SENATE LEADER’S NICKNAME, “MOSCOW MITCH” IS GETTING TO McCONNELL

…The Senate Leader has been called many nicknames, even “Yurtle the Turtle”

McConnell was seething over, “McCarthy-style attacks on his integrity”

I have wondered for years what it would take to get under the skin of the self-proclaimed “Grim Reaper”, and the leader of the Senate, Kentucky Senator, Mitch McConnell.

It now appears that Joe Scarborough of MSNBC’s MORNING JOE program, who first attached the nickname “Moscow Mitch” to Mitch McConnell, this has finally gotten to the Senate Leader.

In fact, the nickname also inspired the song writer Ben Folds to write a song with the story of Moscow Mitch.  The song will be performed and recorded at the up-coming 10^th Anniversary of the Global Citizen Festival.

Up to now, Senator McConnell has been impervious to any criticism, even celebrating many of the nasty nicknames critics have bestowed on him.  (He has the nicknames and caricatures of him on his Senate Office walls.) 

But Mr. McConnell, is today incensed by the name “Moscow Mitch,” and even more upset that he has been called a “Russian asset” by critics who rightfully accuse him of single-handedly blocking stronger election security measures, even after Russia’s interference in the 2016 election.

The Democrats had been making this case for months, but it was supercharged last week by the testimony of Robert Mueller III, the former Special Counsel, who told the House Intelligence Committee that the Russians were back at it, “as we sit here.”

It is obvious to most that the Senate Leader’s moves have been mainly to protect the president.

Oh, McConnell has sited several reasons for his strong opposition, such as his longstanding resistance to federal control over state elections.  He also says that the newly enacted security improvements that were shown to have worked in the 2018 voting, but that is only a first step in what is needed to make the nation’s votes totally secure.  The elections need items such as paper ballot back-ups, but McConnell has unfounded suspicions that the Democrats are trying to gain partisan advantage with their host of proposals.

Republican colleagues also say that Mr. McConnell, has been against any campaign finance restrictions and disclosure requirements.  He likes it as it is, and he is against entering into any legislative negotiation that could touch on fund-raising and campaign spending.  He knows that the GOP’s only real hope of keeping control of the senate is to continue out-spending their competitors in the 2020 elections.

However, whatever McConnell’s reasoning, the criticism of him has taken hold, even back home in Kentucky, where he faces a tough re-election next year.

“Democrats want more aggressive legislation to protect America’s elections after Robert Mueller’s stark warning about Russian interference,” this was just one of a number of reports aired on a Louisville, Kentucky, television station last week.   It stated that “Mitch McConnell blocked it.”  Kentucky citizens are asking, “Why is McConnell not agreeing to protect our votes?”

Even our Commander-In-Tweet, felt compelled to come to McConnell’s defense, as only Trump could.

“Mitch McConnell is a man that knows less about Russia and Russian influence than even Donald Trump,” the president told reporters as he was leaving for a speech in Jamestown, Va. “And I know nothing.”

At least the president got the last part right!

But of course, that did not relieve the heat on the majority leader.  On Monday, McConnell appeared to open the door slightly to doing more on election preparedness.

Per McConnell: “I’m sure all of us will be open to discussing further steps Congress, the executive branch, the states and the private sector might take to defend our elections against foreign interference.”  Even though he said this, he was seething on the Senate floor over what he described as “McCarthy-style attacks on his integrity”.  He said there were distortions of both his position on election security and his hawkish history of challenging Russia.

It is true that throughout his political career, Mr. McConnell has made opposition to the Kremlin a hallmark of his foreign policy stands.  But the way McConnell protects his leader today, the president that has said many times his respect for Vladimir Putin, and his disagreement with his own intelligence officials that Russia is still attacking our democracy.

But, this appears to be the first time that the Democrats have finally gotten to a man who has embraced his portrayal as Darth Vader and the Grim Reaper overseeing a Senate graveyard for legislation that he opposes.  

In fact, he has scoffed at his former nicknames.  When an unsubstantiated West Virginia Senate campaign ad in 2018 called him “Cocaine Mitch,” he began answering his Senate telephone as, "Cocaine Mitch here!".

But with “Moscow Mitch”? Not so much: “I was called unpatriotic, un-American and essentially treasonous,” he fumed on the Senate floor.

But the Democrats continued to press their advantage. And why not? The hashtag #MoscowMitchMcTraitor was trending on Twitter, and Senate Republicans of all stripes were being asked about McConnell’s stopping of the election legislation..

“So long as the Senate Republicans prevent legislation from reaching the floor, so long as they oppose additional appropriations to the states, so long as they malign election security provisions as, quote, partisan wish lists, the critics are right to say Leader McConnell and Republican senators are blocking election security,” said Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader on the Senate floor.

Mr. Schumer has before suggested that a potential reason behind Mr. McConnell’s position is that election interference from Russia would aid Republicans. “I hope it’s not because he thinks it will benefit him, because Putin could easily turn around in a minute, and Putin could then do things that he [McConnell] doesn’t like,” Mr. Schumer has previously said.

Lawmakers in both parties have election security proposals waiting on the sidelines, and the turmoil has caused some to step up their demands for Congress to take up their bills.

Senators Marco Rubio, a Republican of Florida, Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat of Maryland, Senator Susan Collins of Maine, a Republican member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, a top Democrat, Senator Roy Blunt, Republican of Missouri, and other US Senators, they all want to see sanctions legislation to deter Russia, or other foreign actors from interfering in American elections.   

They want the strengthening of sanctions to slap Russia’s economy with serious intensity if they are again found to interfere in a future US election.

A bipartisan measure is in both chambers that would require internet companies like Facebook to disclose all purchasers of political ads.  Another bipartisan Senate proposal would allow cyberinformation-sharing initiatives between federal intelligence services and state election officials.  It would also speed up the granting of security clearances to state officials and provide federal incentives for states to adopt backup paper ballots.

Backup paper ballots recently got an endorsement from an unlikely source: President Trump.  He took to Twitter to call for: “Paper Ballots as backup (old fashioned but true!).”

Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer encouraged another idea Tuesday. “If McConnell wants to address election security in the appropriations process, we would welcome his support on an amendment to send more funding to the states,” he said. “We want to get something done on election security because this is not about party, this is a matter of national security.”

But as usual, McConnell said Monday that he would not be intimidated into acting on election interference.

Sorry Mitch, but pushing for US election security is not, "intimidation".

But one thing is for sure.  The Senate Leader will not be answering his phone with, “Moscow Mitch here!”

Copyright G. Ater 2019