Mitch McConnell is a dishonest political hack, committed to partisan trench warfare. He is not unique in this except to degree and positional placement, which may in fact be why he is so willing to tell brazen lies and reverse opinion according to political winds.
His history of lies and hypocrisy does not deserve a wider platform than closed partisan circles. There is no point he can argue to ideological opponents that is credible anymore. He is cutthroat political operative, and has modeled an opposition in his own image. Chickens will come home to roost.
11
..... says Monarch Mitch McConnell.... the man who refuses to allow a Senate vote on democracy and campaign corruption reform.
HR1 passed the House and died in Mitch McConnell’s personal filibuster.
HR1 would create a national voter-registration program, make Election Day a federal holiday, replace partisan gerrymandering with non-partisan commissions to draw electoral districts, and limit efforts to purge voting rolls.
HR1 would introduce voluntary public financing for campaigns, matching small donations at a 6:1 ratio and introduce stricter limitations on foreign lobbying, require Super PACs and other "dark money" organizations to disclose their donors, and restructure the Federal Election Commission to reduce partisan gridlock.
The bill also supports a constitutional amendment to overturn the Citizens United decision, where the Supreme Court held that virtually unlimited political spending by corporations, labor unions, and other associations was a constitutional right.
HR1 would require presidential/VP candidates to disclose their previous 10 years of income-tax returns, eliminate the use of taxpayer money by politicians to settle sexual-harassment claims, and create a new ethics code for the U.S. Supreme Court, which is not subject to existing judicial codes of conduct.
In March 2019, McConnell said he would not put the bill to a vote on the Senate floor, "Because I get to decide what we vote on".
McConnell can’t stand representative government or democracy.
786
@Socrates
In short, the man is a traitor who violates his oath to support the Constitution every day he wakes up.
3
It is astounding that Mitch McConnell really despises America amd our Democracy.
If. the Supreme Court can elect our President by ONE vote.
If the simple majority always works in the House of Representatives.
then, McConnell, the craftiest, most dishonest man to be a Senator, will just have to learn about Majority rule
Sorry Mitch. The age of Conservative control and ideas is sunsetting. bereft of any endearing or enduring value. Welcome to the reemergence of the Liberal ideals of Lincoln, Teddy and FDR
114
And what about Merrick Garland?
121
KILL the FIL
Demographics indicate that the Republican party is dying and will NEVER return.
Future debates will be between centrist Democrats and left leaning Democratic socialists.
Also, technology will enable much more equal representation per voter; not like the current CA vs S. Dakota inequality.
23
Mr. McConnell, please retire. Your brand of "no" has stagnated the country for far too long. You fear progress, and only prize your own power. It is selfish and shameful of you to impose this fear on a country ready for better.
96
McConnell thinks he wrote an op-ed for one of his conservative propaganda outlets. Filibusters serve no one's order, including and especially Constitutional, when it's used and abused to the point of making 2+2=4 a topic requiring a supermajority to end the filibuster. And to hear a hypocritical Republican who's aiding and abetting to put this country on the brink, actively moving us backwards and consistently puts party before country, to speak of "Constitutional Order"...please!!!
54
If you take the 21 states with the lowest population, you have 42 senators representing 37,442,229 people, or 11.26% of the population. In other words, senators representing less than 12% of the US population can stop legislation under the senate's current filibuster rule.
111
“Republicans opposed both moves on principle.” Yes, but Republican have only have one principle: win at any cost. You have systematically undermined the balance of power that is necessary to maintain a functional democracy. Your descendants will be ashamed to bear your name.
86
This man has no integrity. None.
129
Wait. This must be some other Mitch McConnell. Surely it can't be the same man as the one who vowed to obstruct and destroy every article of President Obama's agenda in order to prevent his reelection? Or the man who broke with Constitutional precedent to deny Merrick Garland a hearing after Obama quite properly nominated him for the Supreme Court? This McConnell seems to believe in orderly deliberation and Constitutional precedent. He has nothing in common with the fellow who has wrecked any possibility for bipartisan comity in the Senate he controls. The hypocrisy is staggering.
158
If this was anyone but Mitch McConnell, I would welcome the discussion. However, from the point that he pointedly stated after Obama's that his objective was to ensure an one-term presidency he morally gave up the right to any kind of rational discussion.The record of his blatant abuse of office will be his lasting legacy.
75
I'm somewhat less concerned with whether or not the filibuster goes away than with the thing McConnell didn't address: How did one Senator gain the power to stop Congress in its tracks? No legislation can even be debated much less voted on without his personal permission.
How is this consistent with the Constitution?
How is it democratic?
When and how does this change?
84
Doesn't McConnell understand that his tenure as majority leader, refusing to bring bills to the floor for a vote, is what precipitated this move?
41
The filibuster is not in the Constitution. It is not written in law. There are a lot of rules, norms and conventions that help our government function. Mitch McConnell seems to want to pick and choose which he keeps and which he jettisons and even which he makes up out of thin air. After giving specious grounds for refusing to give Merrick Garland a confirmation hearing and vote, then later saying he'd disregard them in order to confirm a hypothetical 2020 Trump Supreme Court nominee, I don't find McConnell credible.
42
The audacity of Mitch McConnell is rivaled only by his hypocrisy.
63
He has no credibility .
What he says cannot be taken at face value.
His argument is specious in that he used his party to block a Constitutional required process: the consideration of Merrick Garland.
Kentucky has elected him a multitude of times and they will probably elect him again. What does that say about their state?
Constitution be damned.
33
The last thing Democrats should do is take advice from Moscow Mitch. I’m sure he would love to keep the status quo, where there is no filibuster for Republicans’ major priorities, such as tax cuts and judicial nominations, but most of the Democrats’ priorities are still subject to a filibuster. No thanks. If Democrats win control of the Senate in 2020, the first thing they need to do is level the playing field in that chamber by getting rid of the filibuster.
23
This op-ed angers me beyond belief. Your self-righteous piousness is beyond the pale. If your party had any, any, any desire to govern in a bipartisan fashion, none of this would even be on the table. But that is not the case. It's on the watch of Moscow Mitch where all of this has transpired - you're watch. It's your racist "That black guy in the White House will never get anything done" attitude and tactics that paved the way for where we are. Face it. You party is a dying, racist, corrupt dinosaur. This would be your last grasp at strangling the desires of the majority of Americans. We won't have it. Your corporate, black money and Russian handlers are panicking. Well, you should all panic. As Kurt Russell so wonderfully expressed in Tombstone "You've called down the thunder, well now you've got it."
61
Thus spake the greatest hypocrite in the history of the world!
48
Mitch,
YOU, and only YOU, are responsible for the gridlock and non-passage of bills. YOU are also to blame for the very real fact that Merrick Garland was cheated out of his chance at a SCOTUS seat. YOU are the poster-child of all that is wrong with the (dying)
GOP. YOU are part and parcel the reason many moderate Republicans (including me) have abandoned the party. This is YOUR party, YOUR fault, and YOUR epitaph. Own it.
68
Who cares. They can't escalate any further like they did with judicial filibusters.
Since a tiny slice of our population will be able to hold up any progress this country can ever make we may as well get rid of the filibuster. With it Republicans will often get to ram through their unpopular legislation. And will pay the price in congressional and presidential elections. But if it remains a few small red states will block any progressive legislation from ever becoming a reality,
We already know that McConnell will trash any traditional constraint the *instant* he thinks it will work against him. If we don't get rid of it now, the moment it suits McConnell, he will instead and reap all those rewards.
8
So the Dems started systematic filibuster in 2003 huh? McConnell is so full of it. 2003 was the last year of five terms held by Jesse Helms of NC. Arch conservative known as Senator "No". McConnell knows with great delight the Helms' legacy and his obstructionist use of filibustering.
19
After pledging to make Obama a one-term President, instead of serving his state’s constituents in the Senate, McConnell has no business lecturing anyone about decorum, fair play, or basic human decency.
I come from generations of Southern Republicans who served the party in a variety of volunteer positions. Here’s a tiny legacy of yours, Mr. O’Connell: my 80+ years-old parents, I, my brother and my sister have all left the party. My two grown sons, after seeing the damage you and your ilk caused this great nation, will never consider becoming Republicans.
We do love America, though, and hope we help her heal from the destruction wrought by her enemies, both foreign and domestic.
59
In a way this is sad for the Republicans. They've wasted most of their credibility and now would like Democrats to 'understand' how they're the cause of the knife Republicans honed to slice through every aspect of humanity, simple decency, ownership of responsibility for what they do in consistently scapegoating their foul deeds onto the Democrat Party. Grow up.
To Mitch and supporters, FDR was the closest thing we've ever had to "socialist, governments and he was elected four times. If that doesn't prove the fallacy of the Republican Party, it's not likely anything will.
His 'whine' sounds much like whistling in the dark.
23
A discerning reader would see through the slurs, half-truths, and misrepresentations in this article. I’d say it is poorly written, but I know better. McConnell intends these rhetorical slights of hand. This article is rife with logical fallacies that, sadly, the average overwhelmed voter doesn’t know how to untangle. Politicians on both sides of America’s Berlin political wall use these tactics, but McConnell’s (and Trump’s) brand of rhetoric takes predatory politics to a low voters become inured to. When, oh when, will someone with integrity step forward? And how will they undo the harm?
28
I would never take a lesson in American government from the person who has done more to subvert our democracy than anyone but Antonin Scalia. At least he is no longer with us.
26
Mitch McConnell actually used "Republicans" and "principle" in the same sentence. That's one rich trifecta!
17
Dear Senator MConnell:
We rarely have a chance to 'speak' to you, and since you have written a piece for this paper, I would like to change the topic to one that concerns us all deeply, and bring it to your attention while we have your attention.
Recently, the country endured two tragic mass shootings - one in El Paso, Texas, and one in Akron, Ohio. You said at the time that on return from the summer recess, you would bring gun control legislation to the Senate floor. I hope this is still on the agenda, and you will meet this challenge and allow congress to debate and vote on this urgent matter. The loss of lives of our citizens - young and of all ages -is a tragedy that we must all do our best to control. As majority leader of the senate, we need your help and cooperation to reduce the needless loss of life for Americans, and secure safety for all.
Please don't disappoint us. We look forward to you taking the necessary action for the well being of our country.
Thank you.
23
@jleeny
You write a respectful letter as though it is intended to influence an honest , upstanding member of the "World's Greatest Deliberative Body". In truth, Moscow Mitch is the antithesis of the kind of person your nice letter is hoping to persuade. As Lord Acton pointed out, and is patently proven here, power has thoroughly corrupted this man, and we are all the worse off for it. The silence of his response to you will be deafening.
35
I think term limits would be good for Congress. Unless they poll at 75+% popularity. In which case, would make sense to run again.
4
Mr. McConnell is, of course, absolutely correct. No one argues that the filibuster can be frustrating but do we really want another House of Representatives? Do we want laws that persist or ones that change whenever the Senate majority changes?
My hope is that the Senate will remember that it's a deliberative body and that Senators need to be persuasive.
3
Mr. McConnell, if the filibuster is so important, why did you change the rules for confirming a Supreme Court justice with a simple majority.
Mr. McConnell, you are a bane to democracy itself and the country will be much better off when you are out of the Senate.
In the meantime, spare us your proselyting.
35
This is awfully rich Mitch. You have destroyed our government by breaking every tradition of comity and respect and now you suggest that the filibuster should be saved so you can continue to prevent legislation from passing even if you are again in the minority! There are so many words for that. I just don’t think the Times can print them. You should be ashamed of yourself. Party of Lincoln? How about party of Benedict Arnold (minus his battlefield heroism).
33
It is simply pathetic and embarrassing that the Senate Majority Leader would publish such self-serving and disingenuous spin in The New York Times. it is impossible to take anything he says in good faith.
30
Reading McConnell’s specious, self-important blather while hopelessly aware that he personally has made as many substantive moves to damage, distort, and by now, nearly cripple our American system of governance as anyone in history, well... it makes me feel like I’ve fallen down the rabbit hole and the mome wrath is outgrabing about how the Red Queen is so frabjous. Back in real life, his name will live in infamy as a darkly cynical, and endlessly disingenuous, manipulator, of power, of truth, and ultimately, of our whole country. I despise everything he does.
27
McConnell is worse than Trump because he is smarter and more manipulative. He doesn’t give a whit about the American people; he is the true enemy of the people.
33
Oh, Geez.
Senator McConnell has done more harm to the Senate, and Presidency, than anyone. Ever.
A lecture on political comity from McConnell is like a lecture on chastity from President Trump. These two are the reason the GOP deserves to go the way of the Whigs, the sooner the better for America.
There are real issues confronting this nation, issues that McConnell and his party refuse to touch. Preserving the filibuster so that old white men can do nothing is not one of them.
39
Moscow Mitch will wind up in prison or disgraced. His loyalty is with himself and certainly not to the oath he took for this country.
26
Mr. McConnell must really be afraid that his pal in the White House is driving the Republican party to irrelevancy, and this nation to ruin. I, for one, am hopeful that this cynical and corrupt man has had a chance to review some deep polling data and realizes that the Senate is highly likely to transition to Dem control in 2020. I sure hope so. And I look forward to the day when Dems play hardball and get rid of the filibuster altogether. If that makes the Senate less relevant, well so be it. Bi-cameral legislative bodies may well belong on the trash heap, along with the current leadership of the GOP.
18
Looking forward to seeing the day when Moscow Mitch is voted out of office. Hope it’s 2020
27
"On legislation, however, the Senate’s treasured tradition is not efficiency but deliberation."
So what do you have to say about the Senate tradition of deliberation Senator McConnell? Under your tenure you have stalled legislation, kept important discussions from happening on the floor of our Senate. You have led your party, or what is left of it, to identify with white nationalists, to take positions against women, to support a president who is unfit to fulfill his duties, and to deny legislation to keep our elections safe.
I have no respect for your voice - nor that of your party
27
An acrimonious recrimination directed toward a history McConnell is smart enough to know will judge him poorly. Finish up your time, Mitch. We're waiting.
19
Merrick Garland was all you, Mitch, you pious defender of tradition and protocol. We won't forget!
30
since when has mcconnell cared about the constitution? (cf. merrick garland) all he cares about is power
23
The filibuster may or may not play a crucial role in our governing process, but you, Mitch McConnell, definitely do play a crucial roll. You represent the worst of the worst in the operation of a fair and democratic senate. In my over 60 years of voting, I can think of no other elected official, other than Donald Trump, for whom I have less admiration and confidence.
21
So to sum things up in the world of Mitch: Republicans = Good Guys who only want to preserve democracy; Democrats = Bad Guys only interested in wielding power. It’s so nice and tidy when things are so clear. Gosh, it’s so unfortunate that facts, history and my own eyes deceive me so much.
Is anyone in Washington interested in accepting or at least sharing responsibility rather than just casting blame, ever? Yeah, I already know the answer to that.
19
One can only wonder what McConnell means by radical socialist policies that the Democratic majority would force on the American people? Would these be policies like affordable health care that are supported by every right-wing political party in other advanced nations? The radical policies are with the Republicans and I fear that the GOP no longer plays any role in preserving the constitutional order. Quite the contrary in fact when you look at the recent behavior of their insane president.
35
As the jokers in the Federalist Society would say, where would I find the filibuster in the Constitution?
Oh wait, I won’t. Hmmm ...
22
Wow! The gall to come and teach us about Senate rules and constitution! I could use very strong words on what he can do with his article but then this comment will not be published. Instead, let me take this opportunity to comment on the "wisdom" of our founding fathers, who saddled us with "tyranny of the minority" in an effort to prevent the so-called "tyranny of the majority."
Apparently, they did not think the congress should carry out the will of the majority in a democratic republic. Thank you so much for making California have the same voice in the Senate than say North Dakota.
Who gave Mitch the authority to not even bring to the floor for discussion any bill he does not like personally? He has s done more harm to our country than anyone in recent history (other than the current President, unfortunately). He and his wife, thanks to her father are incredibly rich and do not represent ordinary working stiff, even in Kentucky. I just hope he won't survive the next election in Kentucky one way or another!
31
I do not live in Kentucky, but I am happy to contribute a few dollars to Amy McGrath, the retired Marine lieutenant colonel and combat pilot Democrat who is challenging Mitch McConnell in the 2020 senate race. I hope you will join me.
50
How clever; now the NYTimes is printing farce in the Op-Ed section.
Many many many of us warned Harry Reid when he had the Senate majority that he was dealing with radical obstructionist GOP'ers, who deceived Leader Reid since the GOP'ers were cleverly disguised in coat and tie.
The lawlessness this country labors under is a direct result of Sen. McConnell and gang pretending there is some constitutional clause that a Dem POTUS cannot fill a SCOTUS vacancy past the 85th month of his two-term 96 months in office, if GOP'ers control the Senate.
A more tortured interpretation of the Constitution has only rarely occurred - at the time, we felt Obama and the Dems should have appealed to SCOTUS for a ruling.
We are gratified that Sen. Reid has recently published his support for ending the now-ridiculous filibuster, and has come around to the view we have expressed in these pages many times since January 20, 2008.
The Senate can only be a 'cooling saucer' if there is a continuation of tradition, as well as scrupulous adherence to the Constitution and Senators' sworn Oaths to put country over party.
17
Holy cow. I never would've thought I'd see the day where the biggest destroyer of our democracy (other than Newt Gingrich) would shamelessly post an opinion piece on a news outlet he regularly denounces.
And yes, Moscow Mitch, you're the reason why I'm no longer a Republican and the reason why so many Americans around the world are once again, less than a decade after Bush, are ashamed of the way our country is being run, the dysfunction and sheer fecklessness you've propagated. You're not only the gravedigger of our democracy, but of our future and that of our children's.
38
Sorry Sen. McConnell, you are the poster boy of hypocrisy. Just like the president you protect at all costs, you blame and condemn the opposition for doing what you yourself are more than willing to do. If the "logical conclusion" trumps principals in your poor excuses, then what good are your principals? Why should I have any regard for what you say now? In your case, we are far better off watching what you do, and not listening to a word you say.
For you, it is always party before Nation. Power before progress. And that is an ugly way to lead.
25
This the same guy that said he would spend four years crippling the democratic process because a black man was elected president.
32
Isn't it time we tilted more towards democracy?
Keep the filibuster, but make it mandatory that the 41 blocking Senators represent at least 41% of the population.
It is time that the urban, diverse, educated, prosperous majority simply refuse to be ruled by a rural, mono-ethnic, uneducated poor minority.
Dan Kravitz
22
You're on the wrong side of history and of our country, McConnell, which places you as the ugly American. Ugly, inside and out. You are the reason we are losing our democracy and all we hold true for our children and grandchildren - honesty. Go back to where you came from and leave the country to heal from your mess. Take your mob with you.
30
In 2013, Democrats attempted to destroy the 60-vote filibuster, which requires a 60 vote agreement, out of 100 senators, for any new legislation to pass, requiring instead a simple majority. This was a wholly political move, as Republicans had used the filibuster repeatedly to hinder the Democrats agenda. When Democrats were unsuccessful, they simply ignored the filibuster, and passed legislation through a simple majority, setting the precedent for the "nuclear option".This decision has Democrats saying it is "probably the biggest mistake we ever made,” for the power, it gave Republicans to push through their legislation rapidly. The problem with these approaches, of seeking simple majority, is that it completely ignores what the Senate was designed for. It is not meant to simply be a second House of Representatives; the Senate is an extra measure to stop drastic rushed changes that would be better if better planned out. By forcing more of a majority, it ensures, as Thomas Jefferson said, “great innovations should not be forced on slender majorities", for it ensures that, in theory, legislation passed does not create a divided populace, for a sizable majority would have to be in favor.
When politicians push for drastic changes to help themselves short-term, it will almost certainly hurt them later on. This is a lesson that politicians still fail to heed, no matter how many times they suffer for it.
2
The word "filibuster" and the word "constitution" shouldn't really be in the same sentence.
6
There are two problems with the filibuster: (1) the constitution is quite specific about the issues that require a supper majority...impeachment and treaties...NOT every piece of legislation (2) it camouflages behind a fake veil of "bipartisanship" which party is exactly to blame or to credit for the condition of the country.
13
Hats off to the NYT for not blocking the publication of this "opinion". Now we the people can deliberate!
The only words in these passages that ring true coming from you Mitch are "impediment", and "slender majority". By blocking the "treasured tradition" of deliberation, you are clearly an impediment to progress.
It is high time that Kentuckians elect a fresh face to represent them. Someone with a new perspective on grand old ideals, and on "grand innovation". America certainly needs to move on from you.
19
The "order" that this Senator wants to preserve is the retrogressive hierarchy that the nation is leaving behind, McConnell included.
12
So does House Oversight.
Something is a little off in this country of ours.
Demorats in the majority but the country is ruled by Trump and McConnell.
I keep waiting for someone nominated by the two rulers to refuse to serve. Why? because they will be too embarrassed and not inclined to have their names associated with those two in the history books.
I will not hold my breath tho, as there seems to no longer be that thing called shame.
18
This is very ironic considering Mitch McConnell was responsible for making sure that President Obama's constitutional right to have his Supreme Court pick brought before the Senate for confirmation was blocked.
28
By carrying water for this administration instead of taking out the trash within it, you have doomed the Republican Party to a inexorable, agonizing demise. Ever experience the fetid, rotting stench of a dying lake drying up?
That’s what’s coming, literally and figuratively.
Every drop of blood of blood shed, every agonizing cry of traumatized children in detention centers, every faithless, inhuman, unthinkable act of terror this administration unleashed on this country can be laid directly at your feet.
You could have done something, but instead some corporations and ultra rich got some tax breaks they didn’t need.
Everything that comes is on you, Mitch.
20
I couldn't read this. There was nothing to gain but blood pressure. NYT needs to reconsider which opposing views are worthwhile and which ones are simply spurious.
12
i just have to wonder what Elaine Chao and McConnells married life is like..I think they both must revert back to wax figures and spend the night in the freezer, making sure their blood will remain cold through the next day's work..I can't imagine anything more intimate than that.
19
Yes, he’s probably right about that. The Republicans will always play dirtier than the Democrats, with less regard for the good of the republic, so any parliamentary rule in place that maintains a vestige of fair play should probably be kept.
Democrats might brandish a pistol in an argument, but are unlikely to use it.
Republicans will take that pistol, pistol-whip the Democrats, and then shoot them. They‘ll probably take shots at their least favorite Amendments for good measure.
8
From afar, it is hard to believe the good people of Kentucky voted this demagogue to office several times. He embodies all that former leaders of our country have railed against- the corrupt, the uncaring, and the greedy; those who use their position to line their own pockets. He is a traitor to America’s ideals, and all the while laughs at those who try to expose him for his treasonous ways.
15
Fools. We are ruled by fools.
Or we're just fools for putting up with them all.
Where's our nuclear option?
8
We're in a national emergency in no small part thanks to the partisan machinations of this guy.
McConnell is the best argument for mandatory term limits that I ever heard; just hearing him talk, and watching him put our national welfare to the sword; sacrificed for partisan advantage.
President Washington must be spinning in his grave.
14
So, let me get this straight, Senator McConnell:
1. You publicly announce that you and your party will not pass any bills or confirm any appointments made by Obama -- a president legitimately elected with both the Electoral College and popular vote.
2. The Democrats, weary of the government's inability to govern because of the partisan gridlock you've caused, feel it's necessary to put an end to your childish games.
3. You accuse the Democrats of breaking the system that you sabotaged, then take delight in the pain it's caused them now that you're getting your way.
You, Mr. McConnell, are everything that is wrong with the American government.
To point the finger elsewhere... well, people may say you resemble a turtle, but I'm going with a chameleon, because you've now taken on the personal and political qualities of Mr. Trump. A turtle would be a thousand steps up from that.
39
Snooze.
The Senate has been constitutionally changed to become more democratic.
It has happened before, it can happen again.
#RepealSenateRule22
2
“ 'The Supreme Court is not well. And the people know it ... Perhaps the Court can heal itself before the public demands it be ‘restructured in order to reduce the influence of politics.’ The phrase is from a poll question with which a majority of Americans agreed." (Washington Post, 16Aug2019) The faux outrage from the Republicans is completely predictable. The same folks who rabidly supported the abuse of power by Mr. McConnell to get the last two right wing Justices appointed. Including "the NRA-endorsed Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh [who] replaced the more moderate Justice Anthony M. Kennedy on the closely divided court". Please spare us the phony concern about "threats", Mr. Graham, Mr. Cruz, etc. The "threat" and actual attack on Democracy came from Mr. McConnell. This lack of confidence in the "non-partisanship" of the Supreme court will last for the lifetime appointments of Mr. Gorsuch and Mr. Kavanaugh.
9
What Democrats are "ruing" is all those years they played fair and expected to get the credit for it only to have Mitch McConnell ruthlessly exploit every loophole they wouldn't and get rewarded for it.
Those days are over. The only thing McConnell ever feared is finally going to come true: Democrats are going to use his own tactics. And it's about time.
19
Between granting lucrative business favors to his wife, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, and subverting the expressed will of the people of the United States, Mitch McConnell will be remembered as one of the most corrupt and authoritarian Senate Majority Leaders in our history. The record of the Congressional Republican Party, since at least the rotten reign of rank hypocrite and con-man House Speaker Newt Gingrich, is replete with examples of high-handed and anti-democratic obstruction of proper legislative functioning. McConnell has simply brought these ongoing depredations to a high polish, and it is long past time to sandblast them.
18
Impeach McConnell already.
14
Nice to know that Mitch has a future writing for The Onion.
21
Pot, meet kettle.
11
Hey, Mitch doesn’t need the filibuster— he just keeps all legislation-to-be from getting on the Senate floor for a vote. But if the Dems get control and actually put something on the floor, Mitch is going to need that filibuster to block anything the Dems come up with. You bet!!
8
No one has done more than you, Mr. McConnell, in destroying the fabric of our gonvernmental and political norms. Not even Trump is as responsible as you, Mr. McConnell, as you laid the groundwork for his mean-spirited and dangerous administration. Shame on you for the obsessive hyper-partisanship you have always chosen over good governance. Shame on you for your dishonesty and utter lack of integrity. History will not treat you kindly.
17
Oh my, McConnell wraps himself in the institutionalist flag when he is, in fact, the singular person who has nearly - perhaps irreparably - destroyed the Senate. Obstruction, merrick garland, killing of electoral security all mean that he uses senate rules when they suit him and toss them when they don’t.
Which makes his blame of Harry Reid noxious ... Reid was a realist and knew that McConnell would abandon the filibuster to stack the court if ever given the chance. Thus he filled as many judgeships as he could that were left open by republican obstructionism.
Note that with the senate majority McConnell didn’t just abandon the filibuster ... he abandoned the blue slip rule and basic vetting for judges. Can he blame Reid for that too??
14
I get that McConnell has an important position. But empirically speaking, this individual has led a concerted effort to dismantle our democracy. Not promote one policy over another, but tear apart the system that allows ideas to compete. Should his credibility be bolstered via an op-ed in the supposed paper of record? Or are you normalizing the end of democracy?
22
Climate change? Merrick Garland? Mass shootings? Research on gun safety? Health care? Rising inequality? Budget? Trump?
"...enough power to vandalize the Senate." ? Yes. He has accomplished that on his own.
30
Can everyone just write Merrick Garland and submit it. I don't think the message is getting through.
14
Seriously, Mitch? I mean, seriously?
16
Not the way the Republicans are wielding it. They use it when it suits them and puts it out of the way when it doesn't. McConnell the abuser of power.
13
What a unique opportunity to speak directly to one of the co-conspirators of a fraudulent election, the undermining of our democracy and destruction of the constitution.
You are an enemy of the state and friend to our historically greatest opponent Russia. Moscow Mitch, a well earned moniker. History will not treat you well and it will be clear why.
27
But Harry Reid was okay?
@ Once From Rome — State your case instead of asking a clearly loaded question.
7
Say what you will about McConnell, he's too savvy to expect this opinion piece to change the hearts and minds of NYT readers. Given that the Senate is on recess, and that he insures that it does precious little when it's in session, I suspect that the Senator is just bored and decided to tweak a few (thousand) liberals. Looks like he succeeded . . .
7
We are voicing our protest. Staying silent makes us complicit. Who cares about how he and his tiny minority of voters read it.
17
Baloney! The founders created Senate “as a majority rule body, where both sides could have their say at length, but at the end of the day, bills would pass or fail on a simple majority vote, to quote Harry Reid from his Aug, 12, 2029 NYT Opinion. Republicans exploited filibuster forcing all senate business to have 60 of 100 votes, holding Americans hostage and harming middle America economically, socially, environmentally, by deliberately failing to legislate crucial issues to keep is safe, competitive, and able to make a decent living.
10
I know a lot of you are probably against the idea of publishing this article because it gives a voice to this hypocrite, but let me tell you why it's a good idea. The filibuster needs to go. McConnell is universally loathed and mistrusted by left-leaning individuals, who are the majority of the readership here.
Ergo, in publishing this piece, people are actually being turned *against* the filibuster. Which is exactly what we need. I find it funny that McConnell took the bait instead of just staying quiet about it, he should have been more aware of his own massive unpopularity. Some great strategist. What a goofball.
9
The most unethical politician in America.
19
It is difficult to know where to start to itemizes this man's legal transgressions and violations of the U.S. Constitution and the oath of office which he swore to uphold.
Suffice it to say that his violations are serious, ongoing, and merit multiple investigations by multiple federal agencies.
16
Too late, Mitch. You abused it when the Dems were in charge forcing Harry Reid to start whittling away at an anarchic rule. When the Dems used it when the GOP took the majority, you further whittled dome more, to the point where the filibuster is a joke. If the Dems take back the Senate, they shoul
d end filibuster to cripple you nefarious agenda to again cripple a Democratic president or (the flying spaghetti monster forbid) aid and abet Trump's criminal bigoted agenda.
10
Hey Mitch,
If you want to talk about democracy how about send bills to the floor, there are 49 states in the union that didn't vote for you. The minimum of a working government is to allow its senators to represent when them. You are not a senator for all 50 states.
Look in the mirror before you go pointing the finger.
15
Wow, wow, wow! The sheer unmitigated gall.
13
This article is good evidence that Moscow Mitch expects to lose the Senate majority, and quite possibly his own seat, in 2020. He is a blight on our country, and will go down in history as such.
25
I'm commenting here primarily because I want to be on record joining the chorus of voices castigating McConnell for his utterly selfish and malicious use of power and his loathsome hypocrisy.
As vile a human being as Trump is, if I had to choose between him and McConnell, I'd choose Trump, because at least a few of Trump's initial instincts (e.g., improving background checks on people wanting to buy assault rifles) are reasonable, and because he's too dumb to be Machiavellian. Mitch, on the other hand, is both smart and evil -- the most dangerous of combinations. And Mitch has precisely zero decent initial instincts. He has been leading our country into ruin for decades -- and obviously succeeding.
As for the filibuster (the demolition of which Mitch is responsible for), it did nothing except pervert the intention of the Founding Fathers. The reason parliamentary democracies have lasted so long is because of Mutually Assured Destruction. Not in the nuclear war sense, of course, but in the sense that you must take into account the views of your opponents if you're in the majority because you know that if you don't, your opponents will not take your views into account when they inevitably come to power. Without the filibuster, the majority gets its legislation passed, as opposed to stymied. But of course, if that legislation proves unpopular, the majority will be forced out of power. The result is a government more responsive to the will of the people.
26
Please, Mitch, own your blatant hypocrisy. You vilify Democrats for trying to help the Senate function (misguided though it may have been), use the tactics they used, then take some high moral ground?
This is up there with you admitting you'd fill an open Supreme Court seat in the last year of a presidential term. It is scary just how dangerous you have become to democracy.
24
So now I am reassured. He is along with his President, circling the drain.
12
You may realize that and I may realize that, but do their voters realize it?
1
So Mitch: if the Senate role is debate, why are you too craven to bring legislation to the floor for that debate—even legislation with bipartisan support? And does “be[ing] the Senate” mean kowtowing to every cruelty and tergiversation of this president?
No need to answer. We’ve got your number, Senator. And so does Oleg Deripaska. To see you wax righteous would be amusing were it not so utterly obscene.
19
Oh gosh, Mitch, you should know better than publish something in the NY Times, the #1 go to newspaper for people that dislike Trump and all things Republican
"Donald Trump remains the key area of focus for NY Times readers, who are 226% more likely than the average person to search for “trump” and 116% more likely to search for “trump news.”
https://www.hitwise.com/en/articles/ny-times/
You shall be clobbered.
5
@John
And deservedly so.
12
Dear Mitch,
MERRICK GARLAND.
27
Is this someone’s twisted idea of comedy?
20
You are the reason I am no longer a Republican.
1056
@Dominick C
It is good to see someone with taste and standards.
70
@Dominick C
You're not alone. George Will and Max Boot are two high profile examples.
The reason that Trump polls so well with Republicans is that all of the people who honor true Republican values left the party. As a moderate Democrat, I'm sorry to see that. Thoughtful Republicans who are capable of bipartisanship (definitely not Mitch) used to be a good counterbalance to my party.
92
@David
Well said. Where there is a counter-balance, aims are achieved, ones that generally favor the country as a whole. Just the opposite occurs when there is pure and simple obstructionism, Mitch's only clear priority.
I too have generally favored the Democratic party's platforms. And while I always thought of myself as a moderate, the country has moved so far to the right that I must be one of the vilified liberals. All I know is: I miss the Republican party of my father, the party of DDE.
65
Wow, Mitch. Who are you trying to fool.
Why would we preserve a system that allows the minority to dictate policy? Especially when those policies always favor the uber rich at the expense EVERYONE ELSE. The GOP represents a minority of the population in this country and that has been the only comforting thing during this nightmare that began in 2016.
There's no way that we should allow a fervently regressive minority to continue to thwart progress towards justice and sustainability. Mitch McConnell has demonstrated time and time again that he has zero respect for the constitution or democracy itself. His and the GOP's only motivation is to cheat their way to power because they know they don't have the support to fairly hold that power. There's nothing he can say or write that will overshadow his and his party's despicable corruption.
20
Cover your ears and just watch what he does, not what he says.
15
Please publish how many dollars Amy McGrath receives in the days following the publication of the editorial. That might be an interesting measure of the “we the people” response to Mitch McConnell’s piece.
13
I so want to be behind Mitch McConnell Heaven's Gate. After him, St Peter will say, come on in angel!
4
Mitch McConnell—
You have a profound misunderstanding of your role.
Your duty is to facilitate the functioning and business of the United States Senate in a separate branch of government—
NOT to be a sycophant of a deranged and incompetent president.
You know full well what we are talking about when I say "a deranged and incompetent president". And to that end you have turned that Senate into a dictatorship.
23
I think we should return the favor and employ an old republican tactic: voter suppression. We should eliminate polling stations in cities and towns with fewer than 50,000 people. Elections are expensive and this would save the nation a lot of money. A consequence is that it would make it very difficult for huge numbers of republicans to vote. But, to be honest, something like 99% of the GDP is produced by cities and towns of more than 50,000 so it's more appropriate anyway.
10
Mitch discussing the Constitution is like trump discussing any thing at all. He’s all in if it brings him money and power, otherwise, clueless to the rights on which our country was founded .
12
I am ashamed of Mitch, I want my grandkids to grow up to be decent people, I want all the best for my Country. Mr McConnell cheated in a way that is hard to comprehend. He lost the moral ground to lead. All he does is to prevent. Take that to the history books.
24
YOU MISUSED THE FILIBUSTER.
If you care so much about preserving Senate rules and traditions, then you should have to actually speak and hold the floor in order to filibuster. That was how it was designed. Nobody actually filibusters anymore, all YOU do is threaten to obstruct legislation without 60 votes. That's not what it was meant to do AND YOU KNOW IT.
13
We just need to change the rules that allow the Senate Majority leader to avoid bringing a vote on bills that would likely pass the Senate if only the Majority leader would bring them to the floor for a vote.
38
My exact first thought. McConnell is a 1 man filibuster.
13
Aah, Mr. McConnell plays the role of elder statesman now, warning the naive neophytes of the follies of their plans. He knows these follies well, because he has been the orchestrator of every possible fraud and obstruction he has found a way to engineer in the Senate. Changing the rules is nothing new to Mr. McConnell; he made plenty of rule changes to shut down the voices of Senate Democrats and to hamper the executive during Obama;s presidency. Indeed. Mr. McConnell only protests when rule changes impede the GOP.
29
“No Republican has any trouble imagining the laundry list of socialist policies that 51 Senate Democrats would happily inflict on Middle America in a filibuster-free Senate.”
I’m trying to read this in good faith, or at least with a critical eye. However, I seem to be lacking in my powers of imagination this evening. Unless I missed it, there is not one concrete example given in this op-ed of the problem that Mr. McConnell is attempting to describe. What exactly have Democrat leaders done that is so worthy of condemnation? Where is the evidence that our leadership is moving ever-leftward and embracing socialism?
Generally when one is being scolded for bad behavior, one likes to know first what one has done wrong. Senator?
21
If McConnell believes so strongly that filibustering and two-thirds majority requirements are so necessary for Constitutional order, why doesn't he persuade his Republican-majority Senate to reinstate the rules Reid and the Democrats "trampled"?
Oh right, it's because McConnell and the GOP are hypocrites.
16
"Those pigs who want to build a brick house will rue the day, as they have before", said the big bad wolf.
Thanks for the advice.
15
Mitch, you have enabled the future socialist takeover you sought so hard to prevent!
Now you can define socialist anyway you like but Mitch's definition is anything not Republican.
8
An easily anticipated position from the ultimate trump enabler. There is no reason to believe anything that either of them ever says to be less than highly prejudiced, self-serving untruths. Both of these benighted traitors to the Constitution and the American Dream are committed to a single goal the perpetuation of a corrupt, shortsighted and dismally ignorant administration. They are pent on destroying the environment, wrecking havoc with race relations, crippling women's rights and doubling the already gargantuan fortunes of the 1%. It is inconceivable that these ignorant, bigoted criminals have managed to convince so many pathetic, poorly educated souls to vote against their better interests time and again. And it underscores the success of the republican party's 40 year+ campaign to destroy the country's public school education system. The money squandered on an increasingly costly military machine should be redirected towards educating a new generation of Americans wise enough to distinguish between charlatans and patriots. A generation capable of electing wise leaders instead of evil, destructive, selfish, ignorant buffoons.
15
Hey Mitch it's too late to get that cat back in the bag YOU let out by impeding everything and opposing everything not Republican.
The filibuster is dead and you are responsible.
And remember, the Democrats can now call a natural emergency on climate just like you all did at the border. Your call (or Trump's really) was weak in rationality and meaningfulness.
Oh wait when healthcare too becomes a crisis.
Soon you'll be gone Mitch; good riddance!
15
Reconsider spewing self righteousness as you defend your lack of ethics with the argument that "they did it first." If it is true that you are morally superior and truly believe in upholding what is best for Americans, then do the difficult thing and be the bigger person, refrain from following in Democrats' fallacious footsteps. You're the only one who can at this moment, but that offers you no personal gain. Shame.
9
Mr. McConnell, your smarmy but poisonous reasoning isn't fooling anyone. You have been the undertaker of this moribund Senate and, as its shameless leader, you allowed the harrowing of the institution by tampering with the electoral process, by inviting hostile foreign powers to muck about with that process, by super-empowering the lobbying class, and by enabling an incompetent president to upend what decent government we had. You haven't got a lot of time left on this mortal coil - why can't you accept what you can't change and be remembered as someone who actually cared about all Americans and not just those who kowtow to you? America will leave you behind, not the other way around.
14
This piece isn't for NYT readers, it's just re-election campaign grandstanding.
15
I could barely make it through this piece of propaganda without my mouth involuntarily curling in disgust. With all the due respect I can muster, sir, you are a national disgrace. Surely you must know this?
21
Such a hypocrite! Unbelievable!
13
If it was such a big mistake, why didn't Republicans correct it?
How many wrongs make a right, Mitch?
12
Hard to think of anyone alive today who has been more harmful to American democracy and the general welfare of the nation. And yes, I include Trump in that assessment. McConnell knows better. Unlike Trump, who appears to be suffering from a personality disorder and/or dementia, McConnell has his wits about him. His writing is sharp, calculated, and manipulative.
By deliberately refusing to act on gun legislation, and in fact actively accepting money from the sociopathic gun lobby, McConnell has blood on his hands. I have nothing but contempt for him.
26
The Senate is an undemocratic monstrosity, where those who represent a red-state minority of the people keep imposing their radical agenda on the ever larger blue-state majority.
The effective dictator of this monstrosity has nothing to teach anyone about democratic legitimacy.
18
Mr. McConnell, You are a symbol of cowardice, deception and duplicity. Yes, you might be in the Senate for some time. But, you command little respect and sympathy from most people today. Your role in the degradation of the political system and your subservience to the administration is unparalleled. Please don't espouse your views in these pages.
19
McConnell himself has broken the Senate. America “rues” the day he decided to become a traitor to democracy.
17
There's one answer to McConell. McGrath
16
Mitch McConnell will go down in history as a traitor who placed party before country. He is the modern Nero who fiddled while Rome burned with matches in his back pocket. I have a bottle of Champagne in my cellar. I will pop it and drink it with Americans who love their country more than their white male privilege when he is defeated and humiliated.
15
Didn't this snake in the grass change the rule on Supreme Court nominees so that he could get dependable conservative judges in?
He is the single most dangerous person to democracy. Trump will be out sooner or later, McConnell will last longer. Between the two of them, they have brought the Republican party to death and disgrace.
10
Mitch, your job, as part of Congress, is to make the American people happier and more prosperous. Can you look yourself in the mirror and convince yourself you’ve advanced this purpose? I thought not. You joined Republicans in obstructing a democratically elected president and you are the key enabler of the most incompetent and amoral president in our country’s history. Your words value nothing.
11
Oh please. Spare us, McConnell. You showed your true character and how much you deeply care about the integrity of the Senate when you refused to do your job by confirming Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court, and when you stymied dozens of other judicial nominations for lower courts from the sitting president of the United States. The list of your assaults on our democratic system is endless.
15
The last thing I want to hear is an opinion from Mitch McConnell on the Constitution. What an unabashed hypocrite.
What about Merritt Garland? Where was his constitutional process?
What about the countless Congressional bills that have languished with Mitch McConnell and that he prevents from a vote being taken?
Makes you wonder who he's working for? Putin? Oligarchs?
11
This from the man whose “greatest accomplishment” was denying Obama his Supreme Court nominee?
Take care of your shoulder, Mitch.
11
this from a man who calls himself the Reaper, the one responsible to make sure legislation dies in the Senate. Wow. and I thought it President is crazy.
9
Your political system down there has got to be the biggest practical joke I have ever seen. Come on over to the bright side, convert to the parliamentarian system, where simple majority has ruled since day one. Lobbyists need not apply.
9
Rich - a column by the most dangerous man in America. No person has done more to damage our democracy than Moscow Mitch. May we hope he is turned out in the next election, so we can return the government to the people.
15
Since when does this vandal have anything to say about how to improve or protect our democracy? The shameful theft of a Supreme Court seat, the refusal to bring to a vote any of the excellent bills passed by the House, the dedication to frustrating Obama, the acceptance of a definitely-strings-attached Russian aluminum plant in his state..... Term limits won't do anything except strengthen the power of lobbyists while the new congresspeople get oriented. He just needs a spotlight shown on his evils, a good opponent, well-supported, and lots of eyes on the voting process.
14
Mitch McConnell’s reasons for writing this op-Ed are so transparent that they’re laughable. He is preparing for a possible Democratic majority in the Senate and is setting the stage should this happen. The gall he demonstrates by invoking Thomas Jefferson while he supports a president that violates the tenets of the constitution on a daily basis is reprehensible.
14
Moscow Mitch has tossed the US Constitution out the window — putting his own wealth and power ahead of all else.
13
I despise McConnell and am a registered Democrat, but if the filibuster goes I'm voting split ticket the rest of my life. No party should have that much power to change American life with a bare majority.
I don't care that the GOP can muster enough Senators to filibuster from just a small proportion of the population. The filibuster is designed exactly for that, to protect the interests of political (and often cultural) minorities like rural people.
And yes, it means that Democrats can't enact their entire agenda at the Federal level without over whelming bipartisan support. This is not a bad thing. American life should never be radically changed, no matter how good one think the change is for, without overwhelming bipartisan support. Or else the changes will spark backlash and won't be long lasting, but rather reversed every time power changes hands. That is not a recipe for a stable society.
Another upside is that by making change at the Federal level hard, it encourages more to happen at the state level, where frankly most laws and programs should be made, as they can be better tailored to the needs and desires of the local people. Democrats should be focusing more on making states laboratories of democracy and less on federal involvement. Ditto for the GOP.
Our polarized society makes both federalism and the filibuster MORE important and more crucial to lasting stability, not less.
4
@A F
Unfortunately, many state legislatures show no concern for “the needs and desires” of anyone but their own party’s voters. I have more in common with voters in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Chicago than with the Republican legislators from Ohio’s mostly gerrymandered districts.
3
A fine one to talk about the deliberative duties of the US Senate.
9
I thought Joe McCarthy and Strom Thurmond were the greatest disgrace the Senate had ever seen.
Nope.
13
This is such a childish piece. At least the first half is finger-pointing. Rather than trying to escape the blame for admittedly taking this precedent to its logical conclusion, you could take steps to eliminate the precedent. Instead, you continue to utilize it and then blame the Dems for starting it.
The biggest problem isn't even that McConnell is doing the things he so adamantly opposed but rather that we're in this position at all. I agree that such strong power should be checked internally by requiring a two thirds majority vote, but unfortunately, we belong to a fairly evenly split two party system with clear and opposing agendas, and as a result, the people—not Congress—are forced to suffer.
Grow up, stop pointing fingers and bring up some of the many bills that you actively obstruct.
735
Turtle is doing you a favour. Progressives by definition want to pass laws expanding the role and powers of the government that require heavy lifting and political capital. Republicans want to keep government less involved.
It may take month and month to pass single payer law with 51-49 vote and 30 minutes to reverse it with 51-49 vote. And than once you are at it you can with 51-49 votes close the Education Dept, update (downwards )EPA powers, break up 9th circuit, and change the Civil Service employees employment status and protections, and all before you go to lunch. Watch out what you pray for.
2
"They serve to organize faction; to give it an artificial
and extraordinary force; to put in the place of the
delegated will of the nation the will of a party, often a
small but artful and enterprising minority of the
community; and, according to the alternate triumphs
of different parties, to make the public administration
the mirror of the ill concerted and incongruous
projects of faction, rather than the organ of consistent
and wholesome plans digested by common
councils and modified by mutual interests."
- George Washington's Farewell Address
Even though the Senate has a reading of this every year, I bet Mitch McConnell has rarely attended it, if ever.
5
Apparently, payback's a Mitch! On his basic thesis I agree with Mitch - the filibuster is an important Senate safeguard against tyranny by the temporary majority.
But the current filibuster needs to be fixed not eliminated. The main problem is not the 60 votes needed to enact but is instead that it allows Senators to avoid accountability. Instead, a majority should be required to force an actual vote which would require a supermajority of 60 votes to pass. All the Senators would be on record with a vote could not avoid tough decisions or the exposure of bad influences by avoiding votes. No one pays attention to cloture votes and Senators deny that they voted on the actual legislation. If a majority of Senators agree, all should be required to go on record with an actual vote on legislation before the Senate.
As to advise and consent votes, there needs to be a return to normalcy with, first, a recognition that it is still the prerogative of the sitting President to make nominations and have them promptly considered by the Senate. Second, confirmation should require a supermajority of 60 votes but those votes must happen within a set and short time from the President' submission of the nomination. Only enough time for the Senators to make an informed decision That will at least bring on a vote on the confirmation, require a broader consensus for reasonable nominees and, hopefully, that will avoid the Paybacks Mitch is so proud of.
6
Mitch.. You never sound this smart when you are appearing on Fox News! Is there a reason for that?
6
Ohh so the Democrats made you do all that stuff Mr. McConnell? Somehow I just don't believe you.
18
To quote Bill the Cat: "Thbbft!".
13
Mitch McConnell is despicable.
15
Infuriating! Such hypocrisy!
14
I can’t believe the Times gives a forum to this vile excuse for a politician. He has done as much to destroy our political institutions as the so-called “president.”
25
Moscow Mitch, you are failing America.
23
I'm ideologically opposed to Mr. McConnel and am not happy with what I see as extremism in the Republican party as well. That said, I think America's political system has been jerking back and forth so violently that I'm getting a case of whiplash. For the reasons he's stated, I think I'm happy with the filibuster.
I think a lot could be done toward generating stability in US politics in a time of widening cultural divides by adopting ranked-choice voting, making voting mandatory by law, and making the voting day a national holiday. Bravo, Australia!
5
Perhaps I am uneducated on the complexities of Senate rules, but doesn't a Republican-controlled Senate have the votes to bring back the (apparently) much-loved filibuster?
Perhaps Mr. McConnel should focus on getting things done rather than spending his formidable energy on obstructing everything proposed by the Democrat-controlled House.
13
Mr. McConnell plays with myths. The senate is a deliberative body and implicitly the senate is a federal expression of the republic and not a parliamentary one where local interests are lost to party discipline. At one time, that may have been true. But since 2012, when Mr. McConnell successfully transformed the senate, it is not. No interests, no local expressions, no individuals are allowed to buck the Republican (McConnell) line. Determined only by party, the senate now (and has since 2012) acted as a parliamentary party allowing only what the national party demands. That has provoked a Democratic reaction just as intolerant (though not as well enforced) on its members. So, Mr. McConnell, you wanted to change the senate and you have done so. Proposals for change only reflect reality in the political world you so ably changed from republican to parliamentary. If there is a idea of reform in your "opinion" it certainly is well hidden under the guise of self-congratulatory benefit.
6
You ARE the problem, Mitch.
26
I am sincerely disappointed that you are giving Mitch "obstructionist" McConnell this kind of platform. Shame on you. You do not maintain your journalistic credibility by allowing liars to air their various fetishes.
Objectivity in journalism is not simply allowing "both sides" (of a non-binary society) to share their opinions. It amazes me that you work effectively overtime to make sure 45's narrative isn't being sensationalized or skewed, yet give full editorial authority to a person who out of one side of his mouth espouses constitutional originalism, while out of the other side, he pulls strings to ensure that his party weaponize the filibuster to prevent ANY legislation that does not issue from his party's deemed princes.
At a point, someone needs to be able to stand up and say that these people are lying. One need not editorialize; there are sufficient facts to foundation a full story without the injection of opinion. Shame that Mitch has none of those facts here, yet is given the opportunity to pull his very own Tucker Carlson.
17
Senator McConnell's views have zero credibility.
26
“In 2017, we took the Reid precedent to its logical conclusion, covering all nominations up to and including the Supreme Court.”
Why not just reverse the “Reid” precedent?
What a jerk.
13
Letting Mitch write this article is like the NRA letting OJ Simpson do an add explaining people can kill with knives too.
15
What would MM know about constitutional order?
12
"You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency?"
13
I have to wonder why Mitch McConnell wrote this piece. It can't possibly be taken at face value, as the man has zero credibility with most of the people who read the NYT. The piece drips hypocrisy. I can't waste my time trying to answer this question, and I urge the readers to move on to more meaningful news and opinions that make more sense.
18
blood on your hands -- nothing but lies and obstruction -- your power and that of your party derives from dirty money (NRA; gun mfg; coal), racism, and gerrymandering. talk about gaming the system.
15
Really Mitch? C'mon, you don' think any of us 'radicals' take anything you say seriously, do you?
16
You know what else plays a critical role in our constitutional order? Advice and consent. You know, the thing you denied President Obama with Merrick Garland. Nothing you ever say will carry more than the little weight owed to bald partisans like yourself.
23
I want to write an erudite response to this gaslighting, but all I can muster is “lol”
22
No sir, Americans did not elect Trump; Russia, including you, did!
14
Go away.
You are bad for our country and a fraud.
20
this is rich from the guy who removed the filibuster for his supreme court nominee -john roberts.
15
Nice job Senator McConnell. You've stirred the hornets in the leftist echo chamber here.
No one has their hands clean on this, but McConnell is right to separate the legislative filibuster from the confirmation filibuster. However, I don't think those on the left will be persuaded by him. If, God forbid, the Democrats see an advantage in eliminating the legislative filibuster, you can be sure they will in a heartbeat. And yes, it will come back to burn them quicker than they expect.
3
McConnell’s abuse of the legislative filibuster is what has inspired the movement to eliminate it...if it’s in danger, he has only himself to blame.
8
(Not-So) Honorable Senator McConnell: I am ashamed to have to share a surname with you, and I am not ashamed to admit it. I hope your tenure goes down in American history in infamy, as it richly deserves to. May you and your wretched party burn in hard-won defeat in 2020, and may we as a country never pass this evil way ever again.
20
"My Republican colleagues and I have not and will not vandalize this core tradition for short-term gain."
That is just laughable. Vandalizing core traditions for short-term gain is exactly, precisely what McConnell and his Republican colleagues have been doing for years now. At this point, vandalizing core traditions is a core tradition.
24
The Onion couldn't have done better. This fellow lecturing on fair play ? Dante has a place for hypocrites. McConnell will find out.
25
The American republic is like a mighty oak that reaches into the sky.
Mitch McConnell is a tiny worm that has dug itself inside that mighty oak. Unless the worm is extracted, the great tree will fall.
14
This reads to me as preparation for being the Senate Minority Leader in 2021.
10
Wow. This from the guy who broke the Senate.
17
So, change the rules back to what they were for judicial nominees? No?
No, you don’t. Hypocrite is the word
8
This man has no right to gaslight us all about the legal proceedings of the senate when he held up Merrick Garland confirmation for no legitimate reason. What an insulting article to read. Glad someone who was elected by less than 1M holds over 350M American citizens hostage to his demands.
17
You talking about temporary political gain is hilarious. Remember when you invented the new rule for Garland. When it comes to hypocrites who are also corrupt you top the list.
23
That’s pretty rich from the man who orchestrated the senate needing 60% of the vote down to 50% because they couldn’t pass anything. He relies on people having short term memories way too much with his contradictions.
14
If democrats have lost faith in the filibuster's efficacy, Mitch, its because you abused it.
"Stop me if you've heard this one" - Mitch McConnell...
"If you can't take turns and play nice together, nobody gets to play with the toy at all" - Parents, everywhere.
12
Mitch McConnell should be treated as a traitor and obstructionist, to the American democratic process of free elections...
21
The mental and moral underpinnings of a teenager: “look what I have done, it’s all your fault”.
16
You refused to hold hearings on Obama's Constitutionally nominated Supreme Court Justice.
17
I am simply not impressed with McConnell. He is an obstructionist.
When Obama got elected, wasn't it McConnell who crowed that his (McConnell) job was to make sure Obama would be a one-term president? Well, Mitch, your job as a US senator is not to unseat any president. Your priority is to represent the people of your state.
You lost all credibility when Scalia died and you declared even before his body turned cold that you would not allow any nominee to be considered to replace him. Let the voters decide, you said. Well, the voters did decide when the elected Obama. He had the right to nominate and you abused your obligation to give that nominee fair consideration within the senate.
Sorry, Mitch, you are a fraud. You really haven't cared much about the country or her people. It's all about you and your Republican party.
You are a fine reason why we need term limits for all elected officials. We have them for POTUS, why not for both chambers of Congress?
1123
@wihiker
He also recently commented that if a SCOTUS vacancy occurred prior to next year's election he put trump's nominee on the senate floor immediately. He sounded proud of it.
Remember in 2009 when he said his job was to make Obama a one term president? No doubt he thought that was a constitutional responsibility & obligation.
He's a cancer on our country.
151
@wihiker Don't forget money. He really, really, really likes money--next to Moscow, of course.
103
@wihiker. Excellent observation “your job is to represent the people of your state”. That would be me. I really appreciate him. Most Kentuckians do. Stop scapegoating; the failure is yours
8
Two words--Merrick Garland--nullify McConnell's authority to critique Democrats on government, on traditions of governance, or on governing vision as loss or gain.
19
What a joke. The day most of us rue is the day Mr. McConnell became Senate Majority Leader. The damage done by his hyper-partisanship and lack of moral integrity is exceeded only by that caused by the person he enables in the White House.
10
The giveaway line here is: "Republicans opposed both moves on principle." The only principle Republican leaders have is the principle of doing anything to achieve power. So, it's Harry Reid's fault that McConnell blocked a voter on Merrick Garland and then got rid of the filibuster on S.Ct. justices? Ha! The hypocrisy here would be overwhelming were it not so normal these days.
14
It's worth noting that this threat comes from someone in a leadership position in the US, who supports an administration that is ACCELERATING GLOBAL WARMING.
Speeding it up. Could do something, but so far is ignoring the problem. Today we learn the annual human-caused Amazon burning is at 85% more than it was at the same time last year.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/local/weather/why-you-should-be-worried-about-the-fires-raging-in-the-amazon/2019/08/22/d63c9dc3-68c8-4f8b-9a5a-dc4be77e7ee1_video.html
Is that something ANYONE in the administration will do anything to stop? Will they even try?
8
Having now robbed the bank 45 times, McConnell is now afraid that his colleague in crime in the White House will cost his Senate majority So now suddenly he is a traditionalist quoting Madison and Jefferson. America: Don't let him get away with it. Trash him and his entire cabal. Elect Amy McGrath and elect and re-elect all other Democratic senatorial candidates. Put a stop to this ruthless pillaging of our country and let's move democracy forward again.
20
Mr. McConnell, your legacy will embarrass your family for generations. You are the embodiment of the very worst definition of “politician” - power driven, ideologically flexible to maintain that power, and morally corrupt. You better hope there is no after life.
14
Mitch, you’re a profound hypocrite. You’ve more than once characterized your own role as Majority Leader being that of the Grim Reaper, who seeks to undermine and ultimately destroy any attempts at compromise between the elected representatives of blue states and red states. Let’s admit it, you’re not interested in giving blue states any say at all while Republicans are in the majority. You’ll compromise on no single thing, ever.
Which is precisely why we should get rid of the filibuster, not because it’s a good idea but because it’s the only way that the blue states are ever going to have any power at all again in the Senate for even short intervals. You’re right that they’ll lose it again, but having it at least some of the time is better than what you’re proposing, namely that your party should effectively have it always.
You dug your own grave on this one, by never compromising and engaging in political shenanigans like the Merrick Garland affair. Bottom line, representative democracy cannot survive in a system where legislators representing one fifth of the electorate exert a consistent veto over every single thing that voters in the other four fifths want. Kind of common sense, but you’re seemingly so greedy for political power that you just can’t seem to see it.
11
History will not look kindly on MItch McConnell. He has perverted the rule of law and thwarted the will of the American majority.
13
How rich for the master of Senate obstructionism—of both current House-passed legislation, some of it bipartisan—and President Obama's judicial nominees during the 114th Congress of 2015-16, to claim Republicans "held up a handful of Obama nominees the same way" via the filibuster. He's gaslighting.
This Brookings Institution article details the more than 100 judicial nominees for the federal bench that McConnell & Co. quashed during Obama's last two years: https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2018/06/04/senate-obstructionism-handed-judicial-vacancies-to-trump/.
It wasn't only Moscow Mitch's's unforgivable, egregious theft of a SCOTUS seat that was rightly Obama's to fill as a duly elected sitting president, McConnell deliberately stole over 100 judgeships in district, circuit, and appeals courts from Obama nominees. That created a backlog in the courts, and he's proceeded to ram through Trump's far right-wing Federalist Society nominees at a record pace since.
Not only that, McConnell's trampled the Senate's norms, traditions and rules like no other senator before him, including changing the Senate's rule of 30 hours of debate time after cloture of a judicial nominee to a mere two hours in order to confirm Trump's judges.
McConnell's not interested in debate, moderation, or bipartisanship. He acts as a dictator of the Senate, not a majority leader, and as other articles have noted, he's the "gravedigger of democracy." It's imperative Democrats retake the Senate in 2020.
16
Mitch is a traitor to the citizenry, its constitution, and the country. He is the most sinister of humans to ever occupy a public office. History will judge him far more gravely than we do today - - once all of his nefarious and evil deeds are fully revealed. The running comments herein only scratch the surface of what he has done to undermine our democratic ideals and institutions. Mitch has single-handedly done more damage to democracy than any living politician. He should be tried for treason and removed from office under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, "No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof . . .."
10
So, Mr. McConnell blames this on the Democrats? That is rich coming from a man who is holding a large pile of bills passed in the House hostage on his desk -- bills ready to be debated in the Senate. This is some serious irony from a man who is pushing the nominations of some judges who should not even be considered much less voted to a lifetime position. This is some bizarre joke by a man who whispers into the ear of a president who has no business being in office but is so very malable to Mr. McConnell's extreme left agenda. Right, Senator, this is all the Democrats' fault. Mr. McConnell has betrayed this country in his heady quest for power. He has abandoned the Democratic process and the fiber of our constitution so he can be the Spider who uses the President as his pawn. Mr. McConnell who has sold him self to the Russians so his state can have some jobs, so he can maybe profit from Russian money belongs in the muck of unethical behavior. Power and money seem to be his church, money and power drive his choices. Sorry, Senator. I am not buying your carefully spun words. Not a single on. Go con someone else.
661
Unbelievable that the senator who, immediately after Barack Obama was elected, declared "I will work to make sure that Obama's presidency is a failed presidency" now stands on "principle"? Are you kidding me? The most obstructionist majority leader in history has no principle. Where is the vote on gun laws? Buried at the bottom of Mitch McConnell's trash can. Where are the votes on climate change legislation? On improving rather than trashing the Affordable Care Act? May Mitch McConnell be defeated soundly come November 2020.
14
What a self-serving statement laden with bald hypocrisy! I expect nothing more from the poster child for term limits. In so many ways he is far worse than the current occupant of the White House (I cannot bear to even use his name) and that is saying a great deal.
7
I can only conclude that Trump is "the Chosen One" of Vladimir Putin. Now, who chose Mitch?
10
“great innovations should not be forced on slender majorities.”
Why are the us republicans pro-bexit then?
4
Mitch McConnell has a talent for picking at a scab, while the rest of the body is in cardiac arrest. McConnell will be historically remembered as a long time force against American gun control, and while he delivers his television interviews, his neatly folded hands are covered in blood.
10
Wow! Republicans have principles. Who knew.
7
This is like watching the Fire Chief set your house on fire, and then offer you advice on how to put it out.
9
Cry me a river Mitch. You and your Republican collaborators only believe in comity when you are in the minority. Stealing the Supreme Court seat from President Obama revealed your naked adherence to power over principle. Don't try to reconstruct some legacy as defender of Senatorial collegiality. That train left the station in 2016.
9
The Undertaker of American Democracy at his funereal, hypocritical best. I’m surprised the NYT even gave him a platform with all the damage he has wrought to the American Constitution. I sincerely wish him every tribulation.
9
Trusting a person who aligns themselves with Trumphoniesims to the determent of the country's constitution which they have sworn to uphold has got to be a person who is receiving some type of economic gain on the backs of everyday working Americans.
This man, Mitch McConnell, is an evil-intentioned man who profits from is looks of a grandpa and his sweet hiss of 'come to me'. I would say that we Texans know the difference between a rattlesnake and a gopher snake and we also know which one is valuable while the other's skin get made into a pair of fine boots. Unfortunately I can't say this because so many Texans seem to think like the folks in Kentucky: Let's vote for this man so we will work for less, with less rights and benefits and so our children can never hope to escape the serfdom McConnell and his ilk are trapping them into.
5
It sounds like someone (from Kentucky) is worried that Republicans will lose the Senate (and the White House) in 2020, and he's very cynically trying to scare Democrats into not doing what he's done for the past two-plus years... It doesn't get more cynical than this (though every time I think that, it does...).
12
"But my Republican colleagues and I have not and will not vandalize this core tradition for short-term gain. We recognize what everyone should recognize — there are no permanent victories in politics. "
So, you rejected Garland when you had the chance and you remove the SC filibuster when you have the chance. Got it.
11
"Whims of the left", like nominating a successor to fill an open Supreme Court seat?
11
The only conclusion I make from this opinion piece is that the majority leader thinks the Republican Party will loose the senate in 2020.
12
"If Mitch McConnell thinks it's a bad idea, it must be a good idea" is about a good a rule for living as you're going to find.
12
I wonder if Mr. McConnell will even read the backlash of commentary on his opinion paper. I doubt it. He would rather remain in the darker reaches of his mind and feel comfort in thinking that this article somehow absolves him from any wrong doing to our country. As another person put it 'he is the poster child for term limits'. The republican party has no idea what this country needs or wants; it is solely working for itself and Mr. McConnell is a large part of that. He should resign.
10
Mitch McConnell will go down in history as a politician whose total lack of vision and complete capitulation to industrialist and foreign interests made him one the chief architects in the destruction of America.
6
Being a very liberal Democrat for more than half a century, I have happily hated McConnell for a very long time, disagreeing with him on nearly all issues. Today, however, I am in total agreement with him.
The filibuster has always been an important safeguard against a runaway majority, and it must be retained. Beyond simply retaining it, though, we must return it to its original form: the actual filibuster, which required real Senators to keep talking on the Senate floor until a bill died or cloture was invoked. The modern form of killing a bill with what amounts to the mere threat of a filibuster has led to the gridlock we have had for a decade now.
Good start, Mitch!
142
@John Saul When the filibuster gets in Republican's way, they will ditch it.
45
@John Saul don't fear loosing the filibuster! Think...there is NOTHING McConnell will not do to preserve minority rule of this country by the GOP. He is not an honest broker. this opEd (In the NYtimes of all places!)is designed to hoodwink people just like you to support a Senate rule that no longer serves the people. He would never, ever do or say anything that is not to his benefit. Senate rules have been debated and changed in the past, the filibuster is no different. Friend I respectfully ask that you do more research and know this: McConnell would never let a filibuster stand in his way. Ever.
63
@John Saul 'The filibuster has always been an important safeguard..."
1) Not always. While the ability of individual senators to talk until they drop has nearly always existed, the ability of Senate leadership with the votes of 41 (previously 34) senators to hold up legislation by refusing to end debate on it (without having to hold the floor and debate it endlessly) dates from 1917 and the introduction of the cloture rule, if I understand correctly. There is nothing "constitutional" or "unconstitutional" about the filibuster, except that the Senate has the right to retain the rule or not, since the Constitution allows the Senate to make its own rules of order.
2) For a half century or so, it mostly "safeguarded" Jim Crow laws. Once upon a time it was Republicans who provided sufficient votes to Democratic leaders of the Senate and LBJ to help overcome the filibusters of Southern Democrats. Why? Because it was the right thing to do. That's not a phrase closely associated with most GOP senators today.
3) Yes, a filibuster should be a filibuster. You don't want to end debate? Fine. Debate, and keep debating. Germanely. Like Bernie did in 2010. Don't just threaten to debate or read from irrelevant sources to fill up time.
38
I don't think it's a coincidence that a country first attitude has gone away as we have lost all of our WW II veterans in the Senate. Without their shared sacrifice to guide discussions it has been left to the hacks we now have. And there is no greater hack and party first loser than Moscow Mitch. The utter disrespect he shows to his party, his former WW II Senate colleagues and our country is stunning.
4
Mr. McConnell, if you truly cared about the title of your piece, you would lead a vote to reset the precedent of the supermajority for all nominations.
I find it interesting that you, Mr. McConnell begin by preaching about the sanctity of Senate rules and precedents, yet has not attempted to rectify them since gaining the majority. You took a move that you deemed despicable, then stooped even lower. You even admit that Republicans took advantage of the "radical" rules, extended them, and used them for their own gain to include Supreme Court candidates.
You make a great point about how the filibuster protects against wild variance of Majority policy through the years. Why have you not shown any real, tangible actions to back that up? You've only progressed what you deem a problem.
Words are cheap. Actions matter. Without them, this article doesn't hold any weight.
3
Merrick Garland will become the dividing line in political history. The rest from McConnell and all Republicans is just talk. Sure, the barn door is always a bit ajar depending on your persuasion, but he kicked it wide open in breach of the Constitution, decency, and history. History is on the Democrats' side on virtually every important subject of our times. The current Republican party, dating back to the early 1990's, is about power, in its most corrupt form. The problem, for them, is that the numbers do not add up. Payback will soon be here. And that, by the way, is unfortunate, because good decisions resting on the Constitution, facts, and science should not be the province of any one party, but with McConnell and his Federal Society right-wing lawyers masquerading as jurists, that will never be the case.
565
@MTHouston
Check your history. The dividing line was Bork. You got Bork and we learned.
3
This man has no shame, do not believe a word he says. The only way Mitch McConnell ever argues against something is if he cannot benefit from it personally or politically.
I am not a fan of changing Senate rules, but I am a fan of showing Mitch the same respect he’s demonstrated to us the last decade. Go nuclear, salt the earth, burn it to the ground, and stick it to the other side — the McConnell way.
6
Mr. McConnell, I guess we will all have regrets.
But I believe that you think business as usual dictates winners and losers here.
As in so many things, you are wrong.
There will be no winners and losers, there will only be survivors and everyone else.
So you can hold on to your playbook if it makes you feel comfortable, but I must admit that your observations and prognostications regarding our national emergency are as irrelevant as you, and your party, have become.
Your opinion piece sounds more like an end of life death rattle from someone whom I believe may prove to be one of the engineers of the destruction of our country.
The sun is setting on you Addison Mitchell McConnell, and not a moment too soon.
Save your analysis for your fans in Moscow.
The rest of us have work to do and simply cannot afford the distraction.
489
It's hard to compose an intelligent comment when I the hypocrisy of this essay has me spitting nails, but I'll try.
McConnell has a lot of gall sitting on his moral high horse when his Republican party has systematically gerrymandered districts to their advantage in order to "win" the majority, when he personally led the charge to block even having a HEARING for a legitimately nominated and eminently qualified Supreme Court justice, and when he has effectively blocked the possibility of civil "consideration" of legislation at every turn. His "party of NO" tactics during the Obama presidency seems to have crippled the Senate in terms of any possibility of bi-partisanship.
McConnell has done more damage to the U.S. Congress and how it functions than Trump has done to the U.S. Presidency.
735
@Mary Kirk He and Trump do not belong in our political system anymore. Vote him out, Kentucky and give Trump the boot also! Disgusting that we have to call them humans. They have no humanity at all.
62
Anyone else could have written this and been more convincing; ANYONE.
6
I'm sorry. I cannot even make it past the first paragraph before my blood pressure starts rising. I've heard more than enough from him to last several lifetimes.
12
Two points not made by others, I believe:
1. McConnell single-handedly prevented the FBI/ DOJ from informing the American public in the summer of 2016 that Russia was interfering in our election and assisting the Trump campaign. Obama (stupidly) said he would not allow that information to be disclosed publicly unless the full “Gang of Four” (McConnell/ Schumer/ Pelosi/ Ryan) would agree to it. Disclosure of Russian interference and assistance to the Trump campaign certainly would have sealed Trump’s defeat. McConnell knew that, so he didn’t consent, thereby again putting party over country.
2. The filibuster is not even relevant if McConnell won’t permit bills to be introduced for debate in the first place. He is doing this op-ed simply to divert attention from his own obstructionism against allowing debate on bills that are strongly supported by the vast majority of Americans.
11
Sorry Mitch, but I know what busy desks look like, and yours isn't one of them.
Your failure to allow legislation on the Senate floor will not be judged kindly in history.
9
This is rich. Merrick Garland, Mitch, Merrick Garland.
11
One of the most unprincipled men in politics lecturing us on good governance.
11
OBAMA'S AND DEMOCRATS FAULT: Why didn't Obama and Democratic Congresspersons vividly point out that McConnell violated his oath of office in blocking hearings for Garland:
the Senate "...SHALL appoint... Judges of the Supreme Court.."
Obama and Democrats gave up quietly !
4
Mr. McConnell, a President's ability to nominate a Supreme Court Justice is important to proper functioning of the government. Yet, you abused your power to steal that nomination. You are the last person in this world to lecture us about the Constitutional rule of law. Your actions have lowered the status and perceived of the Supreme Court.
10
The fact that McConnell chooses to submit this op-ed piece to the NY Times now has me wondering if he sees a Democratic takeover in 2020 as likely. He hasn't shown signs of concern of respecting traditions and decorum so why does he suddenly bring up concern for preserving the filibuster?
His cynicism is spreading to all of us.
317
@Michael Lueke
The list he mentioned.
This is pure spin, and campaigning. Moscow has a friend in Mitch.
7
Mr. McConnell:
The Senate also plays a crucial role in our democracy. Wouldn’t it be nice if you cared half as much about your role as a US senator as opposed to a republican senator. You are the last person who should comment on responsible, intelligent governance.
10
Presidency aside, Republicans rightfully won the Senate. Now they get to decide on the judiciary. Now, their decisions are public and demonstrative of their true values and intentions. Democrats should not be afraid.
Sure, it's a step back. There are judges on the bench that about 60% (or more) of the population do not want making decisions. There's a mechanism to solve that problem. At least there should be, as long as the Republican led voter suppression effort fails.
"Moscow" Mitch, I applaud your use of deviant tactics to push for your very unpopular agenda. Power should be wielded. Just remember that unpopular decisions will also be punished. Judges will be replaced. Laws will be created. Priorities will be established.
We voted for you. Well, enough of us voted for you to get you into power. I do not regret that you are able to express your will. Democrats should also express their will, when and if they also come to power. I don't want elections about ideas, I want elections about results.
Otherwise, what's the point of having elections at all?
Mitch, there is a moral question that you fail to address is that just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should knowing full well that your choices didn't represent the majority of Americans. You can try and point fingers at your colleagues across the aisle, but you have been notorious for blocking the will of the People when it comes to things like gun control measures, food assistance for poor students, or tax breaks for the wealthy that create even more economic inequality.
You represent a state that is suffering from gun violence, has some of the worst student nutritional values in the nation, and has more people living below the poverty line than most other states. How are you representing your fellow Kentuckians let alone your nation?
Pushing through lifetime conservative judges that don't represent the values of our society is a step closer to minority rule and oppression than what the country was founded on. The Founding Fathers would have schooled you on this opinion piece and you know it.
9
The country, in order to be salvaged from the ashes that you and your cruel policies and the heinous political shenanigans you have enacted, does indeed need radical change. The first two actions should be both your removal and Trump's removal from office. Neither of you has the American peoples' interest at heart and neither of you have demonstrated your allegiance to our Constitution. Instead, you have engendered heartless greed and unabashed bigotry. My only real hope is that, at some time in both of your lives, you each have ample time to experience the shame that is your due.
5
A lecture on the Constitution and democracy from this pol? I think not.
10
Please explain to the NYT readers how the senate deliberates and broadens motions that never reach the Senate floor by the partisan senate majority leader. What’s his name again?
4
Harry Reid was mistaken in pursuing the first ever filibuster of a nominee to the federal court of appeals, Miguel Estrada. Then in 2013, when the Republicans began holding up democratic nominees to the Federal courts in the Obama Administration, Reid orchestrated an end to the filibuster in in judicial nominations. Reid was incorrect, and McConnell was equally incorrect in holding up the nomination of the totally competent Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court. The Democrats should let the filibuster remain, as it was written into the Constitution.
The only way to reverse all the anti-democratic and unconstitutional things that Republicans and their wealthy supporters have done is to enact reforms in our electoral systems - campaign finance limitations, getting rid of gerrymandering, ensuring that all Americans have the right to vote. The only way to enact those reforms is to do away with the Senate filibuster, should we be fortunate enough to see Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress and a Democratic President. And, by the way, we need to break the McConnell-engineered right wing stranglehold on the Supreme Court, because even if these reforms are enacted, they can be struck down by the Court. All that requires functioning majorities that can get things done.
This has the potential to not be a temporary reform, but a permanent one if we can get rid of all the factors that have allowed a benighted minority to control our government. All it takes is one big push to get Democrats elected, and then having our elected representatives stand firm and not allow McConnell back into power in the next election cycle.
1
A rule requiring 60 votes that itself can be repealed by a majority vote isn't really a rule in the first place. Eventually, reality will set in.
The problem with the Senate is that it is undemocratic. It acts as a conservative break on the popular will that is supposed to be expressed in the house (well, if you ignore gerrymandering for the moment). Fair enough, insofar as our system is supposed to be composed of checks and balances.
But there are certain matters that only the Senate votes on, such as judges and treaties. In this case, it actually has positive control, as opposed to mere veto power. On those matters, it is wrong for the small states to be able to lead the more populous states around. The fact that a voter from Wyoming has a vote in the Senate that is orders of magnitude bigger than a voter from California is a problem of legitimacy in the 21st century.
The filibuster mitigated that problem by requiring a supermajority vote. It should be replaced by a firm rule - embraced in the Constitution, so it can't be changed by a mere majority - that on those matters where the Senate alone votes, the action requires both a majority of Senators and a Senators from states representing a majority of the population. Kavanaugh never would have made it under that rule.
1
I suppose that the filibuster does play an important role in Senatorial proceedings: But *only* if it is used wisely.
Time for a Constitutional Convention. No way on Earth the sainted Founding Fathers conceived of a small state with 1/60th the population of a large state. This is not democracy, and it's no longer a worthy compromise.
4
@Richard Lerner
No. No. No.
A Constitutional Convention at this time would be a disaster for the country and Democratic hopes.
The country is too divided.
And with two-thirds of states required to call a convention or pass an amendment, RED states easily outnumber the wishes of a majority of citizens.
2
Reid blew it and McConnell is taking liberties with the rules in place, placed there by the democrats.
However, if America needs the "Senate to be the Senate" Mitch, then bring up some bills to debate and vote on. Not just pocket them to never see the light of day. That is the "Senate being the Senate" that I grew up with.
3
The only thing I want to hear from Sen. McConnell is a concession speech. I will be contributing to his opponent.
12
I can’t tell if he’s serious or just trolling us.
According to McConnell, Democrats were the first to change the filibuster rules on judicial nominees. What he doesn’t say is that the reason Reid felt compelled to do so was because McConnell had mounted an overwhelming obstruction of non-controversial judicial nominees. And that’s far from the only time McConnell has levied his power as majority leader to reject Senate norms.
When President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland was up for confirmation, McConnell didn’t even hold a hearing. Earlier this year, McConnell pushed through another rules change on judicial nominees, enabling lawmakers to confirm judges even faster. This congressional term, he has become known for blocking consideration of countless House bills, including on the topic of election security, declaring himself the “grim reaper” of Democratic legislation on Capitol Hill.
As if this wasn’t enough, McConnell said in May 2019 that Republicans would fill an opening on the Supreme Court if there were a vacancy in 2020 — in contrast with 2016, when he stated his fierce opposition to confirming a justice in the last year of a presidency.
I think he’s trolling us.
6
With the filibuster, senators representing about 18% of the population can prevent a bill from being enacted. The filibuster also allows the majority party to avoid being held responsible for its inaction. The filibuster does not prevent tax cuts or destruction of health care ( both of which , as we have seen, would require only a majority), but it does make the government dysfunctional, which is exactly what the Republican Party wants. I know the destruction of the filibuster would allow the Republicans to enact all sorts of horrors, but it is also the only thing that would allow the Democrats to correct them, including passing voting rights, gun control, health care and drug price reform, enlargement of the Supreme Court to correct Moscow Mitch's Merrick Garland gambit, statehood for DC, and an infrastucture plan (just for starters.) If there has to be a filibuster, make it one that requires the affirmative vote of senators representing 60% of the population before a bill goes to the floor.
1
Initially thought it will be interesting reading as it may provide a forum for rational discourse away from partisan bickering, blame game, and name calling of the opposite party. Was very disappointed, although with track record for your masterful maneuvering and ingenuity to advance the prized conservative agendas of the Republican Party, Supreme Court appointments, now being totally subservient to Trumpian ideas that have transformed the Republican Party as Trump Party, should have expected. Trump Republican Party views the World, with transactional relationships, where respect for human rights and democratic ideas leaders may holdld Is not important, and that is cozying up to Kim, Putin. and other despots, is acceptable and wholly supported by you as Senare Leader, and you also begun to pronouncing “Make America Great Again,” a conscious or unconscious “dog whistle”to Trumpian base for restoring White European identity, which ignores, human migratory behaviors as integral part of American and human history , as in the animal world. Complexities of human problems can best be addressed in a framework of collaborative dialogue with people holding differing views, not by just labeling and name calling with sweeping generalizations . There are some useful points in opposing views, Left or Right, Liberals or Conservatives, they need to be highlighted objectively, with some concrete ideas and suggestions as to how to move forward.
Oh my goodness. If Mitch McConnell is against changing the filibuster, guess that means we should most definitely change it!
7
What an extraordinary article: defending an undemocratic legislative manoeuvre which has the effect of stymying change. The US is the only democracy which has this built in blocker which allows what is, after all, only a house of review, to dominate the totality of the legislature. The effects of this repressively conservative arrangement are only too apparent today as the most rational and reasonable proposals for the good of the country (like border control and a sensible immigration policy) fall victim to jumped up senators from Cabbageville whose routine reaction is nyet.
4
Looking at this without using any political lens, I'm not sure that I can argue with the philosophy of having the Senate structured the way it is.
But if the Senator thought it was maligned to eliminate the filibuster for judicial nominees, he sure hasn't demonstrated that displeasure via his actions. Hypocrisy indeed.
Also, it is not quite true that eliminating the filibuster makes the Senate a "rubber stamp" for House bills. Another fundamental difference between the House and Senate is that Senate seats are statewide, and they are six year terms. This is what really gives low population red states their disproportionate power in Washington.
5
The damage done by McConnell wasn't done by changing the rules of the Senate; it was done by violating its norms.
Ignoring a President's judicial nominees until a president who's more to your liking comes along doesn't violate Senate rules, but it certainly makes it tempting to change them.
17
@Jonathan
A 1992 speech in which then-Sen. Biden said it was “not fair” to let a lame-duck president make such an important decision.
After Trump was elected he said that the Republicans have a "temporary reprieve" from losing power. He was right on that score. I hope that overturning the filibuster is another stake in the heart of Dracula, this time permanently.
5
Well said Senator McConnell. Thanks for keeping on fighting the good fight.
2
On January 20, 2009, "Moscow" Mitch McConnell famously stood before the cameras minutes following President Obama's first inaugural speech and promised two things. First, he and the entire Republican Party would never, under any circumstances work with the new president to raise the nation out of The Great Recession. And to that end, he promised to "make Obama a one-term president.
It was as if former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, had established, in 1994, the ground rules of incivility and incompetence, in conduct and word, which McConnell had now embraced with the venom-loaded code of irreverence and ignorance, for the Oath of Office.
So, since 2009 (most likely for decades before) McConnell has brought a dark stain upon our democracy, all for the sake of party power over the good of the country.
Since Trump was unpredictably elected through the Electoral College, despite losing the popular vote by more than 3 million votes, McConnell has also become vastly more wealthy by about $40M according to investigative reportage, with his wife, Elaine Chao, at the helm of the Dept. of Transportation. Her family has a China-based shipping company which makes her decisions, and any legislation pushed through McConnell's senate, and the House when previously controlled by the Republicans.
McConnell, describing himself as the "grim reaper," wields power affecting his wealth as well as his hold on power while leaving the People wondering who he works for, Trump or us.
13
Although it's not exactly unconstitutional, there's nothing constitutional about the filibuster.
3
It is with a healthy dose of salt that I read an opinion piece on how to best run Congress, from a man who's sole purpose has been to secure power for his party, at the expense of everything decent and good.
28
I don't agree with Senator McConnell on much, and I don't agree with some of his characterizations of President Obama's judicial nominees, but I agree with him on leaving the Senate's filibuster rules as is as they apply to legislation. Frankly, I'd also recommend reverting to those rules so as to apply them to judicial nominees going forward. If you cannot convince the other side your ideas or nominees should win the day then you need to do better job of persuasion. Don't change the rules, particularly those that have a clear purpose and have been in place for decades if not longer. My two cents.
2
Democracy operates better, when the govt that is elected can make the changes they campaigned on. That is true in countries that have parliaments, like Canada. Sometimes the new govt will reverse what the previous govt did. That is not a bug, rather a feature of democracy.
Many Americans blame President Obama for not doing more to lift the US out of the great recession. However, Congress prevented him from doing more. Does the US have too many checks and balances? Should the filibuster be removed?
When elected officials cannot make the changes they campaigned on, that makes the electorate even more cynical about politicians' promises.
4
I don't think that the comments blasting McConnell here are meant to indicate that killing the filibuster is necessarily good. We can all agree with its efficacy in practice. Most reasonable people can separate McConnell from his position on the filibuster and, by extension, what his own view of his role is.
The problem is that McConnell has used the filibuster as a hammer, and now that he realizes Democrats may have power, he is asking them to not to get rid of the tool that has allowed him to obstruct even bipartisan policy measures and then blame it on a lack of bipartisanship. Simply put, he is lying when he says that he values it because of the long-term congressional equity it maintains, and lying about his use of the tool to prevent even bipartisan measures.
19
Thank you, we’ll said.
1
Too late to stake out the moral high ground. As if it was ever even part of the plan.
13
Dear Kentucky voters,
When you vote for Mitch McConnell, unless you are a multi-millionaire you are voting against your own self-interest.
And if you care, you are also voting against the good of the country.
After 8 years of relentlessly railing against the debt when it was Obama, the Ryan / McConnell / Trump tax bill has increased the deficit from $600 Billion to $1 Trillion.
The projected ten year increase in the debt is $12 Trillion which is $80,000 per taxpayer.
To be paid for by you and your children.
24
I thought the filibuster was a good thing, but if Moscow Mitch is supporting it, then I'll have to go with getting rid of it.
18
I will talk anything McConnell says about governance with a grain of salt because of Merrick Garland. He is everything a Senator SHOULDN'T be. 2020 can't come soon enough to repair the damage he's done.
13
Many of the commenters here COMPLETELY miss the point of Mitch McConnell’s argument. Sure he’s an obstructionist of Democrat initiatives. But on the flip side of the equation, the legislative filibuster is a systematic check on McConnell’s ability to ram through right wing legislation. Without that, the Democrat minority would be completely and utterly powerless. So feel free to hop on the Harry Reid bandwagon for short term political gain. I for one support a practice that ensures the long term health of our democracy. The legislative filibuster is one of the few remaining practices that forces each side to TALK to each other. We need more of that, not less.
5
@Dave What's to stop McConnell from eliminating the filibuster himself. He used the "logical conclusion" argument to eliminate it for Judicial appointments. But if Democrats take the Senate he will have no power at all. That is what he is talking about. A one-way street where Republicans get to do anything they wish, and continue to prevent Democratic (NOT Democrat--you reveal your political bias) legislators from doing anything at all, just as they did during the Obama administration. McConnell is all about preserving his and his party's power. Nothing else.
12
@Dave
The only thing McConnell cared about passing was the tax bill. He only needed 51 votes to do that.
All the legislation such as gun control, McConnell's job is to prevent from passing.
As majority leader, he doesn't need the filibuster to be obstructionist.
But if Republicans lose the majority, then McConnell needs the filibuster to be obstructionist.
15
@William O, Beeman everyday I have a little debate with myself who I revile more, Trump or McConnell. My argument is not based on partisanship, it’s based on the use of a long term tradition of debate in the senate, plain and simple.
2
Is there one democrat in these comments that objectively read this Op-Ed? Regardless of how you feel about Mitch McConnell, did anyone think critically about WHY Mitch said what we said? Did anyone think, or AT LEAST concede to the fact that the current process was brought in by Democrats? If you haven't thought objectively about some of the facts in this Op-Ed, then I would say this is the problem with Bipartisanship. Less sensationalizing your reaction and more critical debate please.
4
It’s true that Reid ended the filibuster on lower judicial nominations. McConnell, however, conveniently ignores the fact that Obama’s nominees had more filibusters than any other president’s in the history of judiciary. The filibuster may have served to slow debate and force senators to seek compromise in an early era, when parties and ideology did not necessarily line up, but since the advent of the Republican Senate majority, the filibuster has been consistently used to allow Senators who represent a minority of the American people to hold back the will of the majority. If Americans were perfect civics students, and blamed the senate for obstruction that would be one thing. But most of us blame the president for an absence of progress, and McConnell has consistently used Americans’ ignorance of the process of governance to block change and then claim the democrats are at fault. Let’s let majorities rule. The filibuster isn’t enshrined in the constitution. It’s time we let it die.
5
Read the op-Ed, McConnell is utterly corrupt and is trying to cling to his power. Hope Kentucky finally ditches Mitch!
4
How do you critically debate with a cheater?
3
Great to hear from Moscow Mitch, who, along with Donald Trump, is a card carrying member of the duo of destruction. It's not enough for them to damage our reputation around the world, damage our alliances, damage the American middle class, damage the environment and cause federal deficits to soar. They also have to damage our democracy and block attempts to repair that damage. It takes two to tango, but it also takes two, in this case, to do grave damage to the United States.
12
I am a very moderate voter who has voted for both parties in the past. However, the combination of McConnell and Trump has guaranteed I will not vote for any Republican, in any race, in the future.
The GOP is now the party of Trump. If McConnell were more willing to pass sensible legislation that appeals to the middle and was less interested in simply getting re-elected, I might listen to his opinions.
An empty leader leading a party bereft of ideas.
31
The senate is a plaything for those who seek minority governance. Much like the 1850s when you couldn't add one state but had to add 2 (one slave, one free) to keep the balance and bias against action, we are in the same place today. When the South left the union the government was finally able to work on a backlog of legislation that included a transcontinental railroad and supporting land grant colleges. We successfully mobilized a major war effort too, something the Confederacy with all of its states rights and minority rule couldn't. All American progress stems from times when the senate was allowed to function with majority rule. Today the minority in the country elects senators who prevent action on infrastructure, gun regulation, and climate change. Soon we'll have a big fight over abortion rights thanks to your machinations. Mitch, do you think history will remember you fondly for your obstruction?
15
If McConnell thinks the Democratic changes were bad for the Senate, he could be a statesman and undo them, instead of exploiting them while simultaneously "regretting" them.
26
It seems that there is a lot of truth in this op-ed worth considering. There’s a lot of partisan pot shots thrown as well, but we can excuse these to some degree. I agree that the senate’s job is to put the brakes on the legislative process. The house has a slightly different role. As much as I disagree with most republicans policy, I agree with Mitch that radical ideas should not be able to pass with 51 votes.
2
@Aaron Michelson: One goes nowhere applying the brakes all of the time.
1
I believe Mr. McConnell was discussing plans by Democrats to change the rules, not Republicans.
2
As discussed since Trump became president, Republicans are willing to undermine democracy, as reflected in majority will, in order to preserve white male dominance in our country. Voter ID laws despite no widespread voter fraud, new pay-your-fines requirements for felons to vote again in Florida despite the overwhelming support for an amendment to give the franchise back to felons with no string attaches, and the legislatures in North Carolina, Wisconsin and Michigan seeking to limit the Governors’ power when a Democrat wins the office are but a small sample. McConnell has flagrantly made this his cause at the federal level, with the refusal to consider Merrick Garland to fill a seat that was Obama’s constitutional right to fill, as the most obvious example. McConnell has lost all credibility and the right to opine on what is “constitutional,” what is “democracy,” and on how to protect the rights of the minority.
Our bill of rights protect individuals, particularly those with fringe or “minority” views. But that requires judges who will do the job. McConnell has marshaled right wing zealots onto the federal bench and brags about it. His ridiculous argument in support of the filibuster is motivated by his interest in allowing the rulings of such right wing judges to remain in place despite majority views to the contrary.
.
7
@kat: There wasn't much democracy to undermine under the original scheme of liberty to enslave.
1
The filibuster is a tool for those with the status to protect the status quo. It is yet another anti-democrat devise piled on top of several more, e.g. the rule allowing states with virtually no population to have the same number of senators as those with massive populations, or the electoral college which negates the votes if the majority. However, unlike the latter two devices, the filibuster is a creation of Senate tradition not constitutional mandate. Were it not for the filibuster, Jim Crow laws would have ended decades earlier, among other things. It is no surprise that Moscow Mitch wants to preserve the filibuster. But it is well past time for this anti democratic device to be buried in the junk heap of history.
6
The most succinct way to put it is that in a world where Republicans were willing to act in good faith and compromise on legislation with Democrats, we could keep the filibuster. But in a world where that’s not the case, abolishing it is the only way the numerical majority of the population represented by Democratic Senators will ever see any of their agenda enacted into law, even if that’s only during short intervals in power.
6
Sorry, Moscow Mitch, we believe in democracy even when we lose. Now if big states got three senators and picayune ones got one, we'd be a little closer to a democratic institution in the one in which you betray your country.
15
@Douglas Foraste: I flat out reject settling for unequal representation in the key administrative matters of vetting executive and judicial appointees and treaties with foreign nations, for where I live. It is illegitimate.
@Douglas Foraste The Constitution specifically forbids amendments like this: “no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of it's equal Suffrage in the Senate.”
Maybe I don't understand how the senate works, but what I see is one man preventing legislation with wide bi-partisan support from ever reaching the senate floor for debate or vote. One person with the power to kill any bill. I thought veto power was reserved for the executive branch. And even then, the constitution has a balance to that power in legislative override. Where is the balance to this man's power to kill legislation?
17
@Jim Jernigan: Republicans can elect somebody else majority leader if they are fed up with McConnell sitting on bills. I think the House should elect the Speaker by majority of the whole Congress and so should the Senate elect its Majority Leader.
1
The filibuster has operated in only the recent past as a means for indiviudal senators to hold out against a bill a senator opposes strongly. Notable filibusters have concerned ledislation like civil rights.
McConnell has subverted the informal Constitutional norm emboidied in this limited use of a filibuster and transformed the fillibuster into a tool for global obstruction. This is only one of the norms that McConnell has trashed along with enablers in the GOP. Blocking a hearing and vote on Merrick Garland was another notable example. Blocking bipartisan legislation to protect the integrity our elections is another notorious example.
These examples relate only to McConnell's corruption of the civil norms representing an unwritten foundation for our Constitutional order. They are not a catalogue. And none of the above speaks to how the Senator and his family have exploited political office to enrich themselves. The young senate staffer for Senator Cooper is now one of the richest members of the Senate. Enough!
6
The issue is the filibuster not McConnell. Shooting the messenger does not solve the problem.
1
@michjas
In this case, the messenger is the problem.
McConnell only wants the filibuster because he is worried the Republicans might lose the senate.
If so, he would need to filibuster to be the obstructionist he was when Democrats controlled the Senate.
Go look up filibusters by year. McConnell set way new highs for the number.
5
The filibuster has existed for ages. And the issue is whether it will continue to exist into the future. Once eliminated, it is unlikely to be restored. So addressing the issue as a short range one puts present interests ahead of the next century. That is the way most people address most issues these days, from climate change to the national debt to entitlements. That kind of thinking does not bode well for our future. Are you part of the solution or part of the problem?
@michjas
There were more Filiblister and Hold maneuvers in the Senate 2007-2017 than in the previous 220 years of American history.
1
Mitch McConnell is a very bright man. It is very difficult to get around him. He knows his stuff. I am sure he is reveling in taking a dig at his former nemesis, Harry Reid. Nevertheless, I agree with him. Keep the filibuster in place.
1
Mitch will go down in has the most corrupt politician of his time!
3
Yeah sure Moscow Mitch. Just like the Senate with its hyper-representation of tiny states, and the electoral college with its overemphasis on underpopulated places, and like voter suppression, and gerrymandering. They all play a vital role in the Republican view of democracy.
20
The Senate with McConnell at the helm has turned our democracy into Dump's autocracy. As majority leader, McConnell has too much power and misuses it routinely to stifle what he does not like. Republican Senators deathly afraid of primary opponents have bowed to Dump and McConnell's will.
We are not the colonial agrarian society of 1789. We need a Senate that now reflects all 50 states.
11
You Sir, should've given Merrick Garland a hearing and a fair up or down vote in the full Senate.
That was an unprecedented power grab.
Generally speaking, you may be right about the filibuster (though I disagree that the Democrats are making radical left-wing proposals).
But no matter. You crossed a line that will be very hard to come back from.
13
Sounds like he's basically admitting to deliberately confirming biased, partial judges. This is not something to be proud of. It is undemocratic.
16
Well, it’s very difficult, for me, to absorb any type of lecture or justification from Mitch McConnell. He continues to make it abundantly clear that he doesn’t value democracy, the good of the country, or anything not paying homage to him. He is a blight on this country.
23
Gee, Senator McConnell, this was a well thought out piece. Now that we know there are brain synapses occurring, perhaps you can convey your thinking on the behavior and fitness of the President of the United States of America?
18
The only thing we regret is your not having a spine and putting party over country. History will be deservedly unkind to you.
17
G.O.P.
Greed Over Patriotism
24
Listen to the man. He is THE authority for Senate activity, having been there since they buried George Washington.
Our Constitution calls for the Senate to deliberate on behalf of the States, which was especially easy when we were wise enough to allow state legislatures to select Senators.
(Can you imagine the squawkers on The Squad or The View waking up and realizing the States pick Senators?)
If the Majority Leader says filibusters serve our democracy, then they do.
We have seen the total messes other countries have gotten into by deciding everything like they were social media.
@L osservatore
Ignoring the mess America is in now is a widely shared deficiency of Individual-1’s supporters.
btw Russian hackers using Social Media platforms did decide the last election.
1
When Mitch is out office (ideally next year), his actions should be formally and thoroughly investigated. In his Senate leadership, he has acted in ways that are utterly destructive to our form of government (breaking the Senate arm of the Legislative Branch; undermining the Executive Branch by refusing even to consider presidential nominees for reasons that appear to be shameful, rank racism, and stuffing the Judicial Branch with partisan hacks). His actions and inactions are also intensely, immediately dangerous to individual Americans because of his sickening refusal to consider gun control, health care, and environmental protections on which we all depend for air/water/food. As a citizen, I want to know: What drives him to fail us and our system of government so badly? He calls himself "The Grim Reaper," as if embracing a symbol of Death makes it okay, even a joke of some kind. It does not. At issue are real lives -- so many lost already, so many more at stake. An investigation into the "why" of this man's perfidy is in order. If the evidence of such an investigation warrants, he should be indicted, tried, and if convicted, sent to jail -- the purpose of which, my mother once told me, "is to keep bad people from hurting the rest of us."
9
Below is a decoded version of Mitch McConnell's opinion piece.
"My dear fellow Republicans,
You might wonder why I am writing in the columns of a leftist newspaper. You know me well: I never do anything without prior calculation of my personal gain. I have here three profitable goals.
The first is to destroy any hopes that the Left might have that a Senate victory could allow them to undo what we have undone.
The second is to quell any desires among the few remaining soft conservatives to heed the Left's calls to "modernize" our political system. We won't foolishly undermine our enduring power to kill leftist legislation.
The third is to celebrate my achievements. As former Senate minority leader, I pushed obstruction to its most extreme limits, forcing the Left to change the rules of the game. Then as a majority leader, I reaped huge benefits from those same new rules.
Behold my legacy.
I have enshrined minority rule in our constitutional order.
I have given a future to the GOP in spite of its rapidly shrinking base.
I have secured lifetime appointments for an army of staunchly conservative judges.
My judges then made it legal to deprive millions of their voting rights.
I have reordered the Constitution."
27
This would seem more plausible if it had been written by someone who had any interest in protecting "our Constitutional order."
13
McConnell’s hypocrisy, partisanship, and subterfuge continue to disgust me. He single handedly blocked Merrick Garlands nomination for the Supreme Court over his purely Partisan political agenda. The minority majority is growing and they’re not likely to vote republican. He passed a tax bill giving large tax breaks to the rich and corporations, bypassing a possible filibuster, increasing the national debt and heading this country into another recession. He and the president are packing the courts in a way that will take us back 50 years. he has single-handedly refused to vote on bills which have been passed by the house of representatives. He and his wife have both personally benefited by his position. He is the epitome of the American swamp.The odds right now appear to favor a Democratic president in 2020 and a Democratic House of representatives. Neither the Democrats nor the Republicans will likely have a filibuster proof majority in the Senate but the democrats may very well win back the majority. Keeping the filibuster will greatly aid Mitch and his Republican Henchmen in blocking the liberal policies almost assuredly to come through the House. So don’t try and make it sound as if keeping the filibuster is in the best interest of the country and the Senate. It’s in the best interest only of the Republicans, the wealthy, the NRA, large corporations and Mitch McConnell.
11
How is it that one senator can dictate to 99 others what legislation or appointments they can debate and vote on?
12
Insiightfull. In the last year (or two) he has singlehandedly blocked any debate on a topic he does not like. If he's so outraged about Reid's nuclear option: he has perfected it.
I'm waiting for the day that a new Democratic president is not allowed to nominate someone (Supreme Court) because the new president is not long enough in office
7
Reading the comments I encountered the phrase "banality of evil". Describes Mitch to a 'T'. Nuff said!
7
... said the senator who blocked Obama Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland.
9
I understand the NYT is quality journalism and compelled to publish this for balance.
Folks, if you, like me, don’t agree, then consider logical arguments to counter his political bias.
In a way The Times has done us a favor by illustrating why the GOP has gone so far astray.
5
The gall.
Period.
9
Mitch McConnell makes an argument against majority rule.
This piece prompted me to go check-out Amy McGrath's website. She has a "Defeat Mitch. Defend Democracy." totebag I just might buy.
13
Thanks to Mitch McConnell for the lecture on democracy. I can't wait to read Harvey Weinstein's op-ed on the Me Too movement.
34
The only mistake Reid made was nibbling around the edges of "nuclear." Had he acknowledged the dangerous, deliberate anti-American sabotage undermining the constitution on a daily basis - he would have eliminated the filibuster on judicial nominees as well. McConnell gave a master class in abuse of power once the GOP took back the senate. We will be paying for Reid's half measures for a long, long time.
6
The filibuster is a rule the protects incumbents from having to take unpopular votes. Period. Full Stop.
With the filibuster rule, no vote is required unless something is popular enough to garner 60 votes (used to be 2/3, but the Senate changed that in the 70's)
As a matter of parliamentary procedure the rules applying to cloture (cutting off debate) have their origin in permitting a minority to be heard on an issue. The filibuster was an abuse of that rule when it went beyond germane comment.
This rule is not based in the constitution, but is a self imposed rule that is, in truth, a matter of self-preservation only.
End it. Make the Senate accountable to the public, make each senator vote.
12
I will admit that when when the nation was young and rural, the argument against the tyranny of the majority may have had some merit. But in the modern, overwhelmingly urban nation we have become, the tyranny of the minority has become a perversion to democracy, one that Republicans regularly exploit to subvert the will of the people, fundamentally undermining the basic principles of democracy. You sir, may think you are "upholding" the traditions of the Senate. But your actions are just as grotesque as Judge Taney's attempts to "uphold" the traditions of the Supreme Court with the Dred Scott decision. History will judge you both with derision and scorn.
9
So why don't you reinstate the filibuster for judicial nominations?
14
I get that the New York Times wants to be balanced, and offer differing points of view. But disingenuous points of view are not helpful. Why listen to anything this man has to say?
19
He is the poster boy for why there should be term limits.
Every elected official should be given a senility test - can you process new information or has your brain calcified to the point of no longer being able to reason logically? If not, you are not fit for the job.
11
OK Mitch
Why don't we just get rid of the senate altogether as you are pushing your agenda over the will of the majority. It is sickening that you take money from russia for you and your state and don't care that they continually hack our elections. I would say you are a traitor but you have no shame and don't care.
19
By printing this op Ed, the Times continues to be a bulwark of fair and balanced journalism and an example of the fourth branch of government at it's finest. By authoring this piece of garbage, the Senator reenforces his reputation as the greatest enemy of democracy in the United States Congress since Joe McCarthy.
28
And let's not forget the travesty of all the federal judges nominated and confirmed by the Republican senate even when their records shows a lack of judicial history - they got lifetime appointments based on their fealty to the Republican party and not to justice for all in the United States of America.
12
The dark money underwrote McConnell's career when they went hunting for a red state that would elect him Senator for life. And, Corporations run by billionaires like the Koch Brothers found their man in Mitch McConnell. His character is best summed up in a secret tape recorded back in 2014 at one of the Koch millionaire/billionaire fund raising events where he declared that he was all about shrinking the federal government and whined about having to vote on pesky issues like raising the minimum wage. He fully supports Citizens United and is deeply indebted to the NRA for their unwavering support. Koch Brothers don't want the Congress to pass any legislation & are all about dismantle the EPA and were really pushing for that billionaire/Corporate tax cut that McConnell was more than happy to serve up on a silver platter. Listening to the tape reveals that evil does really exist in the world with Mitch McConnell being in the deepest level of hell imaginable within Dante's inferno.
https://www.thenation.com/article/caught-tape-what-mitch-mcconnell-complained-about-roomful-billionaires-exclusive/
16
facts ... filibuster while not uncommon among world legislative bodies does not derive from the constitution... therefore the practice is not constitutional ... it is constitutional .. a rule of the senate body ... established in a change of senate rules in 1806 ... rarely used for two hundred years ... strengthened in the 1970s ... and in recent years the senate has preferred not to filibuster ... it has come to play havoc with legislation because it has become practice to pass legislation only when there is a supermajority (60%) ... it is undemocratic ... a clubhouse rule ... it should no longer be tolerated ...
2
A disingenuous diatribe from a venal man....please remove this blight from the political leadership and roster come next election(s).
17
You are an enemy of democracy masquerading as a concerned constitutionalist.
You love rules and precedent and the constitution ....
Until some right-wing imperative arises.
And then you don't.
Please get out of our collective faces.
18
Mitch
We rue your anti-Democratic rule of the Senate. For purely partisan reasons you have thwarted not only the Obama agenda ( who you marked for extinction after one term), but popular and essential legislation, And now we have learned how self-interested and corrupt you and your spouse actually are.
You have hitched the rise of your economic star to the fool in the White House. May 2020 bring you both to the black hole of oblivion.
And please, no lectures.
14
Hi Mitch, I got as far as the third paragraph where you opened with, "Republicans opposed both moves on principle." Tears of laughter filled my eyes and I was unable to finish. Too bad. There's probably stuff funnier than that in here but I can only take so much.
No one has damaged this country more than you. Why don't you take the millions you've pocketed since coming to Washington and go home. Wouldn't you like to spend more time with you family?
24
This is the most disingenuous piece I believe I’ve ever read. McConnell and the Republicans did not oppose liberal judges, they opposed all nominees. Obama’s nominees were well qualified and vetted by the American Bar Association in stark contrast to many of the hacks nominated by this administration some of whom have never even tried a case. If McConnell cares about this country and the judiciary he can demand that this administration send over qualified judges and reimpose the filibuster.
15
What many forget is that there was a reason Democrats changed the rules. It was the obstruction of the GOP of everything President Obama suggested and tried to implement. The GOP bent to the will of the Tea Party and other radicals.
Harry Reids response was not the cause of the problems but a reaction of the partisan politics of the GOP.
11
Let’s stop trying to change what’s been changed, to make changes upon changes upon changes, and instead roll back the malignant policies and systems the Republicans have implemented to manipulate our democracy.
4
Free elections also play a role in our constitutional order.
6
The GOP wants the time honored - the Electoral College that is an anachronism of the slave era, and let us not forget good old gerrymandering.
And, as far as the senate being an impediment to rash laws, Mitch handles that succinctly: he prohibits bills from seeing the light of day on the Senate floor when they go against his Masters.
Yes, our government should give fair and due consideration to many sides that have reasonable support.
Mitch doesn't care about that unless he's the underdog. He goes out of his way to be an impediment.
Those judicial nominees of BHO weren't radical left wing commies. They were traditional center, slight left of center jurists. It is only in today's far right partisan times that even BHO can be seen as anything but fairly in the center by historic standards - except for the color of his skin.
7
Mitch McConnell has an 18% approval rating in his own state. I don't think he needs to trouble his turtle-like little head about what's going to happen in the post-2020 senate.
11
I hope this is true
2
@Jay Eff
Let's not misinterpret this figure; coal runoff in the water supply has eroded the critical thinking faculties of an entire state. The troglodytes in KY have sent McConnell to the senate 6 times. His greatest fear is not running against a competent Democrat, but being primaried by someone who is even more corrupt, cynical, and craven than him - and losing bigtime.
2
Change the rules then:
Legislate all political campaigns going forward will be publicly financed—no more dark and dirty money overwhelming the voice of the people; take Madison Avenue out of our campaigns
Change election laws to mandate audit friendly hand-marked and scanned ballots
Harden our election infrastructure against hostile foreign actors
End gerrymandering
End voter suppression
Tax the wealthy to shore up Social Security and to get the debt back under control
Return to the FCC fairness doctrine rules governing media to the requirement of equal time (and weight) for opposing political opinions. Pop the information bubbles that drive our tribal culture wars. Separate is not equal, it's separate and allows for information dominance strategies, propaganda, to unfairly sway citizens with unbalanced reporting
Re-examine compensation for people working for public corporations so that they get a piece of the company—a fairer share of the fruits of their labor—to end income inequality
Investigate and prosecute all illegal activities by Trump and the Trump campaign—especially illegal help by Russians, money laundering, hush money, and child rape accusations
8
Has Mitch written this just to gauge how unpopular he is?
11
Shame on the NYT for giving this man a platform. There are countless thinkers and activists with important messages to get out. Instead of fostering and encouraging a healthy and vibrant intellectual ecosystem, this paper has given one of the most powerful people in the country free reign to gaslight and undermine the American people.
This is a classic example of Liberals making themselves feel better by publishing "opposing views." The Times needs to take an ideological stance. The current stance, masquerading as a neutral party to an even handed debate is grossly misleading. By publishing this but not not broad in depth analyses of the US political structure by qualified academics, the NYT is propagating the very system that seeks to destroy it, and more importantly, seeks to erode the political power and human value of people of color, trans people and the working class. The NYT is lending it's well earned credibility to an amoral incredible politician. If this paper wants to maintain it's standing it should refrain from any similar opinion pieces in the future.
8
Times,
Thanks for publishing this opinion piece, as all sides should be able to get their msg out.
That being said, my god, I’m surprised it was published as is or without a disclaimer. Gaslighting is too mild a term for this article. While it did contain a few kernels of truth, by and large it was just a flat out lie and a fairly transparent attempt to troll. I would have liked to see the opinion piece accompanied by a fact check or a companion article to provide context.
Bottom line, Mitch McConnel is probably the last person in the world I would want to take moral, ethical, or really any other kind of advice from.
9
Et tu, Mitch?
3
The filibuster is used by Mitch to force the will of the minority on the majority. Just like J.Calhoun used it to protect slavery.
The NYTime's 1619 article was an eye opener.
12
What is missing here is that as despicable as McConnell is he outmaneuvers Schumer day after day, week after week and month after month. If the Democrats had had a leader in the Senate with skill and guts Garland would be on the Court today. All the Dems do is wring their hands and cry “he outsmarted us again.”
1
Another unwritten rule that plays "a crucial role in our constitutional government" is taking up House bills of great importance to the country,holding public hearings, debating them, amending them and voting on them. Also, writing Senate bills in the light of day with the minority party involved in the writing instead of one party's leaders going into backrooms and basements and presenting their work as a fait accompli, take it or leave it. Also, voting on controversial bills even when the president has said he will not sign them. The filibuster is the least of the problems in our government that Mitch McConnell has either caused or exacerbated.
2
It is the first time I agree with this otherwise un-democratic un-republican Senator, who has, on countless occasions, ignored the traditions of the Senate chamber.
Particularly offensive has been his high-handed single-handed refusal to allow business placed before the Senate to proceed.
Most serious was his refusal to permit the Senate to advise President Obama on whether his choice for the open seat on the Supreme Court was acceptable for confirmation, and his limits imposed on the quality of the vetting of appointees of Obama’s successor, a man who the voters of this nation rejected by a 2.8 million popular vote margin.
Due to the anticipated failure of the Electoral College to do its job, and find the demonstrably criminal Donald Trump suitable to serve he declared “the people have spoken”, that is the man with the majority of electors in his pocket, and denied the President the right to make a second appointment in two terms to the high court.
He has single-handedly misused his power as Senate President to block even a discussion of numerous bills passed by the House of Representatives.
The members of a minority party, held captive by this autocrat, and others, of either party who may follow, to attempt to break one-person control of the august body he shames every day he calls it to order.
5
Senate hearings on a president's nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court are part of our Constitutional order and long-established custom, as well.
3
RE:[ It echoes James Madison’s explanation in Federalist 62 that the Senate is designed not to rubber-stamp House bills but to act as an “additional impediment” and “complicated check” on “improper acts of legislation.”]
--What a charade.
-- Mitch ignores the fact that Red states with small populations get 2 Senators while Blue States with huge populations like California and New York also get two. The republicans have a majority in the senate while only representing a minority of voters. That, Dear Senator McConnell is the constitution's baked in protection against the tyranny of the majority.
The legislative filibuster takes the protection of minority rights to an absurd end by claiming to solve a problem that does not exist. There is no further need to protect minority rights than the senate itself. The creation of the Senate was an elegant solution that protected the minority without giving them more power than they deserved.
Mitch likes the filibuster because it allows him to ignore the few moderate republican senators from red states who put country above party. Without the filibuster Mitch would have no real power and he knows it.
7
"America needs the Senate to be the Senate."
Does that include voting onSupreme Court nominees?
7
With due respect I am forgetting how did the senate approve the last 2 Supreme court justices that Mr Trump nominated !
Please some one in GOP remind Mr McConnel!
4
Until Mitch personally escorts Merrick Garland to his rightful seat on the Supreme Court, nothing he has to say can or should be taken seriously by any patriotic American.
May every good American tell their children the story of the man who tried to break our democracy. May his legacy be one of shame.
15
A few crackpot judges is a small price to pay for meaningful legislation on guns, climate, wages, human rights....your deliberative legacy will be the inundation of the east coast displacing millions. And you may actually live to see it and regret.
1
Mitch and Trump are the biggest dangers to this country that ever were.
10
We already live in Trump's Dictatorship. Vote Blue no matter who.
10
The finest opinion money can buy. This opinion piece brought to you by:
Koch Brothers
Blackstone Group
Goldman Sachs
Citigroup
Peabody Energy
JP Morgan Chase et al
Just not the citizens of Kentucky whose lives have been made miserable by Mitch failing them since 1984.
12
We need to get rid of the Senate. Kentucky should not have the same power as California. This thing is ridiculous.
4
@Keith Dow The Constitution specifically forbids amendments like that: “no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of it's equal Suffrage in the Senate.”
1
I remember thinking when the Democrats decided to change the rules on judicial nominations that they might regret the precedent. I've alway found comfort in the thought that neither party could do anything too radical without having one loan senator spend days talking about everything under the sun just to delay passage of a law they opposed. I always thought of the Senate as being the wiser and saner of the two houses but all that changed when Harry Reid, over the objections of both parties, decided to change the rules by essentially shoving the decision to abolish the filibuster down the throat of the opposition party. I also remember Mitch McConnell's admonition that what goes around comes around. Now that he made good on that warning, Democrats want to degrade the Senate even more by making every vote a simple majority. I say enough. Bring the rules back to where they were before all this tit for tat started. The Senate is supposed to be the place where cooler heads prevail. It speaks volumes that Joe Biden got pillaried for talking about being able to work with the opposition to pass legislation. The fact that bipartisanship is now a dirty word is a sad comment on the state of politics today. I know I am a bit pollyannaish but I like to think we can all get along if we try.
2
It's true, the Democrats might regret abolishing the filibuster but at least they will make a stand for democratic principles. The problem is, Mitch McConnell will use every ounce of power available to him to maintain white, male, corporate control of the United States government. He has no values or attachment to democracy. His only attachment is to maintaining the power of the minority. And so far, he's been sadly but brilliantly, successful.
6
Tell me again how the filibuster figured into Senate action on the Merrick Garland nomination.
9
The World's Greatest Deliberative Body has been anything but for too long, and a large part of the blame for that failure falls upon the senator for Kentucky.
Using the machinery of the rules, McConnell has imposed the regression of the minority (see "gerrymandering") and impeded the formation of a more perfect union, the establishment of justice and the insurance of domestic tranquility.
And here I thought Moscow Mitch was a strict constructionist....
4
McConnell is right. Senators should negotiate and compromise, not beat each other by changing the rules. The U.S. does not like radical change and the filibuster is a good check on radical change.
2
@Michael Ahern Mitch did change the rules. The rules for judiciary nominees required 30 hours of questioning from both the house and senate. Mitch changed the rules in the senate to questioning nominees for only 2 hours. Mitch is out for Mitch, no one else.
5
What Senator McConnell (and 99% of the readers who will comment on this), fails to acknowledge is that it works both ways. Political expediency has long since overcome principle as the guiding motivation in American politics.
Denying Merrick Garland an up or down vote was a bad faith move. And it was based solely on political expediency.
8
The original constitution had senators chosen by the states (vs a vote) to ensure the states' interests and power were balanced vs the Federal government. This was changed by the 17th Amendment in 1912. The filibuster didn't appear until 1917 perhaps as an alternative means to slow new legislation down, to let the Senate be the Senate and not just a variation on the House.
McConnell has conveniently neglected to mention his consistent refusal to bring to the floor of the Senate many of the bills passed by the House. Although he positions himself as a strong leader for the Senate, he is in fact a weakling , waiting for the approval of the President. He was elected only by the people of Kentucky but is using his position to negatively affect all of us.
Can there be a procedural change in the Senate by which the Senate must bring to the floor any bill passed by the House or which has a set number of sponsors in the Senate.
History will not remember you kindly, Mitch.
13
Deliberation is a valid concern, but it doesn't sound like it's Mr. McConnell's primary concern. He sounds much more scared that liberal laws will pass. Maybe let's not worry so much about who's 'radical' ideology would be legislated and worry more about how democracy is supposed to function. The Senate is supposed to deliberate, certainly, but it isn't supposed to do so indefinitely. The Senate's current rules violate the will of the voters, who, after all, elected representatives to pass legislation, not to sit around arguing until the end of time without ever taking a vote. Deliberation should not equal obstruction.
Perhaps a simple rule change would be best here. Rather than requiring a vote to end deliberation, simply set a time limit on it. When the clock runs out, deliberation must cease and a vote must be taken. This way, both sides would have ample time to argue their stances, but in the end everyone would have to vote.
1
Senator McConnell is the embodiment of obstruction and partisanship. The Democrats in the Senate and reportedly some Republicans are frustrated with the lack of getting bills to the floor that could benefit our Nation. The Senator gives lip service to honoring the long held institutions and procedures of the Senate. So of course the Democratic members are proposing changes that will force which ever party is in power to have meaningful debate .
4
Mitch McConnell continues to play partisan politics, using his fellow Americans to kick around like a soccer ball. The majority leader of the Senate, no matter which political party he or she represents, should not have the authority and power to shape legislation to conform to his or her vision of proper policy. Rather, the leader should and must carry out the wishes of the people represented in the Senate, his fellow Americans. Political parties and their preferences should never supersede the will of the people. Nor should the whims of the President and those who seek his or her approval and support. These are dark days, indeed.
5
Will the Dems ever get over the Merrick Garland situation? Actually Mitch did him a great service. He didn’t have the votes to be confirmed any way. And the Republicans would have savaged him in the same way that the Dems savaged Cavanaugh. They would drummed up one of the kids in his high school to testify that he cheated on an exam once. The student wouldn’t have remembered which class it was but somehow it left him traumatized. He would have also testified that he never mentioned the incident to anyone previously. After all Garland can’t prove that he didn’t cheat. In the end his reputation would have been ruined for life.
Yes Mitch did Garland a favor.
1
And here I though McConnell was a one-trick pony: ‘Blame Obama’. I see he has ‘Blame Reid’ in his bag of tricks, too.
I hope the Dems retake the Senate in 2020 to put the shoe on the other foot, & put McConnell’s ideas to the rest.
10
The part that frustrates me the most as a centrist Democrat is that you don’t seem to even consider or understand what he’s saying. Forget what he said about Reid and think about the political repercussions of lowering the bar to institutions that have made democracy great and the US the greatest at it. This is what saddens me about the party. I’m sure a Democrat could write a similar op ed about something stupid the Republicans have done that didn’t end up working in their favor. But this is a real issue and instead of attacking the messenger, at least consider what it means.
Actually it's Mitch McConnell that will rue the day when he ended filibusters for Supreme Court judges. He will also rue the day for blocking Merrick Garland's appointment to the Supreme Court. If Democrats win a majority in 2020, Chuck Schumer should end the filibuster for legislation. And if Trump survives reelection and the Democrats control the Senate, then Schumer should block all cabinet and judicial appointments.
9
Maybe Schumer should just create a rule where he is president? Checks and balances are important and you might not like what is going on in our country but you should also be wary of changing the rules to benefit you in the short term.
@Joe M Too bad you don't apply your beliefs to Mitch.
2
@Joe M
More mornic false equivalence. While you appease the party that will destroy Western democracy.
2
Wow, just wow. I know politicians are supposed to be shameless, but judging from this piece, we must find a word that is worse, or ironically, better for describing Mitch McConnell.
22
Thank you NY Times for publishing this op-ed piece by one of the most divisive US senators since John C Calhoun. I have already sent my donation to LT Col Amy McGrath candidate for the US senate from Ky. Would strongly urge others to do the same.
22
This piece is irrelevant. A distraction. Your behavior and thinking morph like your boss in the WH. Pieces of important legislation passed by the House that represents us sit on your desk collecting dust and cobweb. And you are writing this piece? Come on Mitch. Get to work. At least pretend working. Your collar bone fracture is healed by now.
3
This guy has a lot of nerve and no business lecturing anyone. This is the man who out of sheer pettiness denied a sitting President a confirmation hearing for his Supreme Court nominee, something that had never been done in history. Not even a hearing for a qualified nominee.
He is without a doubt the most arrogant politician in modern history and I wish to God that someone in Kentucky would challenge him already and kick him out for good.
20
If you think it was out of pettiness than you aren’t fit to be a senator! my god man, these are not bad peoples, they are politically shrewd people. If the democrats thought of it first they would have done it first. Eg, gerrymandering is not a one party issue.
Spoken like a man who expects his party to become a minority very soon and for a very long time.
12
Filibusters delay and derail much legislation. Republicans, of course, favor limited government. Democrats look to the government for much more. When Democrats are in power, Republican filibusters are seen as particularly obstructionist because their agenda is long. When Republicans are in power their agenda is relatively narrow, so a filibuster by the Democrats is less of an issue. Remember the outrage directed at Republicans who chose to block Obama across the board. Since 2018, Democrats have done pretty much the same to Trump without the same sense of urgency on the part of Republicans.
Not every dispute has to be ugly and personal. The future of the filibuster is tied to the age-old dispute between the parties -- big or small government. The future of legislative filibusters is a very important matter. The underlying dispute over the role of the government is fundamental to our legislative system. Petty partisan argument is not the way to solve this one. When it comes to the role of the Senate and the filibuster, the fundamental workings of Congress are at stake. Ideally, the debate would be at the level exhibited at the time of the Federalist Papers. But high-minded debate has gone the way of the dinosaur. And the future of the legislative filibuster will be decided by whoever is in control.
Can you imagine McConnell and Schumer each writing a thoughtful analysis of the issue in the manner of Madison and Jefferson? Me neither.
I appreciate your newfound concern for stewardship of senatorial standards and traditions, if sincere.
Unfortunately absent any sort of mea culpa for YOUR part in the whittling away of such norms, this would instead likely be just the usual bad faith machinations for which you are infamous (and no, in decent mortal circles that is not a compliment).
At this late stage, absent meaningful action in place of cunning words, the only thing Mitch could say or write to aid the standing of the Senate would be a resignation letter.
9
When is Sen. McConnell lecturing Democrats not to follow his lead? He must be smelling defeat.
8
News flash, Mr. McConnell: You have long ago taken yourself out of the running for "valuable opinions that should be considered." Hypocrisy is not a big enough word for the nonsense you insist on spewing. This entire op-ed piece is just more of your "drive the wedge" brand of gaslighting. Go away.
14
Mitch McConnell has absolutely no business lecturing anyone about the Constitution, Senate traditions, or legislative comity... much less doing so from the pages of the NYT. He has arguably done more than any other single political figure to *destroy* those things. He is a disgrace to his office and a blight on the American political landscape, and works actively on a daily basis to undermine this country and the very concept of the rule of law.
13
What he meant to say was, "the filibuster plays a crucial role in MY Constitutional order". It's a convenience to everyone who's ever held his position, and they use it when it helps their agenda and they abuse it when they can. McConnell is just the latest ... but also the most destructive to our democracy in his excessive use of it.
2
@Bob - and not only "excessive" but also his seemingly "personally advantageous" misuse of it.
1
Let's get rid of these old stooges. They do not care about us or our children. They will be dead by the time their despicable policies result in a global ecological apocalypse. I'm sure their kids are set up with their trust funds and bunkers so they can survive the results of what their fathers have created. Both parties have failed this country and we are on the road to doom. Mitch is the worst hypocrite of them all.
14
If "the Senate’s treasured tradition is not efficiency but deliberation," why didn't McConnell allow the Senate to deliberate over SOTUS nominee Merrick Garland? health care options? immigration options? gun control options? why did he schedule so little time for investigating and deliberating over SOTUS nominee Brett Kavanaugh?
Mr. McConnell, as usual, is being completely disingenuous. He values Senate traditions only when they help him retain his grasp of every ounce of power and defies them otherwise.
8
A politician whose money grubbing, power grabbing, and grand standing underlines the most needed change in the US Constitution: term limits for members of the US House and Senate. No one person should be able to do such unlimited damage to the United States.
12
@AA: Voters need to stop electing Congresscritters and Senators who abrogate their Constitutional responsibilities to the subordinate branches of the federal government and take bribes to turn a blind eye when states undermine each other in destructive economic and social competitions.
2
McConnell said everything anyone needs to know about him when he refused to take Judge Merrick Garland to the senate almost a year before the term of a highly popular president ended. And then again in refusing to consider a raft of bills the Democratic house has passed on gun control, election security, climate change...
15
What could be more cynical than this --Mitch McConnell opining in favor of constitutional order. Does the name Merrick Garland ring a bell, Mitch? How about the 121 pieces of legislation passed by the House that you refuse to consider. How about your declaration that the Senate will be a graveyard for any legislation passed by the House. McConnell has done more to break the Senate, break Congress, and break our democracy than anyone, including Donald J. Trump.
Actually, there may be one thing more cynical and that's the NY Times legitimizing McConnell and his attack on constitutional order and the Constitution by publishing this eyewash.
15
McConnell will get an eyeful if he has the guts to read these comments. This isn't Twitterville. Politicians who post here almost always do so incognito.
2
He might possibly be even worse then trump. Vote all republicans out.
12
"Radical changes face a high bar by design."
A radical change like neither consenting nor not consenting. Believe every hypocritical duplicitous gaslit word of this, and pray there is a final judgment.
7
@Paul: Quit praying. Everybody makes it to Nirvana (permanent oblivion) on their first try.
1
Sorry Mitch. Any time you weigh into a public debate, I just have two words for you:
Merrick Garland.
You showed yourself to be nothing more than a rank partisan of the worst sort. History will not judge you kindly. And for good reason.
You have no legitimacy any longer.
11
@del: McConnell and Trump have exposed the fatal flaws of this relic of liberty to enslave system.
3
Rather than act like a true leader and explain and justify a controversial rule of the Senate, McConnell has instead given us a self-serving polemic that does little but deliver red meat to his fans on the far right. His defensive diatribe about the Democrats is replete with phrases like
trample longstanding Senate rules and precedents
radical changes
short-circuit standard procedure
muscle through the new rule
procedural avalanche
assault on the legislative filibuster
“nuclear” exchange
whims of those on the far left
half-baked proposals
laundry list of socialist policies
today’s left-wing activists
Democratic Party is racing leftward
radical schemes
fringe nonsense
radical movement
vandalize the Senate
I smell fear in these words of McConnell. Not fear of what might happen in the Senate, but fear of the electorate. Assaulted on a daily basis by Trump’s lunacy and insulted on a daily basis by integrity-free Republicans in Congress, large numbers of Americans are listening intently to the whole spectrum of Democrat voices today. McConnell knows that, and is trying desperately to shore up Republican levees.
His as much as anyone else’s.
And stop me if you’ve heard this one – there are no permanent victories in politics.
9
@Mercutio: Much of the man's critical blather is projection. He's in a tautological justification loop to be even nastier than what he projects.
1
You know Mitch, if you had worked across the aisle instead of throwing up barricades everywhere, maybe it wouldn’t have come to this.
8
@Kathy Balles: Sociopaths abhor socialism, which is really just the practice of government to tax everyone an affordable fraction of their income and spend the revenue for everyone's security and other benefits to all. When taxation and spending take up or give slack to employment levels, the Federal Reserve Bank can concentrate on keeping the value of money constant with stable interest rates, and the economy becomes publicly predictable with less speculation.
3
So does the Constitution which gives the President the power to fill a Supreme Court seat. With the advice and consent of the Senate. Not the complete abandonment of that role. McConnell has zero credibility when it comes to anything related to the function of our government.
8
Can you imagine that one day Speaker McConnell will be honored for his bipartisan cooperation and respect for Senate norms and traditions by Republicans and Democrats alike?
Neither can I.
9
His blatant lying about his illegal action in thwarting the Garland nomination demonstrates that you could not believe a word Moscow Mitch says. He convoluted historical rational for quashing the Garland nomination was not a principle but just a tactic, as he later admitted when he stated Trump would not have this hurdle. Why he wasn't sued for a clear violation of Article II Section I of the Constitution has always been a mystery to me.
19
Mitch is correct. The filibuster in the Senate is an important part of the checks and balances that were put into our system. What he neglects to mention is that this is only step 1 for the progressives. They are very unhappy at their inability to pass left wing policies that most Americans do not support. Their ultimate goal is to silence and ignore the voices of almost half the population who according to them are ignorant deplorables, and gain absolute authoritarian power for themselves.
Thus step 2 is to abolish the electoral college, allow millions of new Democrat voters into the country, and basically allow 3 or 4 states (mostly California) to decide the Presidential election. Step 3..completely abolish the Senate. The Senate gives representation to smaller and rural states, smaller population red states get 2 seats, clearly in order to have their way this must be abolished as well. Then they can steamroll their left wing agenda. We only have to look at states and cities that have been under progressive Democratic Party rule for many years to see the results... San Francisco, LA, Chicago etc. Rampant crime, homelessness, tent cities, endless spending and taxes as quality of life declines. Luckily the Founding fathers foresaw that the United “States” was an amalgam and that inevitably large population states with big cities would try to impose their politics on everyone. They made it very difficult to make those changes. Keep the filibuster.
5
@Rob
Cities are where the GDP is of the country is generated. It is only right and proper that those footing the bill should have the most say about how the money is spent.
14
@Rob. Sensible gun laws climate and impartial judges are not crazy ideas, the majority of Americans favor these things and are being blocked by McConnell.
18
@Rob
"They are very unhappy at their inability to pass left wing policies that most Americans do not support."
No, in fact "most" Americans do want these changes, just as most Americans voted against Trump. You are trying to hold onto a system where a minority of voters from small states can rule over the wishes of the majority.
"Their ultimate goal is to silence and ignore the voices of almost half the population ."
Nobody is trying to silence anyone, we are just trying to count heads, and the "almost half" or as it more accurately can be called, the minority of Americans you speak about are protected from the tyranny of the majority by the Bill of Rights, which was put there specifically for that reason.
"We only have to look at states and cities that have been under progressive Democratic Party rule for many years to see the results... San Francisco, LA, Chicago etc. Rampant crime, homelessness, tent cities, endless spending and taxes as quality of life declines."
I don know where you've been "looking", although I can guess it's through the FOX lens, but it is rural
America that is suffering through the opioid epidemic, decreased mortality rates, increased suicide, and all forms of social devastation. LA, NY and other large cities are doing just fine, thank you.
18
This unworthy piece by McConnell – arguably the most insidiously partisan, disingenuous and shameless Senate majority leader in memory – is a study in self-serving sophistry attempting to deflect attention from the nefarious and deceitful political tactics he has used in service of today’s intensely hateful, hurtful Republican social agenda and accumulating evermore malign power and obscene wealth for the richest of the rich at the expense of those below, about in proportion to how far below. He has pursued this mainly by, himself, single-handedly trashing long-established Senate rules and procedure and by simple, single-minded obstructionism, and taken sickening pride in how, in so abusing the power of his office, he has pulled off what he has.
20
Why is Mitch McConnell talking about the Constitution? He demonstrates contempt for it at every turn.
19
Hypocrite. Mitch McConnell lecturing on institutionalism, rules and precedent? Where on earth do you get the nerve? You’re speaking to informed, intelligent citizens who, y’know, are able to remember things and think critically. Your legacy will be one of radicalization, hyper-partisanship, and the destruction of political norms. History will not, and already does not, look at your legacy kindly.
15
Wasn’t the idea that the Senate would be composed of “statesmen” who cared about the country and not just their own states? Now most Republican Senators only care about their own party!
6
McConnell is so self-serving and Trump-serving that if he says, "no," the answer must be "yes." He's right that Democrats might regret killing the filibuster, but I imagine much of his argument is that Republicans will miss it even more.
3
This from the man who refused to vote on Merrick Garland for the Supreme Court, overriding 200 years of our constitution?
Talk about changing the rules for temporary political gain.
I say, the Democrats have a right to do just about everything short of burn down Congress, just to undo the damage that "Moscow Mitch" has done to our nation, to our government, and to American history.
8
McConnell's decision to disregard Obama's Constitutional prerogative to nominate judges stands as the single most destructive political act of the modern era. It did not violate any statute or Constitutional provision, but he chose to break a norm that was a solid understanding in our system of government. Presidents get to nominate, and the Senate debates and votes on nominations.
The Constitution clearly states what the Senate is supposed to do, but it doesn't say the Senate has to do it. McConnell saw that opening and stepped through it, backed by a specious claim that they should wait and let the people decide the issue by voting for the next president first.
Talk about ruing the day - if the Democrats take the Senate and Trump is re-elected, I wonder if they might decide to not take up any further Trump nominations at all. They could come up with an even more specious argument, such as "The Republicans seated a very large number of judges and Justices. It's important to have a balance in the courts, so it's appropriate to wait for the next president before we take up any nominations at all."
I bet the Republicans could even top that one the next time that they control the Senate.
The glue that has held us together for 250 years is that in spite of conflicts in the Congress, there has grown a large body of shared understandings of certain unwritten rules that everyone acknowledges and follows.
But no more. I fear we are already on the slippery slope.
7
In a country of 330 million, the wealthy few have political power only through the manipulation of the emotions of the populace at large (Trump), the depression of the great majority of voices (gerrymandering, senate appropriations), and the machinations of the workings of government (you guessed it).
Congratulations to Moscow Mitch, on doing his part, I am sure in exchange for ample compensation, to subjugate a once proud republic.
6
Talk about a self rightous hypocrite!
14
Mitch McConnell, the Senator from a small, poor state with low income, low education residents, and is a net recipient of federal funds generated by better educated residents of more succesful states, blocked the advancement of the supreme court nomination of an eminently qualified jurist because he didn't like the president who nominated him.
And that is but one specific example of his obstructionist ways.
He serves only the interests he is beholden to, not this country.
9
So he says in the third paragraph, "To confirm more of President Barack Obama’s controversial nominees, Democrats took two radical steps." Well, he is starting out with a lie. The Republicans were holding up the vast majority of Obama's nominees to prevent his administration from simply filling it appointments and to do all they could to make the Obama administration fail. These were not radical appointments.
I doubt the Republicans will hold the Senate forever and then they will enjoy getting to "rue the day".
8
"If future Democrats shortsightedly decide to reduce the Senate to majority rule, we’ll have lost a key safeguard of American government."
You may not care, Mr. McConnell, how history judges you for the fire you set to our government. However, we lost that safeguard long ago, when you decided to refuse to consider any of President Obama's legislation or Merrick Garland's nomination and to make the Senate a rubber stamp for President Trump's cruelest whims and crippling incompetence and for enabling the most egregious corruption our nation has ever known. By forfeiting the compromise, the Senate has also forfeited any power or respect it used to have.
This whole op-ed stinks of claiming that two wrongs make a right: "what Harry Reid did was wrong, so we're going to do the same thing to make you angry." You forget, Senator, that the Senate has already been reduced to *minority* rule. Republicans retain the Senate majority despite representing 40 million fewer people than Democrats. This is aside from the stark hypocrisy of claiming with one hand that 60 votes should be garnered in the Senate while using the other to prevent votes on issues favored by a majority of Americans from happening in the Senate at all.
Ben Franklin famously told a crowd after the drafting of the constitution that the people had been given "a republic, if you can keep it." When our children and grandchildren wonder where that republic went, Mr. McConnell, they will look to you.
9
Today I learned that the prospect of hearing or reading words from Mitch McConnell makes my skin crawl in the same way Donald Trump does.
12
Mitch McConnell has done his level best to destroy all of our democratic institutions. It would be foolhardy at a minimum to trust his opinion on anything to do with governance. We know him to be solely and wholly self interested.
8
"To confirm more of President Barack Obama’s controversial nominees, Democrats took two radical steps." McConnell writes.
Obama's controversial nominees?
Senator McConnell, have you failed to notice the hoardes of unqualified, unvetted nominees (judicial and otherwise) that Donald Trump has been consistently presenting for Senate confirmation? (And who Congressional Republicans, yourself included, have been zealously confirming?)
Surely you jest.
14
@L Well said!!
3
Mitch is changing Senate rules exclusively permitted to Republicans.
2
This, from the guy who single-handedly stole a Supreme Court appointment from a sitting president.
This, from the guy who apparently is okay with a foreign government skewing an election.
This, from the guy who favors radical right wing activism.
This, from the guy who uses the Constitution at his own convenience and ignores it the rest of the time.
6
Stunning hypocrisy.
A plea for traditions and rules from a Majority Leader who went out of his way to obstruct President Obama’s rescue of a national economic crisis and thwarted a SCOTUS nomination for political sport.
Look in the mirror, Mitch.
7
Says the guy who made it impossible for the Democrats NOT to modify the filibuster. History lesson, Mitch: you shattered the record for filibuster abuse in your much ballyhooed mission of crippling every facet of the Obama presidency. Worked out well when you cynically blamed Reid for your killing the filibuster on judicial nominations. McConnell is the most devious, dangerous politician in my lifetime - and that's saying a lot for the Republican Party. And he knows it.
8
Mitch McConnell has a lot of gall feigning concern for our Constitutional order.
6
It is amazing that one person can embody everything that is wrong with Washington.
10
And just what is Mitch doing with judges? The sheer hypocrisy of it all.
5
You Sir, have made the Filibuster corrupt.
It was you, Sir, who used the Filibuster to weaken, thwart, delay and derail clear decisions of the majority during the last Presidency.
It was you, Sir, who upset the apple cart with your decision to ignore the nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court.
It is you, Sir, who continues your corruption by using your control of a slim majority to ride roughshod over the time honored minority rights to pack the Appellate and Supreme Courts in your favor.
It is you, Sir, currently in the process of encouraging hundreds of millions of dark money to support your slim majority. The NRA funding being only a drop in that bucket. But yet also the canary indicating your corruption of character.
It is you, Sir, who killed the Filibuster with so little respect for the minority.
Why do you, Sir, require more consideration as the Minority Leader than you have shown the current Minority?
7
Spare us the fake platitudes Mitch. You changed Senate rules to take away Merrick Garland's S. Ct. seat. You do what is politically expedient. Your party will rue the day when you are tossed out like spoiled food.
6
Pure hypocrisy from Senator McConnell. He invoked the “nuclear option” back in 2017 when Senate Democrats filibustered the nomination of Neil Gorsuch.
3
so where were you in taking the high road if you objected to Democrat changes. where did you say this is wrong and we are better than this. where were you in reaching across the isle? what prevented you from bringing Merrick Garland up for consideration. it is disingenuous to say "they did it" so we will take the low partisan road. your argument is specious and if you think that what you are doing is harmful there is nothing in the world keeping you from standing up, saying that (or writing opinion pieces in the New York Times), and then doing the right thing. BUT instead you make threats and blame your behaviour on the Democrats. How true to form.
4
OK, I will pile on here. This op-ed seals Mitch McConnell's legacy as the most asinine and destructive senator in American history. His political savvy is outweighed by his politics which have gone a long way to undermine our democracy and the integrity of the Senate. A pox on him, and God save America.
11
The length of this article equals the depth of its hypocrisy.
4
Why would Mitch McConnell write an opinion piece for "the failing New York Times"? In other news, I am fascinated (and sort of disgusted) that the master obstructionist McConnell wants to instruct all of us on the pitfalls of short political gain! What's also great is that he wrote "rue the day" like a true bad guy in Victorian times! This comment won't be printed but I don't mind as I can't stomach this article anyway.
P.S. - Warren 2020.
6
I give him credit for the nerve sling mud at the Democrats. All the underhanded maneuvers his party injected into our wonderful Constitution. Now Mr. Mitch is concerned of the tremendous out come.
For get about it. Im not a Democrat nor a Republican. So I take neither side. He who lives in glass house please don't throw stones.
2
If your grotesque party and ilk allow human society to survive and look back on history, I believe that you will be judged harshly. You have forsaken your oath of office and your duty to the nation. All to serve the needs of the monies donors that keep your kind in power to do their bidding. Go on, sir, serve your masters and they'll reward you with another term to destroy our Republic.
5
I won't waste time reading this mope's words. He will change his stance on the filibuster rule to the exact opposite once he is in the minority.
6
The thing about mr. McConnell ‘s pathetic little essay is that by running campaigns against him (and his master, mr. Trump) Dems will increase their house lead and maybe take back the senate and possibly the White House too. That will be a nice capstone to Mr McConnell’s excessively long career, losing it all at the end.
2
Sometimes great truths appear in imperfect vessels. McConnell, from my point of view, is about as imperfect as they come. But say what you will about McConnell, he walked the walk. He fought with Trump as well as with Trumpists to maintain the legislative veto when the Republicans were in control not so long ago. He had the power to get rid of that veto
--just as the Democrats will have the power if they hold the House and win the Presidency and Senate--but McConnell maintained it. He had the power to have absolute legislative power--and didn't use it. And he held the line in the face of intense, continuous pressure from Trump to abandon the legislative veto and give Trump the victories he desired. Can you imagine what this country would be like if Trump had achieved utter control over the Senate and House when all three were Republican? It was the need for a supermajority that kept Trump bottled up. I tip my hat to McConnell on this one, and I think he was and is right. The point of the legislative veto is to slow things down. Slowing things down is a good thing. The members of the Senate are essentially a jury for all the rest of us; they're the wisest and best pols we have, two from each state. And I'd rather that a supermajority approve of something than a majority approve it before we follow some will-o'-the-whisp and go running off some cliff. Seems to me that should go for the left as well as the right.
1
I didn’t read the article. I don’t need to know or care what Mitch thinks, just as he doesn’t care what most people think about him, the government, how problems get solved, or about much of anything, if we are to judge by his inaction. I’m sure he’s not reading or cares about the comments either.
6
There are a lot of things wrong with Washington, but McConnell somehow embodies all of those wrong things in a single person.
18
There are a lot of things wrong with Washington, but McConnell somehow embodies all of those wrong things in a single person.
3
Much more than Senate voting procedures, the fundamental problem is that Senate is not representative of the country. 47 democratic senators represent 40 million more people than 53 republican senators. Giving two senators to each state regardless of population is fundamentally non-democratic. Problems with obstructionism, where a very small minority of republicans can block the will of 60-70% of the population of the country, is the side effect.
5
Mitch McConnell insisting we keep the filibuster is perhaps the best argument to abolish it.
9
After reading this article, I conclude that Mr. McConnell should follow through by restoring the filibuster for judicial appointments, and that he should bring the items he's been obstructing to the floor so they can be debated and voted on in regular order. It is disingenuous to speak of the proper role of the Senate when one is causing its dysfunction.
23
No, we won't. And we can change it back again when: there's no gerrymandering and voter suppression systematically denying representation and votes to millions, when we elect our President by national popular vote, and we make DC and Puerto Rico states.
Go away, Mitch, far far far away.
I've got an increasing number of names on my 'whose graves will I dance on' when they pass... only consolation for these horrible times is if we survive, I'm certain to be doing a lot of dancing.
10
What a nerve.
8
Gosh, Mitch, it’s a darn shame that your hypocrisy knows no bounds. To quote your boss, sad.
14
Two Words:
Merrick Garland.
25
"But the Democratic Party is racing leftward..." Have you taken a look at your own party lately, Senator? Where do you think your party is racing toward?
The hypocrisy in each paragraph of this piece is overwhelming. How can anyone take Sen McConnell's written words seriously, when his actions show the exact opposite beliefs when it comes to engaging in serious political debate?
21
What are the chances this was ghost written by Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart or Al Franken?
If so... Brilliant satire!
Otherwise it's the work of a deluded Republican selling an outdated concept only the worst of the MAGA folks would buy.
15
Owned again, Libs. Judging from the comments, many of you skipped the whole article and went straight to the comments to spew vitriol at Mcconell. Sounds like how the left vilified Trump all election season and then many didn't even turn out to vote. Read the article, then respond with educated criticism. Like an adult.
...says the guy who repeatedly uses his de-facto veto power to prevent the Senate from voting on bills he doesn't like.
12
This man is so disgusting, and has done more damage to American values and our future than any single individual, possibly with the exception of President Trump. And for what? Stacking the federal courts with hand-selected conservatives for generations, blocking most of the legislation passed by the House (even when it is passed by a bipartisan vote), and personally enriching himself while engaging in a scheme to make the rapidly shrinking GOP the "majority" party forever.
I can't even read this article. His opinion is nothing in which I have the slightest interest.
13
Amy McGrath for 2020
24
Readers can easily discern that this will be an objective piece when they read this: "To confirm more of President Barack Obama’s controversial nominees..." Controversial? Or qualified but blocked because of your commitment to obstruct everything that President Obama attempted to do because you always prioritized party over country, and continue to do so?
23
It's either brave or foolhardy for McConnell to expose himself here to the smartest and most articulate commentators on the internet. He must have known he'd be savaged in memorable words, words which I'm enjoying thoroughly.
5
This is pure click-bait for NYT readers. It gives them a change to blow off some pent-up anger in the comments section. Let the seething begin!
2
There you go again Mitch - acting like a senior statesmen when in reality you are the epitome of obstruction and hypocrisy in American politics. There are a slew of arcane "institutions" from our founding era that we'd be better off jettisoning in the 21st century - 2 senators from every state, the electoral college, and the filibuster. Why shouldn't the majority be able to pass legislation that the majority wants? We're told this protects us from the tyranny of the majority, but what makes that any worse that the tyranny of the minority we're currently stuck with? Our representative democracy is neither - it doesn't represent all Americans, and it certainly isn't democracy when a tiny sliver of the total population can hold the rest of us hostage using these arcane 'rules'.
11
Plays a crucial role? Yes, it blocks the legislative process and makes a shambles of our democracy. Thanks for that, Mitch.
2
"In this country, radical changes face a high bar by design. It is telling that today’s left-wing activists would rather lower that bar than produce ideas that can meet it."
Gaslighting at its finest. The ideas that have broad bipartisan public support are largely those proposed by Democrats. It is telling that Republicans would rather change the rules and engage in voter suppression than produce ideas that can win elections.
3130
@Nick -- "It is telling that Republicans would rather change the rules and engage in voter suppression than produce ideas that can win elections."
Not to mention: Russian/Moscow interference.
Republicans: "Sure, our voting machines may have some 'problems.' But, if you look at how the vote turned our (We WON!), why on Earth would we want to do anything about it?!"
Nah, not to worry Citizens. Republicans got this 'handled.'
133
@Nick The only bar he and his party recognize now is the limbo bar.
66
@Nick McConnell should have a look at Eisenhower's 1956 campaign:
1956 Republican Platform
1. Provide federal assistance to low income communities
2. Protect Social Security
3. Provide Asylum for refugees
4. Extend Minimum Wage
5. Improve unemployment benefit system so it covers more people
6. Strengthen labor laws so workers can easily join a union
7. Assure equal pay for equal work regardless of sex
142
@MoscowMitch
Your “Majority” in the Senate represents over 40 million fewer people than the Democratic “minority”. Then factor in that the Blue states pay in to the Federal treasury while the Red states get more from Washington than they send in. The freeloaders are the states like Kentucky and Mississippi that send members to the House and Senate that talk about bootstraps while sucking up every federal Dollar they can get ahold of.
And then you want the power to overrule the will of the majority of the people wt the whim of some Red state Senator from Koch Industries? No thanks.
A filibuster should require the written request of at least 1/3rd of the membership and limited to 48 hours. If you cannot make your case in 48 hours, you do not have a case. And in no case should any Majority Leader ever be able to keep a bill passed by the House from an up or down vote in the full chamber. The same for Judicial nominees.
Enjoy your momentary victory, but history will treat you harshly. Generations of students will ask the question: why were the people stupid enough to send this weasel to the Senate? They will also ask: why were the Republicans so corrupt they put this weasel in charge of the Senate.
The biggest impediment to democracy in Washington is the United States Senate, its stupid rules and the institutionalists who keep on with these stupid rules.
19
Mitch, it seems to me the Senate has already been vandalized by Trump's Gang of Patsies, led by yourself!
6
Back when Reagan was first President, the Democrats controlled the House and Tip O’Neil consented to giving the Reagan Budget and Tax proposals and up or down vote in the full House. He could have just spiked them and killed the Reagan revolution. You will never see that from the scorched earth Republicans. They play heads I win, tails you lose and care not for the will of the people.
8
Other comments will cite the details of why this is such a dishonest review of the unprincipled gutter fight that the Senator expanded so dramatically - and not because of any high-minded principles.
I'll limit my observation to this. This may be the most offensive and blatantly disingenuous column I've ever read in the NY Times. It insults the intelligence of the readership.
19
@tomreel Amen Tom!
2
If you ever thought that the NyTimes needed a sense of humor, well, here it is. McConnell lecturing about constitutional order is a high octane joke. Much appreciated!
5
The NYT has a front page story today about a "clickbait ace." So they understand the concept.
Is this article not a prime example of clickbait? We know what kind of a person McConnell is, what his positions are. What does this Op-Ed tell us that we did not know before?
3
As soon as I saw who wrote this I knew it was not worth reading. Hypocrisy levels would be toxic.
3
In the lead-in pic in my digital copy, frame over the left bookcase has a map of Greenland...
One on the right has Metti Frederiksen's portrait – but it's upside-down...
Are these deepfakes – or did he hang them out there during the interview just to mess with all your heads...
Or,or – is some sort of New Greenland Deal in the works...
Senate is so artful and arcane, it may have been included in that last continuing resolution...
Have to read it, to find out what's where in it...
Senator McConnell, you are a disgrace. Your cowardly response to this corrupt president (who you despised before his election) and your mercenary servitude to the gun lobby make you unfit for your office. When you invoked cloture in the Kavanaugh hearings you lost any right to talk at us about filibusters. I for one look forward to the day when you finally lose a reelection campaign.
5
Nice try Mitch to rationalize your obstructive practices as the majority leader.
1
I refuse to spend the time necessary to read this self serving hokum.
3
Mitch McConnell does not care about the institution of the Senate. He does not care about election interference. He does not care about anyone who is not wealthy enough to get him reelected. He is an extraordinarily effective racist political hack who lacks the skills for honest labor and so must maintain his phony baloney job. Y'all really should have read this before you wasted your time on whatever sanctimony he squeezed out onto the pages of the nyt.
Your statement "I have not and will not vandalize this core tradition for short-term gain" is disingenuous at best. You are the functional lackey for the NRA, oil, coal and gas industries and Russia. If you don't received short term personal gain, you don't allow the Senate to even vote, let alone allow the "Senate to be the Senate." You are a blockade to effective governance and your self-serving lecture about Senate rules is mere excuse and diversion. Did your WH guy teach you some new bullying tricks?
3
Have you no shame?
9
I object to the Times giving this corrupter of our constitutional order a forum.
12
People have commented as to whether or not McConnell might ever regret any decisions he made for short term political gains.
McConnell's only regrets, short or long term, will be that he couldn't stick it to and screw over Democrats, the poor, middle class, workers, and anyone who isn't wealthy. Don't forget the quote by one of his Republican colleagues...I'm paraphrasing here..."McConnell would run over his own mother to get ahead if he had to". He has no real moral compass when it comes to others outside of his party.
4
I’ll take a pass on reading Mr. McConnell’s lecture on how the Senate should operate. I will, however, be willing to review his letter of apology to America for the failed leadership he has promoted and provided over the years, if he ever happens to be interested in providing one.
10
I did actually read the entire article. It's undeniably bizarre for McConnell to be the one writing this article, but it's important for Democrats (which includes myself) to be able to look in the mirror once in a while. I understand most of us are frustrated with McConnell, but can we set his many transgressions aside for a minute and honestly assess his claims? Did Democrats under Harry Reid play a role in allowing McConnell's current behavior or not? If so, it's important to come to grips with that and learn for the future.
4
Should history guide, even Sen. McConnell’s words from his opinion piece are taken from former Majority Leader Sen. George Mitchell, D-Maine, who said in the 1990s Republicans would “rue the day” the filibuster rule was eliminated to their liking. Original thoughts from McConnell are hard to find.
4
When the voice of only the minority counts through “democratic” tools like the filibuster and the electoral college, then it’s authoritarianism.
3
Mitch McConnell- the most dangerous man in the world....
I don’t always block House- approved legislation from coming to a vote on the senate floor....
......but when I do, it’s to help trump and hurt the country.
Every time he speaks I fell like I’ve been hit on the head with a beer bottle.
11
When Mitch McConnell gives advice to Democrats it is usually wise to do the opposite.
6
"Republicans opposed both moves on principle." The Obama nominees were not unfit for office, just unfit for the GOP's narrow, slim, cramped agenda.
The filibuster has value when it is not abused.
Defending the filibuster by the person who arguably has most abused it is chutzpah.
5
The only thing I want to hear McConnell say is "I concede the race" in his 2020 re-election bid.
9
Apart from your position about changing Senate procedure, you started your argument with a complete falsehood, that “Americans elected President Trump.” In fact, the Electoral College elected that individual, the American people chose his opponent, Hillary Clinton.
9
Mitch McConnell is a Russian operative. Don't care what he says, he's got to go.
11
My law professor said, "Bad cases make bad law." You try to correct a problem and you can bend yourself out of shape. But McConnell and Trump's other enablers have placed our democracy in jeopardy. We're looking at an undesirable solution because we have to.
And here's McConnell, the major perpetrator of the problem, lecturing us on the need for long-term vision and bipartisanship. McConnell has broken every norm of Senate bipartisanship for his party's gain and he's likely to continue. I appreciate the NY Times' nod to a balanced op-ed section. But really, this article is a waste of electrons.
4
Looks like Mitch is concerned about losing the Senate? Hmmmm....
4
When Mitch suggests that the current Republicans do anything "on principal" and has the audacity to discuss precious Senate rules, I choke on my disgust. That man has no decency, at all.
6
It may have been two crazies who pulled the trigger in El Paso and Dayton. But it was Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell who loaded the guns. Neither could care less who lives and who dies.
Why doesn't Trump send his young son to a public school?
8
McConnell’s argument in favor of Senate traditions and bipartisanship is almost as funny as the headline “Trump calls for Unity Against Racism.”
6
Look forward to not only relegating you to the minority but making you as insignificant as you should truly be Mitch.
5
When you put the country over your party then I’ll pay attention to your opinion. But as long as you enable Trumo you are dirt to me. History will not judge you well.
3
This from the most obstructionist, cynical and hypocritical senator from Kentucky.
Ditch Mitch indeed. Nuff said
6
Why give this smug,obstructing,self-appointed monarch space here?
Because it is so edifying to see the flames pouring out of the comment section. McConnell might characterise them as "extreme left wing" --and that is hilarious because there is no such thing in US politics. The farthest left Democrat is slightly to the right of the many Conservative and most mainstream Liberal politicians in Canada (and other civilised countries.)
The GOP of Eisenhower, President during my childhood in NY is nowhere to be seen. It has devolved into plain mean-spiritedness and Macchiavellian moneuvering. Sad.
6
Radical change is exactly what we need. Lower the bar please to pass something, that will begin to push us forward as a country. Mitch should be ashamed of his hypocrisy.
1
just like to focus on the fine work the Senate has done under McConnell. Senator, "controversial" cuts both ways. especially when you consider the dubious qualities and even more glaring character flaws of the men/women the Senate has confirmed have confirmed, if not to the bench but to cabinet posts. The number of confirmations probably runs neck and neck with the number of those who left under a cloud, under investigation, or both. While Democrats may have erred in removing the deliberative firewalls to ensure, as you so rightly quote Jefferson admonition, that hasn't stayed your hand, either, in terms of rubber stamping every knuckle dragger, toady, or hanger on this president has fancied as cabinet or judicial material. Yes, Democrats may be crying that the shoe pinches now that it's on the other foot, but your slavish fealty to this president, who like you puts party before country, is making things worse. Nice going...Moscow...
3
"Senator" McConnell,
Sir you have long ago relinquished any credibility you may have ever possessed.
We all remember your "proudest moment" during President Obama's administration. It will remain one of the many low/corrupt moments in our democracy courtesy of you and the GOP.
Your efforts so lack integrity that you've brought the Russians and their corrupt practices into this country via your own state.
I'm sure you will chuckle at the destain for you expressed here in the comments section. Deliberately antagonizing people one of the intentions isn't it? That and "the cruelty."
8
Oh that Mitch he’s all about the minority having their say. Hypocritical Mitch.
3
To McConnell: You can lecture me on our Constitutional Order when you convince the leader of your party to read and adhere to our Constitution. Until that time neither you nor your Trump lackey party have any legitimacy. I'm not holding my breath.
3
Thanks for nothing, NYT. Giving a podium to Mitch McConnell, of all people. Unbelievable.
4
Oh please, Senator. You obstructed everything during Obama's tenure, hoping that the Democrats would feel the need to implement the nuclear option. You could then blame them, yet use it when the senate flipped, which probability said it would. You had the option of not extending what you call the "Reid precedent" to the nominations up to and including the supreme court when you were put in charge, but guess what? You did it without a second thought because you wanted to pack the courts, which was your plan all along. Don't insult our intelligence with this drivel.
4
"In 2017, we took the Reid precedent to its logical conclusion, covering all nominations up to and including the Supreme Court."
So, Mitch did exactly the same thing as the Dems, only taking it one step further to cover the SCOTUS. He could have held the line, on principal. But no, he grabbed more power. Sir, you are just as guilty, if not more so. Own it you hypocrite.
Hypocrisy at it's finest. Merrick Garland. Mitch continues to reek havoc in the Senate, and lacks any loyalty to our country, but plenty to his multi billion dollar corporate donors and our unfit President. Kentucky vote this sucker out. Mitch continues to block legislation that he thinks will give the Democrats an advantage, even when a majority of Americans would benefit. He will go down in history as one of the worst most corrupt senate leaders. If you're looking for a poster boy for term limits, you found him.
3
Filibuster what? All the legislation in on your desk.
3
Coming from Mitch McConnell, an argument about the defense our of institutions can only be read as Farce or Trolling.
Also, it can be seen as clickbait. The NYT should not allow him to use their platform to spread distrust and misinformation. If you want to include the views of many “sides” then interview the person; don’t hand them your megaphone.
2
Liberal commenters:
Why do you blame Mitch McConnell when you should blame Harry Reid for changing the rules in the first place?
@James You may not be paying attention sir. Maybe too much FOX
3
@Harold
So Reid didnt change the rules in the first place?
Comment all you want about this toadstool of a "human being" (and his self profiting wife) folks, but the only way to relegate him to the dustbin of history and start moving forward as a country is if those wonderful people of Kentucky get him out of office. Simple as that.
5
Wow... revisionist history is starting early these days.
1
“Republicans opposed both moves on principle.”
Are you kidding me?
You and your Republican Party have no principles.
The only filibuster I want to see these days is when TCM shows the movie “Mr Smith Goes to Washington”.
You, sir are no Jefferson Washington Smith.
4
I pray to all the Gods that you find yourself unemployed come January 2021.
Then again, there's always a role at Fox "News" for you, Mitch.
Or RT.
No difference, really. At least RT are balanced.
6
Mr. McConnell you are the worst hypocrite. And it is unfathomable and the epitome of undemocratic that you alone are holding up most legislation in the Senate and enable Trump on a daily basis. I hold you responsible for destroying our children's future and hope your fellow Kentuckians will finally too!
2
I would like to know why the NY Times has deemed it sane to give this hypocritical, dishonest, and in my opinion, treasonous man, who puts his country a distant second to party power, a platform to spew this drivel. No mention of Merrick Garland, of course. Nor his stated objective to make Obama a one-termer by blocking anything Obama proposed. Not a whisper about his stonewalling when Obama wanted to make public Russia's election interference in 2016. Where' is the outrage against his party president's racism, sexism, homophobia, mental instability? Why must the Times treat this modern GOP like GOP past? This version of the Republican Party deserves no, repeat, no voice in our national media until it acknowledges the perversions, possibly irreparable, it has perpetrated on our country. And no, the shortcomings of the Democratic Party, while admittedly numerous, do not even begin to merit a "both sides" argument. I'm disgusted.
5
How can I take the opinion of the Senate Majority Leader seriously when there are 8 references to Republicans and 23 references to Democrats? This opinion is a confirmation as to why congress is unable to pass meaningful legislation.
I absolutely agree that there needs to be more than a majority to pass legislation and confirm nominations to fill vacancies. In my opinion this should lead to a discussion by the members of congress working together to determine the facts, listen to alternatives based on rational thinking and determine the best solution.
Senator McConnell has shown that he is not a student of the constitution by blindly supporting the administration’s actions and not providing the needed check on the decisions made by this administration. The most outrageous abuse of power is the handling of the Supreme Court nominees under President Obama and then under the present administration.
We need to leave partisanship out of the discussions in the House and the Senate. I have been associated with both parties and until this last election never voted for a candidate based on their party affiliation. I voted for candidates that supported basic human values, the constitution, listening to all sides of an issue and being able to make informed decisions.
2
If Sen. McConnell feels the filibuster is so important then he should take the moral high ground and reinstate it for confirmation of judges.
5
Although it is counterintuitive, the Senate filibuster ensures political consensus and bipartisanship. It ensures, or should ensure, that members work cooperatively in addressing legislation. Abolishing the filibuster would raze this last bulwark of sanity. One thing is certain: control of the Senate will invariably shift through this century especially since how the Senate is comprised. So people advocating abolishing the filibuster should be careful. They will within a decade regret their decision when politically charged legislation is jammed through by a simple majority.
The filibuster has to go. It is a vestige of John C. Calhoun and the defense of slavery. The Times had a very good article on this as part of its 1619 project.
Of course, Mitch like the filibuster. It inhibits progress. The problem is that the Republicans seriously abused the rule during the Obama years. When something is abused to that extent, it will be taken away.
Maybe Biden will win and he and Mitch can collaborate.
1