When it comes to 9/11, Mitch McConnell revealed he may be capable of shame—barely
is long and depressing. At the top are his refusal to join Presidentin issuing a public warning about Russian interference in advance of the 2016 election, and his sinking of the Supreme Court nomination ofwithout so much as a hearing. Less dramatic, if nearly as corrosive, has been McConnell’s obstruction of campaign finance and voting rights reform.
He seemed poised to add another inglorious chapter, this time by messing with the lives of sick cops and firefighters. McConnell had used federal funding for the health care of 9/11 first responders as a bargaining chip in 2015, and last week he seemed poised to do it again. During aJon Stewart’s show and blasted the Republican Senate majority leader directly.
The episode should be a clear lesson to the Democrats running for president. Stewart’s pressure won a McConnell pledge to make sure the bill comes up for a vote…by August. That would be ahead of the original schedule, but it’s not the immediate, independent bill advocates have been seeking. And it allows plenty of time for Senate Republicans to screw around with the number of dollars attached. McConnell is responsive—slightly—to public shaming.
“Candidates talk about being able to reach across the aisle because it tests very well in polling,” saysa strategist who worked for both of Obama’s successful presidential campaigns. “Voters want Democrats and Republicans to get along and get things done. That’s insane, I know. But there’s also a segment of the Democratic primary electorate that simply wants McConnell and the Republicans to eat it. It should be an easy pivot to say, ‘I’m not running for president to work with Mitch McConnell.
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