"Hypocrisy is the tribute vice pays to virtue."
 |
| Click here: CNN clip |
Mitch McConnell didn't even bother. In fact, he smirked.
"Oh, we'd fill it."
He revealed an ugly truth about American politics. He is a hypocrite and damned proud of it.
We experienced a milestone this week. Amid all the news of the Mueller press conference, the Japan trip, the Low-IQ Biden tweet, and the Raptors beating the Warriors, something important happened in Paducah, Kentucky. Mitch McConnell told the simple truth.
No hypocrisy.
Equally important, he enjoyed the moment, stretched it out, made sure the body language captured it all.
He was asked at a Chamber of Commerce event in Kentucky what he would do if there happened to be a Supreme Court vacancy in 2020. He took took a sip of ice tea, said "Oh, we'd fill it."
His smirk was a way of showing he just didn't care, not about the supposed principles that underlay earlier representations that denying Obama the ability to fill the Supreme Court vacancy caused by the death of Scalia was anything other than eye-wash. "The American people should have a voice of their next Supreme Court justice," he said. It was tradition, he said, going back to 1880.
"Of course, of course, the American people should have a say in the Court's direction."
There was principle involved.
The smirk show that America has entered an era when it was really all about partisan advantage, and not only did one not need to show that there was higher process principle involved, that there was in fact a new principle involved. Winning.
Only losers are good sports. Only losers pretend there are rules of the game and traditions and higher principles.
My view is that Republicans have adopted this more fully than Democrats, and to their advantage, but both parties are learning the new rules. Republican who leave office (Corker, Flake) say what Republicans used to say before Trump took over the GOP. Democrats on the left are saying that bi-partisanship is selling out. Compromise is weakness. Bipartisan moderate Democrats are getting "primaried" from the left. The scrum of Democratic candidates for president want to be sure they don't lose too many votes on the left. Those are the ones at risk.
McConnell taught us that principles matter. It is just that the principles changed, and Trump understood it earlier and voiced it better than did others. It is about winning. That is the principle.
3 comments:
It's all about winning, and Peter Sage knows that. Morals, principles, and integrity get thrown out the doors. Peter Sage discusses hypocrisy, and he knows it well. He practices it every election cycle. Peter would lie, cheat, steal, or even sell his mother in order to win an election for a democratic candidate.
I have had my disagreements with Peter over the years but must take exception to the content and tone of the previous post. I admire Peter for putting himself out there the way he is and giving our little valley the cache of its very own on line political forum. People who don't put their name on their opinions shouldn't throw stones at people with the guts to do so.
Its sick. We've thought of so many things in our check and balances for Gov and 2 incredible oversights are happening front and center: The very ugly side of No term limits for Congress, and not being able to indict a sitting President. Both are happening right now. This Nations entire political structure has been trashed in less than a decade by grown "Men" who never grew up.
Post a Comment