AS ONLY MITCH MCCONNELL CAN

MITCH "THE TURTLE" MCCONNELL

On Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch "The Turtle" McConnell honored Equal Pay Day — a day that symbolizes the amount of time it takes women to earn what men make in a year — by accusing Democrats and President Obama of a “never-ending political road show” that merely blows “a few kisses” to their voter base.

“Instead of focusing on jobs, he launched into another confusing attack on the left’s latest bizarre obsession,” McConnell said on the Senate floor Tuesday. “Just think about that. The percentage of Americans in the workforce is at an almost four-decade low, and Democrats chose to ignore serious job-creation ideas so they could blow a few kisses to their powerful pals on the left.”

McConnell argued the fact that women still earn 77 percent of what men make should take a backseat to more serious Republican priorities. These priorities typically include building Keystone XL pipeline and repealing Obamacare (which Republicans have attempted more than 50 times).

Leading up to Democrats’ latest push for equal pay, Republicans have claimed that the gender wage gap is a “myth” and that it is “condescending” to discuss. But the reality is that women still earn less even when they achieve the same education and job level, with gender discrimination accounting for as much as much as 40 percent of their pay gap.

In the past, McConnell’s voting record against women has not stopped him from taking credit anyway. He once touted the Violence Against Women Act to women voters, although he opposed it in both 1993 and 2012. McConnell has also opposed both the Lilly Ledbetter Act and the Paycheck Fairness Act. And the very health care law that McConnell wants to repeal prevents insurance companies from charging women more and ensures contraception coverage.

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Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

THE MENTALITY OF THE TURTLE

Despite agreeing to a budget this month, it seems Congressional Republicans are not yet done holding the economic fate of the country hostage in order to pass aspects of its agenda. In an appearance on Fox News Sunday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told host Chris Wallace that it would be “irresponsible” for Republicans not to try to add amendments to a bill raising the debt ceiling, which they may need to pass as early late February. Failure to pass a debt ceiling increase would be catastrophic for the economy, forcing the country to default on its obligations:

WALLACE: So are you saying right here, “We are going to attach something to the debt ceiling”? And if so, what? 

MCCONNELL: What I’m saying is we ought to attach something significant for the country to [President Obama's] request to increase the debt ceiling. That’s been the pattern for 50 years, going back to the Eisenhower administration. I think it’s the responsible thing to do for the country. 

We’re never going to default — the Speaker and I have made that clear. We’ve never done that. But, it’s irresponsible not to use the discussion — the request of the President to raise the debt ceiling — to try to accomplish something for the country.

THE TURTLE





Asked for a “good example” of what Republicans could demand in exchange for raising the debt ceiling, McConnell cited the Keystone XL pipeline because it would “create jobs.” In truth, though the project would create nearly 4,000 temporary construction jobs, it would ultimately only create 35 permanent jobs, resulting in “negligible socioeconomic impacts." Upgrading existing pipelines instead would both create more jobs and help protect the country’s drinking water supply from contamination from leaks.

Since 2011 — motivated in part by the growing influence of the Tea Party — Republicans have viewed the debt ceiling as what McConnell called “a hostage worth ransoming.” It was because of that very brinkmanship that Standard & Poor’s lowered the country’s credit rating, which cost taxpayers $19 billion and lost the country over a million jobs.

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STAFF WRITER

THE TURTLE NEVER BATS AN EYE AS HE HONES HIS HOSTAGE TAKING SKILLS

MITCH "THE TURTLE" MCCONNELL

As Congress is attempting to negotiate a deal to extend unemployment benefits to the 1.3 million Americans who lost them at the end of December, Senate Minority Leader Mitch "the turtle" McConnell is seizing the opportunity to refocus attention on Obamacare. On the Senate floor on Tuesday, McConnell suggested that Democrats should agree to a one-year delay in Obamacare’s individual mandate in order to offset the cost of reinstating unemployment benefits for one year.

“I’d like to propose that… my side be allowed to offer an amendment to pay for these benefits by lifting the burden of Obamacare’s individual mandate for one year, and take care of our veterans who were harmed by the recently agreed to budget deal while we are at it, in the same amendment,” the Kentucky lawmaker said.

The GOP has repeatedly pushed to delay Obamacare’s individual mandate, a proposal that would ultimately increase the number of uninsured Americans and raise premiums in the individual market. Health policy experts agree that it’s too late to make such a major change to the structure of the health reform law, since the individual mandate — which incentives people to purchase health care — is a central component of Obamacare. On January 1, the health law’s coverage expansion officially took effect.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that delaying this Obamacare provision could saving the U.S. $35 billion over the next 10 years. But that’s because it would prevent millions of low-income people from accessing Medicaid coverage, so fewer taxpayer dollars would be spent on extending health care to that population.

Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid has already rejected McConnell’s request.

Quickly reaching a deal on unemployment benefits, rather than haggling over proposals to attack the health law, could actually end up benefiting the economy. In the week immediately following Congress’ failure to extend unemployment benefits, states lost out on $400 million. According to the CBO, if these federal benefits aren't restored, the U.S. could lose about 200,000 jobs this year due to reduced consumer spending.

If this Einstein and his band of tin foil hat society members had not held us hostage last year to the tune of 24 billion dollars, maybe helping those in need wouldn't be such a problem. The turtle is happy to balance the budget on the backs of the poor, the needy, the unemployed, and especially the middle class - anybody except for the filthy rich.

Robin Hood stole from the rich to give to the poor. The turtle believes in stealing from the poor to give to the poor.

NFTOS

Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

AMERICAN TALIBAN PLAYS A GAME OF CHESS, AND YOU ARE THE PAWN

There's always something special about hot-mic incidents. Most political figures, by the time they've risen to a certain level of prominence, tend to be guarded, scripted, and careful to stay on-message. When there's a live microphone picking up their unvarnished comments, it offers the rest of us a peek behind the curtain.

A local Kentucky TV news station caught Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Rand Paul Wednesday morning discussing some congressional Republican messaging strategy regarding the showdown with Democrats over the government shutdown.

Senator McConnell and Senator Paul show how the teahadists are playing a game with the American people, their lives, and the economy. To them it is just a matter of poll testing phrases, not governing honestly.

LOOSE LIPS SINKS SHIPS

"I just did CNN and I just go over and over again 'We're willing to compromise. We're willing to negotiate," Paul is seen on-camera telling McConnell, who is standing by for his own interview remote from D.C. "I don't think they (Democrats) poll tested 'we won't negotiate.' I think it's awful for them to say that over and over again." 

"Yeah, I do too and I — and I just came back from that two hour meeting with them and that, and that was basically the same view privately as it was publicly," McConnell said back. 

Paul continued, saying he believed Republicans are in a good position. "I think if we keep saying, 'We wanted to defund it (Obamacare), we fought for that' and that we're willing to compromise on this, I think... We're gonna win this, I think."

For their part, Democrats and President Barack Obama have maintained that any deal to end the current federal government shutdown cannot include any defunding or delaying of the implementation of "Obamacare."

The American Taliban is saying something publicly that they don’t believe privately. Publicly, the domestic terrorists are talking tough. Privately, they are desperate for a way out of the shutdown that allows them to claim some little symbolic or token victory.

Take the quote from [asshat] Congressman Marlin Stutzman, R-IN who said, “We’re not going to be disrespected… We have to get something out of this. And I don’t know what that even is.”

Rand Paul is delusional if he thinks that the domestic terrorists are going to win this. They've already lost. The only things left to be determined are the size of the loss, and whether or not this will cost them control of the House in 2014.

Rand Paul basically admitted that the teahadists tough talk is empty. This open mic faux pas is the smoking gun needed to - to put the last nail in the coffin of these terrorists.

This is a figment of American politics circa 2013. It is incredibly convoluted beyond redemption. Facts don't seem to impress these domestic terrorists. Beliefs become so ingrained they turn it into a self-fulfilling prophecy. Teahadists want to perpetuate this because it serves their purpose to control and dominate the ignorant that is their base and their districts. [See yesterdays blog on gerrymandering]

When you think about this, it all makes perfect sense, when you realize that the billionaire financiers that fund the tin foil hat society - that they aren't really interested in defunding the ACA. It's really just a straw man exercise.

Their goal is to render the federal government impotent - unable to prevent them from enacting their own radical agenda, which is the complete privatization of all functions of government.

This current government shutdown, the debt ceiling from last year, the sequester this, and the upcoming debt ceiling fight are all designed to cast government as dysfunctional, and detrimental to the country as a whole. Their hope is to get the citizenry so exasperated with bullshit of dysfunctional government, that most people would welcome the right wing nut jobs paradigm shift, even if it means turning control of basic government function over to the faction that is the teahadists/American Taliban/US Domestic Terrorists.

Congratulations US GOP Domestic Terrorists: The Osama Bin Laden Foundation has announced that you've been chosen as winner of this year's Destroy America Award.

NFTOS

Editor-In-Chief

Roger West

MITCH "THE TURTLE" MCCONNELL THINKS WOMEN ARE STUPID

A press release distributed by Sen. Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) campaign at a “Women for Team Mitch” event on Friday brags about the Senate Minority Leader’s support for the Violence Against Women Act, even though McConnell voted against the measure in 1994, 2012, and 2013.

“Mitch was the co-sponsor of the original Violence Against Women Act — and continues to advocate for stronger polices to protect women. I am proud to call him my senator,” the document quotes a voter as saying.

Joe Sonka, a staff writer for Louisville’s Alt-Weekly first tweeted a copy of the release, hinting at the contradiction and noting that McConnell didn't address women’s issues at the event or take any questions from women. Former Congresswoman Anne Northup, a spokesperson for the campaign, also told Sonka that McConnell supported bills like the Lilly Ledbetter Act and Paycheck Fairness Act — both of which McConnell voted against — “make the workplace more difficult for women.”

McConnell has embellished often on his voting record in the past, insisting that he voted against VAWA because he sought a stronger version. During the event, McConnell’s wife, former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, also claimed that her husband supports increasing cancer screenings and check-ups for women, even though he is campaigning on repealing the Affordable Care Act, which specifically increases women’s access to preventive medicine.

NFTOS
STAFF WRITER