Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has embraced the argument that President Obama was able to pass every bit of his legislative agenda in his first two years thanks to large Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress. It’s intended as a counterpoint to the President’s re-election strategy of attacking the congressional GOP as do-nothing obstructionists. But it’s also a revisionist history of the 111th Congress, during which McConnell more than any other Republican in Washington stood athwart Obama’s agenda to great effect.
The White House has “been trying to pretend like the President just showed up yesterday, just got sworn in and started fresh,” McConnell declared Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union. “In fact, he’s been in office for three years. He got everything he wanted from a completely compliant Congress for two of those three years… We are living in the Obama economy.”
This isn’t a new claim for McConnell, but it’s audacious even by Washington’s lax standards. It was McConnell, after all, who led Senate Republicans in serial filibusters — a record-setting number — successfully thwarting large chunks of Obama’s agenda.
By forcing Democrats to find 60 votes to nearly every action, McConnell and his members were able to block major initiatives including climate change and immigration reform bills, various appropriations bills, myriad presidential appointments, and arguably also a Democratic effort to let the Bush tax cuts expire for high incomes. Meanwhile, big legislative items that did pass, such as health care reform and the economic stimulus package, were notably scaled back as a result of the GOP filibusters.
McConnell debuted this line of attack last October when Obama began calling out congressional Republicans. “He owned the Congress for the first two years,” he told reporters at the time. “They did everything he wanted. Everything. The only thing they forgot to do — I don’t know why they overlooked this — they forgot to raise taxes.”
What the Kentucky Republican neglected to mention is that Democrats mounted a December 2010 push to end the Bush-era tax cuts on income over $250,000, and for millionaires. The GOP prevented both measures from achieving the 60-vote supermajority required to beat back a filibuster.
McConnell’s Senate minority also thwarted the majority in the Democrats’ DREAM Act, which failed late in 2010 even though they had 55 votes in support.
Senate Republicans blocked key appropriations bills in December 2010 — a gambit that touched off the government shutdown fight in spring of 2011. They prevented confirmation of key bureaucrats, including Donald Berwick, Obama’s pick to run the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Berwick was awarded a rare recess appointment, and led implementation of the health care law until last month as a result. Most others weren’t so lucky.
On the stimulus package, President Obama’s initial proposal was well over $800 billion in new spending and tax breaks, but the 60-vote requirement shrank it to well under $800 billion. GOP opposition to health care reform was a key obstacle to a public insurance option and remained a source of partisan vitriol for months.
McConnell candidly explained the strategy behind the obstruction early 2011, after reaping the benefits in the midterm elections. “We worked very hard to keep our fingerprints off of these proposals,” he told The Atlantic’s Josh Green, arguing that it was important to deny Dems any claim to bipartisanship. “When you hang the ‘bipartisan’ tag on something, the perception is that differences have been worked out, and there’s a broad agreement that that’s the way forward.”
Beyond limiting Obama’s ability to govern, McConnell’s wall of obstruction had the ancillary effect of damaging the President’s public image, as the unified GOP opposition helped them characterize Obama as a polarizing partisan. McConnell, who has said his “single most important” goal is to make Obama a one-term president, is now trying to cash in further politically by claiming that his successful campaign of opposition had no impact on Obama’s governance.
The political potency of McConnell’s argument is obvious: If Obama did everything he wanted in his first two years, it follows that his broadsides against Republicans ought to be ignored. In reality, Republicans had a significant impact on policymaking in 2009 and 2010 — and that was largely thanks to McConnell himself.
Sahil Kapur
Sahil Kapur is a congressional reporter for TPM. He previously covered politics and public policy for numerous publications including The Guardian and The Huffington Post. He can be reached at sahil [at] talkingpointsmemo.com.
McConnell is now the politician who most makes me want to hit something when he invokes "the American people." I think his version of America has about 25 people in it, and they're all multimillionaires. And all ruthless liars, too, I forgot to say.
Mitch I have two words for you...........PHUQ EWE!!!
What's really fun about this statement, is that if the economy has turned around by October, then Obama can just say "Hey, they complained about giving me everything I wanted, but it certainly worked out."
Pants on fire is not strong enough. Clearly McConnell does not believe in Hell or he would be packing for "giving false witness". /S/ John A. Leopard
Things that annoyed me about the GOP Filibuster's?I: That they could have been gone - The Democratic Minority caved in to the 'nuclear option' when they were in the minority in a lose lose fight where the Democrats basically gave up using the filibuster, but it was still completely available in the Republican arsenal of tactics, and
II: That the 'liberal' media reported the two years of constant filibustering like it was perfectly normal - literally in terms of 'Stopped in the Senate, where it takes 60 votes to pass anything . . .'; Every Democratic filibuster was reported as it was, but the GOP was given a free pass by the media.
And they *complain* about their media coverage.
The GOP and their minions have become masters of the "big lie."
GOP equals LIE.
JPJABBER I hear that a lot, but nobody ever gives an examples. What are all these lies that the GOP tells?
Kick AssJPJABBER It would be quicker to say what they HAVEN'T lied about...Get back to you when I find an example of that.
Kick Ass Try reading the above, for starters......if you don't get a clue from that, you are truly dense.
Kick Ass Did you neglect to read the article to which your comment is appended, or did you read it and not understand it?
What else can he do but lie. The super majority rule ties the hands of both parties. Mitch said his only goal was to make Obama a one term president. You see what we got. Out and out hate toward the president. What in the hell is Mitch thinking. The Rs are going to lo it all in November.
If we employ the same definition of truth as our legal courts--truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth--it is impossible to find an important subject about which McDonnell hasn't lied.
It's not just the idiots on the right who misrember reality in the 11th Congress. That "60th vote" was only possible if you count Joe Lieberman. Rembrandt, this is a guy who actively campaigned for John McCain, so in every practical aspect, IS a GOP vote in the previous congress.
And this doesn't even factor in other conservative Dems like Ben Nelson or Landrieu, Lincon, etc. The myth that Obama had a solid 60 votes in the Senate is just that. A myth.
Lestatdelc
The GOP has a little better luck getting all of their members to fall in line than the Dems. There are cases where there are GOP defections, but, when it comes to nut cutting time, we have to work a little harder to get the blues dogs to hunt.
C'mon, Mitch, you can't have it both ways. Seems to me that Boehner was not long ago bragging that he got 95 percent of what he wanted.
delia-ruhe Minor detail...to them.....
Conservative politicians and pundits have once again been employing standard Rove-Atwater tactics: it matters little whether Republican rhetoric has any basis in reality. All that matters is that you can sell it to the voting populace.
If you keep repeating the lie over and over, eventually some people will conclude that it must be true, simply because they continually heard it being uttered.
Is there any way the public can filibuster this guy?
When the public stops voting repugniKKKunts into office. Sort of like a global filibuster against the Party of Treason. Mickey Bitsko
An interesting thought, though. The filibuster might very be be challengable on Constitutional grounds: by shutting down discussion it violates the free speech of all American citizens by preventing their elected representatives from cogent, relevant debate on critical issues required to operate the government. Of course, that challenge can only be brought before a SCrOTUS that isn't packed with right wing activist judges.
He's so creepy! And also a big liar. Why do Teathuglicans vote for these reptiles? Are they just as disgusting?
McConnell is a disgusting politician.
These people --McConnell and the like-- have no shame whatsoever. Liars. Bald-faced, shameless liars.
Senator McConnell has been able to slither on with his mendacity because a corporate owned, and pliant "journalists" let him slip out of his skin (LIES) and act like "nothing much to see here"!!! Fire this obstructionist, let him go home to the family that still loves this traitor!!!
Did McConnell EVER have a chin? Just asking,,,,
"as the unified GOP opposition helped them characterize Obama as a polarizing partisan"
No, YOU helped!
You, the MSM, helped with your constant attempts to be balanced and your "both sides do it" approach to reporting the legislative battles in Washington DC.
I know this will sound terribly hyperbolic, but I believe that the MSM is hurting this country.
If the media doesn't hold guilty parties accountable because they're trying to straddle the middle, there is no disincentive to engaging in the Un-American fashion that the GOP has since January 21, 2009.
The GOP didn't nothing to help the country move forward out of one of the biggest crisis we've ever faced. In fact, they did everything they could to prevent Democrats from pulling the country out of crisis.
2 years of nothing! And they win the 2010 midterms because their actions were not accurately reported in the media for what they were:
An unprecedented level of obstruction in a time of national crisis!
Why would they stop now?
Do your f**king job 4th estate!
See what happens when you stay in the closet too long, and create your own reality.
I hate to say this but politicians do what politicians do...that being said, I deplore the tactics that McConnell uses but I often hear Democratic supporters often begrudgingly argue "why can't our guys act as cutthroat to get our agenda passed". I remember the same argument when the President was blocked by these boneheads repeatedly, yet I also recall the arguments about Bush's dictatorial approach to governing, and his ruthless breaches in "unconstitutional" executive authority.
No...the real problem is the MEDIA..the media is the message! The failure to make real issues about America's future put in the hands of public relations or political operatives, Madison Ave. type spin-meisters, media moguls with political agendas, Wall St. executives that support unfettered capitalism at any cost, and sycophant reporters that deem access to the talking-heads above facts and reasoned discourse. They continually disregard and attempt to diminish people in the rest of the country, for whom they know nothing about, or care to find out about.
There is a media corridor in Washington DC that goes directly through New York's media marketing behemoth and Wall St.'s financially powerful elite. Until that link is severely altered or impacted to reflect what the rest of the country values as important in our lives and worthy of major discussion, we will be locked into this insane mindset among politicos and the corporate media.
I like ad hominem as much as the next person, and it does make for good fodder, but until the media paradigm is changed radically in this country...we won't be able to get beyond the talk of influence actors in history had such as Orwell, Goebbels, or even as ridiculous as it seems....Saul Alinsky, because we will still be talking about their techniques, and not their impact to the body politic. These people are all examples of the techniques and dysfunction that already exists in our news coverage. I don't want to be arguing that "four legs good, two legs bad" a year from now.
Alzheimer's Disease is ugly in elected officials isn't it?
mike valentine Just look at Raygun......
You have to envy the conservative mind a little bit. If they don't like reality and facts, they just ignore them completely and create their own fantasy world where everything they want to believe is true.
zosimoff The sad part is that these are "elected officials", so that tells me their base should also be committed!!
GOTPer brain: It's a small world in there after all.........it's a small world...........
What alternate universe does this mean sprited troll reside in?
Mitch McConnell is lying about Republicons' attempts to thwart Obmam's legislative agenda?
I, for one, am SHOCKED.
McConnell is a pathological liar! Everything he says is completely false. He is in dreamland.
Mitch, there's videotape which shows you to be an obstructionist. Not everyone watches Fox propaganda channel and your saying that your number 1 objective is making President Obama a one term president could be run on a feedback loop. Your number 1 priority should have been getting the American people back to work and the economy going again. Nice try but the truth has a liberal bias.
kimbutgar Or just display the actual Congressional vote record for the 111th Congress...over, and over, and over.
He can try and obfuscate on his comments about the one-term President thing, but not even Yertle has the power to wipe a Congressional Record of votes.
JJRotherykimbutgar
here is a partial list, there are quite a few more since this list was published.
No. 6, Create an Advanced Manufacturing Fund to invest in peer-reviewed manufacturing processes, 8/5/09. No. 16, Increase minority access to capital-strengthen Small Business Administration programs that provide capital and outreach programs to monority owned businesses 9/13/09 No. 17, Require economic justification for tax changes(adopt economic substance doctrine that states tax changes must have significant economic justification as a federal law.) No. 33, Establish credit card Bill of Rights, 5/22/10 No. 36, Expand loan programs for small businesses, 3/16/09. No. 48, Close "dough-nut hole" in Medical Prescription Drug Plan No. 50, Expand Senior Corps Volunteer Program, 4/21/10 No. 51, Require Insurance Companies to cover pre-exhisting conditions, 3/23/10 No. 53, Give tax credits to those who need help to pay health premiums, 3/23/10 No. 55, Require large employers to contribute to national health care plan No. 58, Expand eligibility for S-CHIP Program (Children's Health Ins.) 2/4/09 Financial Reform Bill, passed 7/21/10 No. 63, Requires health plans to disclose how much of the premium goes to patients, 3/23/10 No. 65, Establish an independent health institute to provide accurate information and objective information, 3/23/10 No. 69, In non-competitive markets force insurers to pay out a reasonable share of their premiums for patient care, 3/23/10 No. 70, Eliminate the higher subsidies to Medicare Advantage Plans, 3/23/10. No. 76, Expand funding to train primary care providers and public health practitioners part of the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009. No. 77, Increase funding to expand community based prevention programs. No. 93, Reinstate an executive order to hire an additional 100,000 federal employees with disabilities within five years, 8/26/10. No. 105, Increase VA budget to recruit more mental health professionals. No. 109, Fully fund the Veterans Administration, 12/6/09. No. 119, Appoint advisor to the president on violence against women, 6/29/09 No. 121, Fully fund the Violence Against Women's Act, 12/16/09. No. 125, Direct Military Leaders to End War in Iraq, 1/21/09. No. 126, Begin removing combat brigades from Iraq, 8/22/10. No. 132, No permanent bases in Iraq, pledged 2/27/09, enacted by 8/31/10. No. 134, Send two additional brigades to Afghanistan by Feb. 2009. No. 156, Make greater investment in advanced military air technology. No. 161, End abuse of supplemental budgets for war. No. 167, Make U.S. military aid to Pakistan conditional on anti-terror efforts. No. 174, Give a speech at a major Islamic forum within the first 100 days No. 182, Allocate to Homeland Security funding to risk. No. 184, Create a real National Infrastructure Protection Plan. No. 188, Increase funding for local emergency planning. No. 197, Stand down nuclear forces to be reduced under Moscow Treaty. No. 200, Appoint White House Co-ordinator for Nuclear Security. No. 204, Initiate a grant and training program for law enforcement to deter cyber crime. No. 208, Improve relations with Turkey and its relations with Iraqui Kurds. No. 212, Launch an International Add Value to Agriculture Initiative (AVTA). No. 215, Create a rapid response fund for emerging democracies. No. 222, Grant Americans rights to visit families and send money to Cuba. No. 224, Restore funding to the Byrne Justice Assistance Program (Byrne/JAG). No. 225, Establish Energy Partnership for Americas. No. 229, Expand Nurse-Family Partnership to all low-income, first time mothers. No. 239, Release Presidential Records, 1/21/09. No. 241, Require new hires to sign form affirming hiring was not due to political affiliation or contributions. No. 244, Provide affordable, high quality, healthcare for working families. No. 247, Recruit math & science degree graduates to the teaching profession. No. 259, Reduce subsidies to lenders and protect student borrowers. No. 266, Encourage water-conservation efforts in the West. No. 371, Fund a major expansion of AmeriCorps. No. 377, Create a Social Investment Fund Network. No. 380, Bolster the military's ability to speak different languages. No. 391, Appoint the nations first Chief Technology Officer. No. 394, Provide grants to early career researchers. No. 411, Pass the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, 1/29/09, (Equal pay for women). No. 420, Create a national declassification center. No. 421, Appoint American Indian's policy advisor. No. 422, Financial Reform Act, 8/21/10. No. 425, Increase Funding for land grant colleges. No. 427, Ban lobbyists gifts to executive employees. No. 433, Sign a Universal Health Care Bill into law, 3/23/10. No. 435, Create new criminal penalties for mortgage fraud. No. 449, Raise fuel economy standards. No. 458, Invest in all types of alternative energy. No. 459, Enact tax credit for consumers for plug in hybrid cars. No. 460, Ask people and businessses to conserve electricity. No. 466, Create a "Green Vet Initiative" to promote environmental jobs for veterans. No. 467, Create job training programs for clean technologies. No. 475, Require states to provide incentives for utilities to reduce energy consumption. No. 480, Support high speed rail. No. 483, Invest in public transportation. No. 484, Equalize tax breaks for driving and public transit. No. 494, Share environmental technology with other countries. No. 495, Double federal spending for research on clean fuels. No. 498, Provide grants to encourage energy efficient building codes. No. 500, Increase funding for the Environmental Protection Agency. No. 502, Get his daughters a puppy. No. 503, Appoint at least one Republican to the cabinet. No. 506, Raise the small business investment expensing limit to $250,000 through the end of 2009. No. 507, Extend unemployment insurance benefits and temporarily suspend taxes on these benefits.No. 513, Reverse restrictions on stem cell research.
JJRotherykimbutgar Bills Obama has signed into law...
I love it when Mitch talks "dirty" about the President running rough shod over the GOP in both houses. Who knew the GOP was so weak to be overwhelmed by a Socialist, Communist, Anti-American President. Oh Yeah I forgot Food stamp president too.
*****************************
Used to be I would use the term 'Orwellian' to allude to the possibility that a comment or act was in fact 'doublespeak'.
We have, IMHO, with this comment from Sen. McConnell, reached a watershed moment in the propagandizing of the populace via media.
This is not a covering of an incident or a comment with one's particular perspective.
This is the gist of Orwell's reality-- a revision of facts-- tailored from whole cloth.
3 years worth of revision-- in one statement-- to be buttressed by media to affect an event 10 months hence.
I do fear that the generations who've not grown up in an analog world-- will not have the wherewithal to discern fact from fiction.
jw1
@jw1 - how can they discern it when they've been spoon-fed a steady diet of lie-and-perpetuate their whole lives?
If the media is not willing to do their jobs, then they have failed the entire fifth estate.
People ask me why I watch Al Jazeera or BBC...it's because there I have at least an *outside* shot of getting to the truth of a matter, or reading/hearing a researched piece. With all the money the networks, cable outlets, websites, newspapers et al are supposedly raking in these days, why is it none of them can hire a minimum wage fact-checker?
To the MSM - and that includes the writer of this article - DO YOUR JOBS. You're failing generation after generation.
JJRotheryjw1
******************************
Your diet of varied sources allow you to be discerning-- as opposed to accepting an 'echo-chamber' meal of pablum.
I'm the same way-- I crave other's opinions and perspectives.
When media began using the 'push method' to deliver news events-- the capability for opposing views reaching an individual diminished greatly.
Now, sadly, news channels-- net or broadcast-- simply deliver what you want to hear-- from minds that are as much like you-- as they can be.
jw1
JJRotheryjw1 The free market media exist to make money.
tonnybJJRothery
************************
And.
The sea-change in news gathering/reporting occurred early-90s when news departments were included in bottom-line reporting-- with theentertainment portions of most every media outlet.
jw1
jw1 The bastardization of news-for-profit was driven home clearly in the movie "The Insider". It's only gotten worse since then.
tonnybJJRotheryjw1 and the 6 major media outlets were purchased long ago in an apparently successful attempt to control the message and framing by the 1%. QED
So much for the adage"liberal bias". The 1% is not liberal.
You tell me...has anything changed? I had newer studies bookmarked but I can't yet find them.
http://mediamatters.org/reports/200602140002
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2008/11/15/32382...
Occupy the Media!!!
Mitch in his younger years was a healthy, fit individual who, when the time came for him to serve his country opted out, he had a Senator get him a deferment as a page or some other excuse, his next call for duty he
was given a 4-F medical deferment, but no one has been able to find evidence or proof of his disability....so began his lackluster career as a professional politician. So it seems that little Mitch McTurtles mommy dearest was filling his lunch box with lies & woe at an early age.
- spam
- offensive
- disagree
- off topic
Like