Commentary: It's time for Mitch McConnell to go (Erick Erickson)

[eppur_se_muova]

By Erick Erickson
Special to the Washington Post

Until morale improves, the primary challenges against establishment Republicans from upstart conservatives will continue. And morale will not improve until Republicans replace Mitch McConnell as Senate majority leader.

Make no mistake, Tuesday's Republican Senate primary in Alabama centered on McConnell's failures. Stephen Bannon, on television before Roy Moore's victory, declared McConnell guilty of "economic hate crimes" against the middle class. There is delightful timing in Moore winning his primary battle against the McConnell-funded Sen. Luther Strange on the very day that McConnell surrendered in the health-care fight.

Since becoming majority leader, McConnell, Ky., has repeatedly sided with more moderate and liberal Republican senators at the expense of those whom the base supports; Ted Cruz. Texas, Mike Lee, Utah, Rand Paul, Ky., and others have routinely been victims of McConnell-generated negative press. But then nothing happens. Only five federal judges and Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch have been confirmed by the Senate; two of those five will be on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, which, not just coincidentally, oversees Kentucky. After declaring the Senate would rip out Obamacare "root and branch," the Senate leader failed to do that. And then McConnell suggested President Donald Trump might have something to do with the problem.

McConnell has long maintained that his position is secure as long as he can keep a majority of Senate Republicans happy; that he can ignore complaints from the base and conservative angst. So conservatives set out to change the playing field. In 2010, while McConnell put resources behind moderate Charlie Crist's Senate campaign, conservatives backed Marco Rubio. The National Republican Senatorial Committee also spent money trying to stop Ken Buck in Colorado's Republican primary. When that failed, the committee spent more helping Carly Fiorina in California than it did helping Buck in Colorado. Buck came quite close to winning. In 2012 and 2014, the establishment Republicans figured out how to fight back against conservative upstarts, successfully winning most primary challenges. McConnell's Senate Leadership Fund showered establishment-friendly moderates with cash and launched preemptive attacks on conservative candidates to define them negatively.
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more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-mitch-mcconnell-resign-20170928-story.html




Not EE's first remarks to this effect; see https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029343689

[Eliot Rosewater]

1. He will go down in history as the one who violated his constitutional duty

for partisan reasons that resulted in the end of the country.

When Roe is reversed, when gay marriage is reversed, the country will be over.

[guillaumeb]

3. My first impression was to say your post is a bit dramatic or apocalyptic,

....................but not really.

Well said. His behavior in the Merrick Garland affair showed his contempt for the Constitution.

[guillaumeb]

2. Recommended.

As far right as he undoubtedly is, McConnell is not conservative enough for the Tea Party types. The example and defeat of Eric Cantor shows how that can replacement process can work.

But unless Democrats can articulate a progressive message of real change, and as important, publicize that message, GOP infighting does not automatically ensure a Democratic return to power.

[Skittles]

4. it is time for the entire Greedy Old Pig party to go