Time to Log Off is a weekly series documenting the many ways our political figures show their asses online.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is arguably the most important politician of the past century. In his decades as a legislator, McConnell has mastered the art of tough politics to the point that even with his minority party, he is still able to largely dictate and direct Senate business as he sees fit.
Nevertheless, Mitch is only human, and even he sometimes sticks his foot so far into his mouth that he knows what his heel tastes like. Like this week, when he stood up in front of a group of his fellow Kentucky folks and bravely took credit for trying to keep money out of their pockets.
Speaking in the town of Murray, Ky., about the $1.9 trillion U.S. bailout package signed into law by President Biden this spring, McConnell downplayed the significance of the massive bill, saying that it “had been passed by direct vote to the party line”.
“Not a single member of my party voted for it,” he added. And then came the footsy-mouthy part:
So you will earn much more money. I didn’t vote for it, but you’ll make a lot more money. Cities and counties in Kentucky will receive close to $700 or $800 million. If you add up the total amount that will come into our state: $4 billion.
Hmmm. A man whose primary responsibility is to represent the interests of his constituents while bringing resources and money to his home state is suddenly bragging to those same constituents about trying to stop the influx of resources and silver in its home state. Mitch. What? It all starts around 12:30 p.m. below:
“My advice to members of the legislature and others, local officials, is to spend it wisely,” McConnell continued. “Let’s hope this windfall doesn’t happen again.”
Nice little federal stimulus package you have there. It would be a shame if something happened to him, huh?
As you can probably imagine, the Biden administration is eager to jump on McConnell’s comments, with several White House staffers tweeting their approval for Mitch’s accidental truth.
The Democratic Party itself even turned footage of McConnell’s speech into a quick ad.
Of course, McConnell’s opposition to the stimulus makes sense: he is, after all, a staunch conservative who fundamentally opposes any sort of federal action. It is simply the latest manifestation of this political inclination. But for someone as notoriously taciturn and deliberate as McConnell, that inclination seems even looser than his usual conservative bluster when he tells the direct recipients of the federal stimulus package that, hey guys, I did everything I could to keep you from getting paid, and I would do it again in a heartbeat.
I don’t know, Mitch. It’s been a rough few months for you, and you seem to be slipping a bit, at least on the optics front. It might be time to relax, keep your head down and disconnect for a bit.
