailouts is to defeat Barack Obama. After he himself was so instrumental in insuring the bankers would be bailed out with no-risk investments after they crashed our economy and whoring for the oil industry after they poisoned the Gulf of Mexico:
As the upper chamber’s GOP leader, McConnell backed the Wall Street bailout in 2008, calling it “one of the finest moments in the history of the Senate.” A year and a half later, he was telling reporters that he vehemently opposes bailouts of big business.
Now, just weeks after that textbook “for-it-before-against-it” feat, McConnell and his Republican cohorts are leaping past the Kerry-inspired fundamentals. Determined to pull off an all-star caliber act of “for-it-against-it-for-it” acrobatics, the GOP is pushing a bailout for yet another big business: the oil industry.
True, we haven’t heard that word — “bailout” — during the Gulf disaster, which the government calls the worst petroleum spill in U.S. history. But we have heard a lot about the oil industry’s “liability cap” — a term that is just another synonym for “bailout.”
Yet, McConnell apparently does. Appearing on “Meet the Press,” the Republican leader, who weeks ago railed on “guaranteed perpetual taxpayer bailouts,” not only refused to support eliminating the liability cap, but warned of “the danger of taking the cap too high” — in effect, opposing even moderately reducing the size of the bailouts that the cap inevitably creates.
http://www.salon.com/...
But not only did Mitch McConnell spearhead the banking bailout just before Obama took office and support more bailouts for big oil at the expense of all of us his hypocrisy went even further. In his attempt at his most pressing goal behind bailing out bankers and big oil he continually blocked the Obama agenda to help all America recover in a shameless attempt to keep him from being reelected. And while at first it seemed to be successful it blew up in his face:
During the first two years of President Obama’s time in office, Mr. McConnell was the central hurdle to much of the administration’s ambitious agenda. By holding his Republican caucus together in almost constant unanimous opposition, he scuttled an energy bill, several jobs bills and a plan to end the Bush-era tax cuts for the most affluent families.
He used his extensive knowledge of Senate procedure to slow things down, take advantage of the difficulties Democrats had in staying united and deny Democrats any Republican support on big legislation. Mr. McConnell has come to embody a kind of oppositional politics that critics say has left voters cynical about Washington, the Senate all but dysfunctional and the Republican Party without a positive agenda or message.
In the short run at least, his approach worked. Republicans made significant gains in the Senate in the 2010 Congressional election. But in 2012, a year the Republicans expected to retake control of the Senate, they fell short.
http://topics.nytimes.com/...
Luckily America was not quite as stupid and Mitch McConnell had hoped and we noticed that what he was doing was not helping America but indeed serving his own selfish goals:
The bills Republicans have been blocking are simple measures that include Republican ideas and input. They are the types of legislation that used to pass the Senate on a broad, bipartisan basis. But sadly, we have seen that cooperation evaporate as the tea party has cowed Republicans into opposing policies they might otherwise support.
This knee-jerk opposition has led Republicans to vote numerous times against tax cuts for the middle class. It’s led them to filibuster tax cuts for small businesses, along with legislation that would end tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas and provide new incentives for companies to create jobs here at home.
These are not partisan bills — they are common-sense policies designed to spur growth and create jobs. They represent areas in which we should be able to find common ground. But unfortunately for Americans across the country, who are looking for better jobs and bigger paychecks, Republicans have hewed closely to a narrow political strategy: If the president supports it, Republicans oppose it.
http://www.politico.com/...
But unfortunately here in Kentucky where you could put dog feces in a brown paper bag, mark it "Republican" and folks will vote for it on the national level we still have an uphill climb in defeating McConnell. Despite that however, we are ready to fight to do just that and catch up to the fact the rest of America has long acknowledged. Mitch McConnell cares nothing for his country or the people that are suffering within. He is a self-serving hypocrite that will desperately cling to power to keep the good times rolling for a very few people like himself. He would sacrifice tens of millions of working Americans to do so and is shamelessly unapologetic for doing so.
That explains why he is starting his campaign to continue the destruction of the working-class early.