This is exactly the ridiculous type of mocking story and graphic that Breitbart News Service runs. Congratulation NYT, you are now officially the Breitbart of the Left.
Its also nice to know you approve of challenging someone's patriotism in order to coerce their vote. We'll remember that for future reference.
6
Moscow Mitch is a traitor, of course he'll throw the Russians under the bus, just like he does to us.
33
Mcconnell’ s campaign is selling T-shirts with his other nickname— “Mitch ‘Cocaine’ Mcconnell.” So I guess it’s better to be aligned with illegal narcotics than to be a traitor. Oh wait! He’s both.
23
He'll always be Moscow Mitch to me, from this day to the end of days. His lap dog like support of the Russian Asset & Traitor Trump is a disgrace to American patriots everywhere.
56
Mitch McConnell will be disgraced eventually by all historians
as the antithesis to Abraham Lincoln republicanism.
Worse than his puppet Trump; McConnell is in essence a
traitor...; he has no soul; he has fouled our democracy.
He will be the pinnacle of fascism in our time...a new day
Mussolini.
40
Moscow Mitch will have to take a stand on Trump’s impeachable Ukraine hijinxs while he is at it.
22
The Republican Party has become the true enemy of the people! There are no words for the Party’s insatiable desire for power and wealth at the expense of our democratic institutions. What amazes me is how a single, personal issue like abortion has led the religious right to support the Republican Party and the destruction of our democracy. But then, I once told someone that my mother, a devout Catholic, would have voted for Adolf Hitler, while knowing what he had done, if he had opposed abortion. I am sorry to say that there appears to be many more people like her. And the Republican Party and, in particular, our amoral President have capitalized on this to control our country and reward themselves. Given that societies have come and gone through history, maybe we are actually experiencing the demise of our own. In the past threats to ours have come from the outside, but in this case we are being ripped apart from the inside.
27
Moscow Mitch and his band of radical white supremacist GOP vote suppressors and gerrymanderers are running scared. Better call Putie for what to do now.
19
The Democrats might also come up with a few nicknames for Comrade Trump.
14
Of course, the NYT gets this wrong, too. Once again, you guys are ready to buy whatever #moscowmitch and his gang of anti-democratic thieves are selling. It's not enough money, it's not guaranteed to be spent defending our elections, and it hasn't been voted on yet. But let's not forget Hillary's EMAILS! How you got to be the preeminent newspaper in America is a mystery.
7
Hoo-freakin-ray. We should be spending quadruple that amount to protect our democracy.
15
Nobody sees the obvious. The national security apparatus quietly reached out, privately briefed him about ongoing Russian active measures targeting the 2020 election and other potentially catastrophic cyber-warfare operations. Whatever you think of McConnell (not much in my case, to put it mildly) he’s no traitor.
11
@Steve Singer The same national security agencies briefed McConnell about Russian cyber interference in 2016 during the run-up to our national elections and Moscow Mitch refused to issue a bi-partisan statement about those attacks before, or after, those elections.
180
I don’t get national security briefings, and I know there’s a problem; what’s his excuse? No, those was about embarrassment, nothing more. I see zero evidence that Mitch cares about anything the average American cares about.
115
@Steve Singer. Russian targeting of the 2020 election was clearly covered by Mueller's report and testimony in a very public way.
69
The editorial board disappoints. This appropriation is a joke given that it doesn’t not require any accountability for how the funds are allocated by states. Moscow Mitch is a traitor and is working overtime to destroy our democratic government for the installation of an oligarchy. He is the least patriotic amongst us as he only cares about money and power.
15
Sorry MM, but I’m still contributing to Amy McGrath’s campaign.
14
If what they say about him in Ky. is true, "Moscow Mitch" is the mildest of epithets that fit. Just as Stephen Miller is doing his darndest to prove that Hitlerian antisemitism could have some basis in fact. (And this is coming from a Jew whose family remaining in Europe was snuffed in the Holocaust.)
9
He should count his blessings, "Moscow Mitch" is actually a very kind nickname for such an abominable "Leader", and a sneaky, corrupted, mean spirited man.
26
Gee...no requirements that election security money be actually spent on actually securing elections?
I wonder if we're going to find out a portion of it got spent on something stupid, like more #2 pencils. Or a wall.
Your Republican Reconstruction party - helping keep us pure and white, at least in the voting booths.
11
Does Putin have Kompromat, on Moscow Mitch?
11
Blocking election security funding is not the sum total of the stunts Moscow Mitch has used to crush our Democracy. We are counting on you Kentucky, unload Puti's owned poodle so none of us have to see his mug any longer, as he and his wife serve foreign powers to enrich themselves.
15
Et tu, New York Times?
The half of the editorial starting at paragraph six stands up for democracy and exposes the inadequate lip service of this absurdly small allocation, that could easily fund voter suppression.
The first six graphs pander to Moscow Mitch’s ego by praising him for taking yet another step that seems reasonable only if you buy the spin.
The evil that men do lives after them.
9
Too little, too late. Moscow Mitch needs to go. I hope the good people of Kentucky send him to the dust-heap of American dirty politics.
15
McConnell deserves zero praise for what he has done to the hard working Americans.
Because of McConnell the U.S. has a white supremacist nationalist army armed with weapons not even seen on the battlefields let alone local police.
Children being murdered because McConnell is owned by corporate lobbyists.
No celebration here NYT.
12
Nothing can save Moscow Mitch. We are coming for him in the 2020 election. He is a traitor and derserves to go to prison after what he has done to our country!
14
Now that you've praised him, can't we just bury him?
7
It is one thing to pass the bill in the Senate but will the doofus in the White House sign it?
3
To the Editorial Board —
And I thought I was gullible...
6
He’s still Moscow Mitch. The trail of slime will follow him forevermore.
7
The New York Times goes low with "Moscow Mitch" headline in the Opinion section? What happened that was one of the most respected news source sinks this low. I question more and more why I am a subscriber.
2
Moscow mitch is a fraud. Let's not praise him for an effort with not controls. What are the odds he red states will spend this on the right things? Small! Never believe republicans, they are all frauds.
9
So 250 divided by 50 is 5 million per state, and very few strings attached to how it's spent...........I'm unimpressed, and The Times Editorial Board is setting the bar juuuuust a bit low.
7
Largely unpopular Moscow Mitch trying to hang on to power. Without gerrymandering he wouldn’t be in office.
13
"Social media went wild for the nickname."
Well, the left side of the rabble certainly did.
“This amendment doesn’t even require the funding be spent on election security,” said Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat.
This is an inconvenient truth - nothing more.
2
Try mail in ballets. Works for Oregon!
16
At this point we also appear to be getting through to a majority of the American people about our lack of election security. Calling McConnell "Moscow Mitch" was brilliant. Kudos to those who thought it up.
13
Moscow Mitch is the dictionary definition of a party hack and needs to go. He and his party are interested in one thing ONLY, and that is making money for the 1%.The rest of us and what this country is supposed to stand for be damned. Orrin Hatch, Lindsay Graham, Jim Inhofe are you paying attention?
12
I dunno. Maybe because his wife, Transportation Sec. Elaine Chao, is now under investigation and because it appears Pres. Trump is seeking help again from a foreign government to win election and maybe because he's in a tight reelection race, his reputation needs a little burnishing.
This is likely very little help but at least it's a bit of a diversion. If things get hotter, look for more to come.
Nothing like a little personal, self interest to get a politician's attention.
12
What exactly is going to be stopped?
If voting machines are connected to the internet, disconnect them. We don't want the recording and calculation of votes to be subject to hacking. (I don't know that there are jurisdictions that are connected this way.)
If voter registration lists are connected to the internet, that is okay in a read only version.
So what is left? Policing online speech and trying to determine its provenance? Really? Isn't the best defense for voters to be informed of influence efforts and how they work -- in other words an educated electorate?
This whole issue is something of a canard, a hangover from the last election full of disbelief and discontent.
Meet the challenge head on with comprehensible policies that are not the current a "chicken in every pot" approach.
1
How is Moscow Mitch supposed to be reelected if he can't receive any help from Putin?
One can only dream.
13
Dear Kentucky:
Please vote Moscow Mitch out in 2020.
It is just as important as voting our Russian President out.
29
Wondering how much of this extra $250 million will be filtered into Moscow Mitch's re-election "insurance".
11
Sorry NYT, I’m not joining you in praising Mitch McConnell. On this single occasion he’s merely doing the job he should have been doing all along. And only because he’s been mocked. He’s still - and always will be - “Malevolent Mitch” to me.
6
Gee thanks Mitch.
A little overdue considering your so-called president is busy corrupting Ukraine, trying to coerce them into creating some dirt with which to smear Joe Biden.
Anyway, like I said, thanks.
9
He will still always be Moscow Mitch Mitchovitch to me
8
All this concern for election security yet Dems still bristle at the mention of a voter ID, LOL.
It's pathetic that one of the most powerful people in DC, who is a black hole into which all bills disappear, is finally spurred into action by a nasty nickname.
208
McConnell has been enriching himself by selling out the country for his whole career.
He is a parasite on the United States.
All of his actions are disingenuous and meant to deceive the American People, nothing more.
19
Old, soulless man finally has his due. And his wife too.
3
Are these the $250M Trump dangled in front of the Ukrainian President?
11
To paraphrase Theodor Seuss Geisel, Marvin K. McConnell please go now!
2
Oh--the poor baby. People are sooooooo mean to him! They don't understand the pressure of trying to please President Putin!
8
Much better to bury him—
With ballots.
11
Such a scary man in every way. History will not judge you kindly, Moscow Mitch. What a horrible mess you have made in our country. Hope the power trip was worth it!
7
Moscow Mitch knows there is real smoke where the Ukraine is concerned and as always this spineless jellyfish blows where the winds seem most favorable to his future.
6
Classic 2019 NY Times Opinion section
"Republicans are quirky but actually good"
"Democrats appear good, but are actually the worst"
Hmm ... could it be that the head of the politics Op-Ed division is "red state to the core" and includes destroying Hillary as a bona fide in her Times bio ?
3
@Marion Grace Merriweather
Nope. Its a 1% owned paper. BTW they promoted HRC its Bernie they unfairly sabotaged.
1
Educate yourselves, NYT!!! This bill is a SHAM. It has no conditions to disallow states from purchasing hackable voting machines from corrupt vendors. This is not election security. Once again America is being played by a treasonous GOP. The only path to secure elections is through HANDMARKED paper ballots.
4
Harry S. Truman once said "You can't get rich in politics unless you're a crook." So, how did a lowly man (Moscow Mitch) from Kentucky become a millionaire? He does nothing unless he personally benefits. He is the most unAmerican in office, besides President Trumpet. This scoundrel needs to be voted out! NOW!
6
No way we should praise McConnell. He's in bed with Trump. He's probably getting his pockets stuffed on the side, like all of Trump's minions. He's a crook and a mean, nasty person. He would be voted out of office if people really understood how crooked he is and has been. Do not give him any accolades. Moscow Mitch is a name that sticks like glue.
8
I cannot believe the naïveté of the NYT editorial board! Aren’t you all supposed to be a bunch of seasoned reporters?
NOTHING in thus bill specifies how the money is to be spent.
12
Which is kind of like saying...
I know you were hit by a truck a month ago, here's a Pokemon band aid for your boo boo.
3
Moscow Mitch, We know you’re a Trojan horse
7
Bury him alive. That's what we should do with Moscow Mitch.
4
Moscow Mitch is doing the bare minimum. Voters do your duty. Retire this fool.
7
This is a farce and is only meant to cover his own backside. Without conditions to ensure hand marked paper ballots, this does not constitute election security. Begs the question of how Brain Kemp will deploy Georgia's funds.
4
The Editorial Board sets a poor example in accuracy, and even though we understand what is meant the Board and other writers must set a high standard. Mr. McConnell can not approve anything, on his own.
4
McConnell does decide what is put forth for a vote in the Senate....so he does have enormous say in what legislation can even be considered. To act as though he is just one vote in the Senate is highly disingenuous.
2
As opined in the Palmer Report:
"As Senator Chuck Schumer and others have noted, the supported bill does nothing to indicate how the money is to be spent.
In addition, if the Con is up to his normal gamesmanship, this will be part of a must-pass spending bill, but when the Trump administration does not spend the money and does nothing of real substance to address the real potential for interference again, Mitch the Con will have won and perhaps saved himself and the Senate majority. However, beware the Con – and he will remain #MoscowMitch. While his newest twist is better than previous positions on the topic, we should not rejoice until we see actual effective measures implemented."
https://www.palmerreport.com/analysis/nice-try-mitch-mcconnell/20960/
2
It's a little --- to late --- and McConnell knows it. So do his backers in Moscow and Beijing. But, they know it makes points with his critics back home.
There is more to fixing the election security than a paper trail: read "How to Defraud Democracy," Scientific American, September 2019; and https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-vulnerabilities-of-our-voting-machines/
3
Make that Mo$cow Mitch. Oligarch Len Blavatnick or his affiliates donated $3.5 million to various funds controlled by McConnell. See https://www.politifact.com/facebook-fact-checks/statements/2019/feb/14/facebook-posts/fact-checking-claim-mitch-mcconnells-biggest-donor/. Maybe McConnell just figured that he delayed and watered down the election security funding to the extent that his Russian patrons could accept his actions. That The Editorial Board imputes anything other than a Machiavellian angle to McConnell's newfangled (faux) patriotism is wishful thinking.
3
If nicknames work effectively, then I suggest "Charlie" McCarthy, after the famous puppet, for Kevin McCarthy. One of trump's chief defenders and a poster child for Republican capitulation to this lawless president. Truly a puppet in every sense of the word.
3
Headline should read: mc connell approves $250MM to try to protect his political future.
256
250 million dollars across 50 states is 5 million per state. While 5 million dollars would make a profound difference in my life, it isn't even a rounding error on a state's budget.
"Democrats are pushing for broader reforms, bipartisan and otherwise."
Maybe if the Democrats quit asking for more, Moscow Mitch will get something done.
Donald Trump openly invites foreign interference in our elections, provided of course it’s to his benefit. No doubt McConnell thinks that means a requirement that it be reported is unnecessary.
2
For whom the bell tolls...
Amazing. I do not believe the effects will be as desired, the NY Times editorial board being as charmingly naive as it has historically always been, but we will see.
1
It doesn't matter what you do to cover your misdeeds, Mitch. At the next election you are OUT. We have had enough of your treasonous obstructionism and outright corruption. We want a decent, honest, ethical person leading the Senate. Is that too much to ask?
"We come to praise Mitch McConnell, not to bury him."
Now that you have praised him, let's bury him all the same. The two are not incompatible, and you can again eulogize him when he is gone.
Let's contribute to the "Ditch Mitch" campaign in Kentucky. (I do, every month, please join me; ActBlue is waiting.)
4
It's too little too late, and most likely merely a PR stunt. Anyone foolish enough to trust Moscow Mitch deserves the consequences.
3
still gonna call him Moscow Mitch .
6
The fact that whatever happens from here on in, McConnell will forever be known as “Moscow Mitch” warms the cockles of my heart. Now, how about bringing “Stalin Stephen,” and “Russian Repubs” into common parlance.
4
Nyet Mitch
5
One day M^2 will be recognized as our Republic's Palpatine, bringing it to an end with help of the vain, weak-minded, but super-empowered Darth Donald.
Wow he got shamed, maybe someone could talk to his wife about states rights.
He's got some underhanded scheme at play to steal the election and return the WH to trump. #MoscowMitch is nothing if he's not persistently and aggressively sneaky. He's not going to fold his hand and leave the table over name-calling.
1
Meanwhile, his wife moves to roll back mileage standards and uses her cabinate position to enrich her family. A better moniker for McConnell might be the Manchurian Candidate, given the wealth made from his Chinese connections. Nice, patriotic family, those two.
3
Too little. Way too late.
"We come to praise Mitch McConnell, not to bury him."
You may be on your own here.
2
He's only human, all too human.
He's still the Worst Person In Washington.
3
Does anyone! from Kentucky, which Moscow Mitch nominally represents, read? The NYT? Anything? How do we convey to these voters that they have been sold out?
1
Moscow Mitch
Too Little Too Late
and no oversight
Sad Old Man
5
Unaccounted for money, allowed spent on who knows what, by God knows who....ummmm... just stack it and throw a match.
But then, it is only $2.5M per senator!
Lunch money in Odesa.
1
The truth did indeed sting old Moscow Mitch, Putin’s...
1
Moscow Mitch. His wife , secretary of commerce, declared that States have no rights . Call me stupid, but did not the Republican party , have made that their rallying cry? Ok . Sure, Federalism, but no States rights.. Please enlighten me because my head is spinning. By the way, I want an abortion, yet I want my embryo to live. triple snark
1
Has anyone checked to see if Elaine Chao's family has a stake in voting machine manufacturers?
5
Moscow Mitch and Benedict Arnold will be known as Americas most famous traitors.
1
Moscow Mitch now has a chance to get ahead of the Ukraine investigation.
...Not yet.
...Probably waiting for a phone call.
.
1
Moscow Mitch may have realized he is going to need to save his big guns for the battle to protect Trump's attempt to get the Ukraine to "investigate" Biden's son.
1
No amount of OUR money will buy back the reputation of this court thieving, election rigging, Russian asset. He'll be forever stamped as Moscow Mitch... A moniker he has earned a million times over.
Wake up Kentucky
3
Moscow Mitch has done more to break the back of our democracy than probably any other politician besides Traitor Don who apparently asked a foreign government to prosecute an American citizen. I wouldn't want either one in a fox hole with me.
2
Ol' Moscow Mule Mitch is about as opportunistic as they come (see: Elaine Chow).
1
Wonderful. A ring in McConnell's ears got him to move on election security.
So, please suggest a taunt that will get him to move on gun control and climate change. How about "Donnie's lap doggie?"
1
Moscow Mitch’s reversal may help him and his family weather their next scandal at this time. You know, since his wife Chao is under scrutiny for her own misdeeds of using her position as Secretary of Transportation.
1
After dozens and dozens of derogatory nicknames handed out by Trump (with nary a peep from lil’McConnell), it’s befitting that Moscow Mitch gets the biggest and stickiest one of them all!
2
Moscow Mitch is a traitor to democracy. The only reason he is now supporting legislation which has been laying on his desk for almost a year since the Democrats took the House is because he has been shamed into protecting our elections!!!
Whose side are the Republicans on? Certainly not our country!
2
Democrats need to select and support a viable candidate to run against Mitch. They haven't done this in several election cycles, so that's one big reason why we are still stuck w/ #MoscowMitch.
$250 million is a good start, but $600 million is needed for election security. Does Moscow Mitch want to be a bolshevik, or a menshevik?
1
McConnell plans to place a band aid on election security. All Democratic candidates need to take the time and expense to defeat him in KY along with Lindsey Graham in SC. Trump is Medusa and they are the most influential snakes crawling out of his head.
1
Too bad the NYT's misleading headline represents "problem solved by Mitch". $250m spent in 3 or 4 big states might make a little difference, but the other 46 will be naked.
Democrats, willing Republicans who can think for themselves, and independents must move on every voter in KY to retire this grotesque abomination of a Senator.
That history will be unkind to this evil doer is now of little consolation.
1
He held on until it would be difficult to deploy these funds in an effective manner. No praise for Moscow Mitch.
1
Sorry, I don't agree with the editorial board's first sentence about praising Mitch McConnell rather than burying him. I have always maintained that anyone who has to be dragged, kicking and screaming, to do the right thing deserves no credit. It's clear that McConnell's only principle is political expedience.
3
McConnell is deeply unpopular in Kentucky, as he is in the rest of the country, but that doesn't mean he won't be reelected. Kentucky is among the very reddist of states and though Democrats are gaining steam they are not yet in a position to take control. So, I'm afraid our only hope to get rid of McConnell and Trump and lots of these other old guys is to just wait out nature. No matter how much they resist, even Trump and McConnell cannot win a campaign against their own mortality.
1
Just a short while ago it was difficult for most Americans to acknowledge that our federal government was very corrupt.
Extensive damage has been done to our electoral process (gerrymandering, citizens united, Russian hacking, etc...).
If we can not reverse this we may soon be living in a country that is no longer a democracy.
3
Let’s see if this pittance actually goes where it’s actually supposed to. Is it promised money that doesn’t actually get advanced? I hope the people of Kentucky drain the swamp of this compromised, spineless, squirming for re-election politician. He’s probably patting himself heavily on the back and I sincerely hope the people of Kentucky have seen this man’s character, and are ready for a change to hopefully someone with some integrity.
1
As long as he keeps protecting Putin's puppet he will still be Moscow Mitch. This money will do little or nothing to protect our elections from Russian interference not to mention Republican interference.
1
Will Moscow Mitch call for the whistleblower to be known and protected? I think he’s due.
1
What moniker could we have come up with to make sure Merrick Garland's nominating to the Supreme Court proceeded appropriately?
How about: Don’t worry, Hillary will win! LOL
That was perhaps Obama’s greatest mis-reading of the tea leaves. He didn’t even put up a fight.
3
I certainly wouldn’t celebrate that McConnell finally acted begrudgingly in a respectable way. It doesn’t give me any measure of cheer either. I think my emotion on hearing this was more like a derisive sneer of contempt mixed with a soupçon of irony that all it took for him to execute a reverse-weasel was the entire Twitter-verse deriding him. The Republican part needs every cheat and corruption of Democracy it can devise to win. I wonder what they’ll come up with now.
1
If the bill doesn't require verifiable, countable paper ballots in every state, it's a sham.
Worse, it gives him a headline for his coming campaign plus the entirely false claim that he protected our elections.
Wait, that's not worse. I take that back.
The boost this gives his next campaign is less horrible than the scandalous, inexcusable fact that he has done next to nothing to protect our voting system from hackers worldwide. Intentionally.
2
McConnell will be Moscow Mitch forever no matter what he does.
2
Oh Yay! Hooray and all that ...so the guy from Kentucky who somehow decides what legislation sees the light of day...what gets passed (or more often what doesn't!) has made a concession to the needs and wants of fellow Republicans, Many more Democrats and the wishes of the people ...on his terms , by his decision to do so and basically because his feelings have been hurt and he wants to show us he can do stuff that shows the detractors and name callers that he is NOT a Russian patsy.,..that he is nothing like that.
So what, big deal.
What should worry EVERYBODY is that a tired old player of the political rat race representing Kentucky of all places...has for years virtually ruled America by his position as House Speaker of the Senate that allows him to decide what legislation is withheld and not even voted on and what legislation is brought up for a vote and usually only when it is certain that it will get passed before it is even brought to house for that vote.
Worse, much of what the American people want to happen and which a clear majority on both sides of the political divide agree on...is ever brought up let alone given a vote.
The only laws or legislation that Mitch McConnell or his sponsors want are the ones that happen and get passed. Anything else that they do not agree with or want to happen regardless of the wishes of the majority (politicians or Voters) never sees the light of day.
Meritocracy Mitch, Moolah Mitch, Make Me Rich Mitch is who runs America.
If you’re wondering why the editorial is at once triumphal and complaining, it’s because the bill he now supports is substantially different than the one he didn’t. More fun, though, to imagine that resistance catcalls from the left caused him to waver.
1
It's time for Mitch who has lost sight of what it means to be a senate leader to hang it up. After several years of following the Pied Piper of Lies, ignoring his oath of office and diminishing the job he occupies, his legacy is forever tarnished.
1
Praise him? For what? For being ridiculed into doing something that should have been an automatic response to an emergency? Please. He should have said this is not enough. There should be paper ballots in all 50 states and territories. The 2020 election is going to be a big circus if Trump and his Russian allies have their way. Mark my words. Trump will not concede no matter how big the defeat.
1
And so are they all, all honourable men ... for the slightest sign of 'service' to the nation and the country's future.
This is where it's at?
1
This have anything to do with his wife being under investigation for ethics violations?
1
Interesting how this happened on the heels of the news of the whistleblower complaint. Coincidence? I think not.
Now, Senator McConnell, are you willing to support common-sense gun control measures? Or are universal background checks a bridge too far for you?
Well, now we know that Mitch McConnell can do the right thing for the good of our country... when he is backed into the corner and has no where else to run.
Keep the pressure on Moscow Mitch and the GOP
1
I like the part where he blames "McCarthyism" for his intransigence. McCarthy accused anyone who didn't think like him as being a Communist, and many think Moscow Mitch has no problem helping Communists.
Conservatives have come along way since the 1950's until now. Then they wanted to stop the spread of Communism now they are not too sure.
And they blame Democrats for supposedly being socialists...you simply can't make this stuff up.
1
The last time I looked, there were 100 Senators in the Senate. Why does this crooked, obstructive Trumpian "Good ol' Boy" have so much power that he can freeze the wheels of OUR government?
70% of our citizens are virtually unrepresented (PLUS PR and Territories) as we head toward a Totalitarian State with two of the most incompetent and dishonest humans at its helm.
1
He's probably making his tiny concession because his wife and in-laws, having made him rich and no doubt pulled a lot of strings to get him where he is, are angry that his nickname implies fealty to a country other than China.
Way too little, way too late. No praise from me.
McConnell probably realized that China could likely outhack Russia and started to panic.
1
Moscow Mitch has been touting "paper ballots" but what we need are "hand marked paper ballots".
It's staggering -- I've been reading about voting machines being programmed where Democratic candidates are counted in FRACTIONS. https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/8/3/1556361/-Get-ready-for-massive-election-fraud-Fraction-Magic-Votes-are-being-counted-as-fractions
1
This is a disaster. This money can and will be used to buy ES&S and Dominion voting machines that misleadingly claim to provide paper ballots but in fact offer machine marked ballots that are barcoded and cannot be verified even in a hand count. Experts have excoriated these machines as eminently hackable and unverifiable. And . . . GOP state houses are lining up to buy ‘em. Georgia just approved their purchase. Why would we doubt for an instant that the GOP will cheat? Without a requirement for hand marked paper ballots, this allocation serves to worsen the problem while allowing Moscow Mitch basks in specious credit spooned out by media outlets that have not done even the most basic research on this critical topic. Shame on you NYT.
I'm glad Moscow Mitch is finally doing the right thing. I guess his staff still calls him "comrade" in private.
1
A bit late in the game at this point Mitch. The Russians and others are most likely already in the voting systems nation wide.
Reads like your worried some outside force is going to game up your own parties voters fraud setup.
Bring back the paper ballets. Stop gerrymanering ploys and join your fellow Americans in the concept called the Republic.
Moscow Mitch and his wife Elaine Chao with their modest incomes (ahem...) will retire to some palatial estate overlooking the Volga or the Yangtze and laugh at the stupid Americans who blindly elected Trump with Russian assistance.
And then tolerated a corrupt and spineless senate who cashed in on
one sellout after another of the American people.
Finally, at the 11th hour, a practically meaningless bill was passed to protect the 2020 election against interference from other countries. However, it was passed too late, preventing solid safeguards and almost assuring Russian interference again. With the assistance of Republican gerrymandering, the United States will most probably have another illegimate President.
"Even if it took a taunt to do it, he approved $250 million for voting protections."
You appear to believe this is a good thing...why?
Mitch held up instituing security programs until well after the time they would be most effective.
He undoubtedly managed the surprise resignation that rendered FEC impotent and remmoved any chance of efficient, bipartisan oversight.
Now he's in the position that produced your apparent knee -jerk reaction:
"I gave you people a quarter of a billion dollars, what else do you want? And don't come around after the election whining about fraud and foreign interference. You got what you want, thanks to me, now shut up. Go home."
There is very little good about this, and certainly no cause for celebration.
Our elections remain endangered, our voting process vulnerable and often corrupt, and with newly, vastly venal Conservative foxes in charge of the voter-roll hen-house nothing is secure.
Kentucky and America could do a LOT better than Senator Moscow.
1
“Whatever the impetus, the crack in the majority leader’s stonewalling is cause for, if not celebration, at least modest cheer.” This is an attempt to be droll and light-hearted after making a “crack” at McConnell’s expense by picking up on the dumb refrain of “Moscow Mitch” and putting it in the headline. Hahaha. How clever. It’s even alliterative! I guess political commentary is just a playground now, and we’re all supposed to laugh at the bully’s bad jokes.
The Senator from Moscow has offered up a distinctly pro-Russian defense of our voting system. Paper ballots are far less hackable than e-votes. The Russians are drooling at McConnell’s “fix” of our voting systems.
Moscow Mitch does not represent the interests of the good people of Kentucky. He cares only for The Lying King (Trump) and Russia! He doesn’t care about election security.
Moscow Mitch’s little dribble here is the ultimate in political tokenism. I hear his opponent, Ms.McGrath, is gaining on him and - just as I send $27 every time I can afford it to Bernie Sanders - I’m going to send small bits to her campaign now as well.
Moscow Mitch cried that he was a victim of "modern day McCarthyism". Perhaps that's because he is a modern day McCarthy.
Oh if only it were that simple.
McConnell is only trying to be perceived as though he is trying to do the right thing.
He knows that closing polling places, extreme gerrymandering, and voter suppression by Republican led states will do the job that some money toward cleaning up the voting process can’t do alone.
There should be no electronic voting because it is too easily hacked and not provable.
In Washington State we have mail in ballots. A friend who worked on an election committee here said only a tiny percent of ballots were perceived to be irregular and tossed out.
We need a unified nationwide system of voting not left up to individual states.
Hope it is not too late.
64
If McConnell were serious, he would be trumpeting the need for a great deal more than $250 million to secure the integrity of the public vote. On the other hand, his tepid response is pretty good evidence that the "bad guys" tampering with elections are on the GOP's side.
Everywhere, politicians are making me increasingly cynical about the benefits of democracy. Is there anyone honorable still left anywhere? Are we truly only in a power struggle where natural selection and survival of the fittest are the only driving principles? Are there any individuals left anywhere who are in politics not for personal issues but truly to serve the people? What if democracy has reached its end? What next?
1
A big part of the problem is that most of the hackers are on the right. If there were a few more on the left, MM’s support for election security would show more conviction.
5
My question is this. If I want to check and make sure my vote counted and went to the candidate I chose, how can I do this? We need a system in place to be able to do this. It can't be that difficult or expensive. Should really be a no brainer.
5
Senator McConnell could show the progressive states how to solidly ensure honest results from elections.
Despite the smear campaign going on here for years, he could describe how every county in his home state retains the sheet of paper that each voter runs through the voting machine at the polls.
This hard copy system would have kept thousands of dead people and illegals from possibly deciding New York's, California's, and Illinois' elections for the past fifty years.
No wonder the NY Times hates the Senate Leader's guts: he's too honest.
It’s a dead people, illegal alien, space alien coalition propping the Dems Up. Black helicopters ferrying them to the polls.
Beware of the fluoride.
Federal elections affect us all, so this seems to be a situation where a federal solution is needed, not one where states get to decide what's best for them. Let our best public and private elections and cybersecurity experts devise a solution that is pushed out to all the states and required by law, be it a new voting machine or paper ballots or whatever is deemed to most effective to protect the integrity of our vote.
4
It did not take "a taunt [for Moscow Mitch] to do it;" it took House Oversight Committee opening ethics investigation into his wife's dealings.
19
It will be interesting to see what bill comes out of the negotiations between the House bill and the Senate bill. If the negotiations succeed in adding a paper ballot requirement and more money the Republican Senate will probably not vote for it. And if they do, Trump will likely veto it. We'll see.
4
McConnell lost his credibility a long time ago; for example, consider the Judge Garland matter. This gesture of his now, might be suspected in the “weasel-at-work” category. Trust is awful to lose, no matter who one is. McConnell’s unwavering allegiance to Trump, compromising greatly separation of powers for the sake of representative democracy, is a problem for his political self he, McConnell, now may be taking seriously ... 2020 closing-in all to soon for him, but not most of us. “Too little, too late.”
8
@wak: I disagree. Sen. McConnell’s credibility is not gone due to the Judge Garland nomination, but enhanced. And I write as a lifelong Democrat. What is his job? Representing his constituency in the commonwealth of Kentucky. Having lived for a year in Kentucky and now near the border (Cincinnati), it is apparent that the voters who will support the senator approve of his tactics and strategy. He needs only to win more votes, and he does this, making him a success.
It does not matter that there may be other, more accommodating candidates who wouldn’t twist the Constitution to keep President Obama’s nomination from proceeding forward; Sen. McConnell won, and until the commonwealth of Kentucky voters vote him out of office, get used to it. It’s politics. Personally, I find the Judge Garland situation reprehensible, brilliant and sublime. After all, his plan worked, and won.
Empty gesture on McConnell's part. For those states where it is needed most, need to require certain standards be met. Unfortunately, likely not very useful. And Moscow Mitch knows it.
8
Fix elections in America by:
1. All are vote by mail—guarantees a paper trail and not a burden on those who can’t get to a polling place on a workday.
2. End the Electoral College so that votes outside swing states actually matter.
3. All elections tallied by ranked-choice method, allowing voters to support their favorite candidates without fear of “wasting “ their votes or their candidate “spoiling” things.
4. Election districts should be established through non-partisan committees to avoid gerrymandering.
9
It doesnt matter how much money is thrown at this problem. As long as GOP legislatures can gerrymander and the Electoral College remains intact we wont have a fair election.
12
Apparently you believe that a fair election is one that elects only Democrats that you approve of. Yes, gerrymandered states like Illinois that exclude all Republicans are a problem. Democrats there cannot complain that the problems are caused by the Republicans, but instead must accept responsibility.
1
What happened to the provision that candidates must report offers from foreign governments that attempt to help them? Moscow Mitch and Putin's Puppet will welcome Russian interference again and anyone who thinks that Trump is going to disperse the funds that are going to work against him must still believe in the tooth fairy.
4
McConnell is Putin’s Handmaid
not pretty
4
Wow, that’s a pretty powerful assertion, can you please elaborate and share your analysis with us?
Brother, spare me a million?
1
In the rabidly red state of TN, for the last two elections in Nashville, we used new voting machines with paper ballots which were submitted and secured. There were even helpful officials for the voters to learn how to use these machines.
Also TN does not register voters by political party. Voters are asked whether they want vote in the Republican or Democratic primary when they enter the polling place. I believe this to be the way to do primaries.
So even as a self-proclaimed, Bernie supporting, Democratic progressive, I must admit that Republican states can do some things right.
7
This man and his duplicitus, greedy, criminal wife are of a piece; investigate, indict, imprison these cancers on the public!
10
I’m not surprised that every Democrat was not happy with the appropriation bill. I guess that if Democrat Presidential Candidates cannot agree on the way the US should be governed I should not be. The early bills to protect voters choices and voting rights apparently were unacceptable to Democrats and even now, the final version gets ridicule because it doesn’t do everything that everyone wants. The author of this article however, obviously was annoyed that nothing was instantly passed and instead would have accepted any of the first attempts as being perfect rather than allowing discussion and debate privately and in public, about what should be in the bill.
1
McConnell's "conceding" to bring this bill to the floor is nothing but a hocus-pocus act designed cover the fact that he has refused to bring forth Senator Wyden's PAVE bill ,The Protecting American Votes and Elections (PAVE) Act of 2018 that requires the use of paper ballots and “risk-limiting” audits for all federal elections, ensuring that election results have not been changed by hackers or foreign governments. In quoting Senator Wyden, I wish the NYT had mentioned this crucial piece of information.
364
Mitch went back on his modus operandi and actually passed a piece of legislation that King Trump hadn't promised to sign. That is news!
4
@Michael Kelly
What's to stop Trump from using executive order to redirect these funds to his "emergency" border wall? Absolutely nothing. McConnell knows that and is betting on it.
Corruption has been rampant in Washington DC for decades, the Trump administration and his enablers are just taking it to a level never tried before. The electoral college will allow it to continue undisturbed.
1
That's right, Moscow Mitch approved the $250 million knowing that Trump will not spend it.
1
I’m no fan of Mitch or Donald, but the article says that the money goes directly to the states. Now what the states do with it is a different matter.
1
@It’s News Here I stand corrected. I thought there was catch but I picked the wrong one. From WaPo: "A bill that delivers money for election security but doesn’t mandate any particular fixes is a good bargain for McConnell and many Republicans who are wary of expanding federal authority over state and local-run elections — and who fear blowback from President Trump if they talk too much about Russia’s 2016 hacking and influence operation aimed at helping Trump’s election."
1
What do you mean "EVEN IF it took a taunt to do it?" Why are you making excuses for him?
The appropriate description of who this man is and what his values are is "It took a taunt--a playground taunt--to make the Senate Majority Leader approve measures to protect our elections."
"The ordinarily impervious Mr. McConnell, who is up for re-election next year, was not amused and proclaimed himself a victim of modern-day McCarthyism."
Shouldn't that be "... modern-day McConnellism" ?
5
It wasn't just the taunts, let's be clear. It was the taunts, it was his lifting up Russian sanctions and POOF! getting a $200 mm Russian investment in Kentucky, and it was his equally crooked wife's dealings -- both getting him special favors at the expense of other states, and side dealing with and for her family overseas. Mitch is dirty as they come. He had to do SOMETHING with his helping the Russians so much -- then you add his wife and old Mitch was beginning to smell rank.
11
The horse is already out of the barn.
5
I regret to say that the New York Times editorial board is mistaken if it thinks that throwing more money at state-level “election security” is going to have much of an impact on the ability of malign external actors to agitate US political discussion and debate.
We live today in an age when ideas, concepts, misinformation and the far more insidious disinformation can be transmitted across the globe in a matter of seconds.
It is not accidental that the Mueller report — while concluding decisively that the Russians made sweeping attempts to alter the outcome of our elections — did not / not render a judgment about whether these efforts had any effect. The simple reason is because we do not know, and we cannot know. And I would argue that it does not even matter.
Having worked on the issue of Soviet active measures and disinformation back in the 1980s for the US government, my own personal conclusion is that Russian “success” in 2016 was not about influencing numbers of votes.
Rather, the Russian achievement is visible in very sharp relief today in the bitter, uncompromising, hostile and seemingly unending partisan divide that exists in the US.
In his testimony over the summer, Mr. Mueller made clear that Russian efforts, and possibly those of other countries, continue. Indeed. If you look closely, I dare say that you will see some of that agitation right here in the comment section of the New York Times.
1
This highly-imperfect piece of legislation is not about putting up barriers to foreign actors meddling in the political discourse of the country. That will require other efforts. This is about keeping foreign actors (or anyone else) from deleting or changing actual vote totals. And it’s shocking that despite warnings for years now, Moscow Mitch has stonewalled legislation until now... and even then has cosponsored a pretty weak, window-dressing piece of legislation on the subject.
Congress made a huge mistake by not crafting the bill to everything you want in it. They should first have contacted you for your superior advice and received your approval on the bipartisan bill they worked out.
1
I see that the NYT editorial board has now started using labeling on Politicians as President Trump does. Does this mean that the editorial board will be labeling Senator Warren as Pocahontas. After all everybody knows what a honorable reputation the paper use to have.
1
Why would it take hundreds of Millions of Dollars to switch back to paper ballots? VIRGINIA already does this! I have seen countless videos on how easy it is to hack election computers, even a 10 year old could do it,The very idea of using computers connected to the internet to elect our masters is a sure way to rig an election. Do what we used to do! USE PAPER BALLOTS. It might not be immediately known on election night, but four years of a “fixed” election is worth a wait. It’s not about speed, it’s abour accuracy! In 2004 Diebold election computer executives “guaranteed “ Bush 2 a win in Ohio. Sure enough the tabulations left Ohio, went to Tennessee, and miraculously came back with a slim victory for Bush. Ohio was the difference between Bush and Kerry. I’m sick of a fake democracy. Our elections were paper based for 200 years. Computer voting is the most expensive and easiest to rig system of voting. Imagine if Al Gore had been allowed to become President. No 9/11, no “war on Terror“ ( which has dragged on for 18 years with no end in sight) Meaningful climate change legislation, Trillions saved, etc. PAPER BALLOTS
3
He is, and always be:
M O S C O W M I T C H
8
Too little, too late. He needs demotion or election defeat. Nice gesture. This does not exonerate Moscow Mitch. Google NYT article, or Rachel Maddow on an Aluminum plant being built in Kentucky, built by a Russian Oligarch with deep ties to Putin.....who has threatened to withdraw investment for the plant if the deal is investigated. Nice try MM.
4
Yes, moscow mitch rings true.
As does machine gun mcconnell.
Please Kentucky, vote in Amy McGrath!
7
Save your praise until Moscow Mitch says Trump should be impeached.
4
"Moscow Mitch" is a start. Now, how about a similarly striking moniker for the "chosen one."
1
Who would have thought it would take alliteration to make Mitch McConnell to finally place Country above Party
1
@Jim He hasn't placed country above party. This is a smokescreen and will do nothing to protect voting from vote count fraud. Only paper ballots will do that. Don't be fooled!
Have to say that Moscow Mitch’s support may now be a day late and a dollar short.
2
Yes, he can’t shake The MM moniker— the sooner he’s voted out the better— go Amy McGrath!
2
If he has done this there is a devil in the detail. You just haven't figured out what it is yet.
2
One of the prime corrupted. Silence in the face of cruelty, mayhem and incompetence,
with his wife of total self interest and corruption, deals with China, shipping and imports.
These two must GO! Trump gives rein to lawbreakers, spending tax payers monies, and sliding through the
law for their own nefarious ends.
1
Paper trail! Paper trail!
Especially the trail that shows Kentuckians voting him into oblivion!
2
Moscow Mitch and Lyin' Donnie need to start governing for all Americans and not the small minority who support them.
2
Vote Amy McGrath for real voter protections
5
Fox guarding the henhouse.
1
And please, let's not forget his buddy, Leningrad Lindsey. Both are a complete embarrassment and a danger to our democracy
8
Waiting until the sixth paragraph to describe the colossal flaws in this bill, as it puts no controls on how the money is used?
Talk about burying the lede! The second half of the editorial covers the salient points - which is that Moscow Mitch has tossed a bone in the direction of election security by supporting a bill that is so nebulous that the Red States can use it fund just about anything.
Editorial Board, this editorial was written upside down. NYT, what happened to you? I barely recognize you. We've been together for 62 years, and I cannot think of another time when you enabled plutocrats.
Members of the Board who lobbied for a more realistic editorial and were handed the final paragraphs, you have my full support for a more insurgent approach to your job.
3
Let's hope the Moscow Mitch nickname sticks in
perpetuity for this very dishonorable man at the center
of destructive politics.
3
The guy is Royalty when you describe
Hypocrisy .
1
Tom Steyer should drop out of the race and put his money in defeating mccOnnell
7
If you do the math, that's just over $20 per polling station, not even enough to buy donuts for the volunteers who graciously donate their time.
McConnell is just another sycophant that thinks he works for the president instead of the people.........he's way past his "use by" date.
Another attempt to try & make his "uninformed" supporters think he actually cares about our democracy.......nothing could be further from the truth.
3
I dont believe he will do anything, why is he changing his mind? Ask yourself that.
A stranger was complaining and frustrated about the state of our governmental affairs and those ‘we’ placed in charge of managing them. “I can’t wait to vote those jokers out”, he said.
I asked him. “have you ever phoned ‘your’ two US Senators and ‘your’ singular US House Representative for your voting district to complain directly to them?”
He laughed and said, “that never occurred to me.” I then remarked, “I got my three on speed dial!”
3
I don’t remember voting for Mitch McConnell yet he decides everything that effects me. Is he secretly the President? Or just the Mafia boss? Clearly he’s the one who’s really in charge in DC. Maybe the Speaker position also needs to be on the ballot in future. I’d love to see him running on his “record.”
1
These past few years have shed light on the weaknesses in our system of government. As we (all?) work to shake off the obvious grifter class entrenched (in mostly “acting”) positions under #DonTheCon, term limits seem key to restoring accountability and balance. That includes The Supreme Court.
1
With no restrictions on the use of the money, I have to wonder whether it will be used in Kansas to refine former Secretary of State Kris Kobach's voter suppression tool, the "Crosscheck" voter purge program; or, if Gov. Brian Kemp in Georgia will use it to pass a bill affirming that it is completely lawful for the Secretary of State to engage in a massive voter suppression scheme while he is running for governor?
Whaddya think?
Love that hashtag: #MoscowMitch!
And if you know about the Russian aluminum refinery headed for his home state of Kentucky, let me add: #BoughtAndPaidFor!
1
Apparently taunts are the level of discourse that Americans are capable of (just ask the mocker-in-chief).
1
$250mm....no strings huh....I smell voter suppression dressed up as "security" already...then again, I'm from Georgia. We are neck and neck with North Carolina for "voter security" brought to you by fine, upstanding, "uncorruptable", god fearing politicians (where Trump is god). Feeling like my vote counts already.
1
$250 million is a ridiculously low number.
1
Moscow Mitch planted the seed of Republican lawlessness with the nomination of Merrick Garland.
4
Does this mean that 'Moscow Mitch' and Elaine will lose some shares in Oleg Deripaska's aluminum plant in Kentucky?
$250 million is pocket change. The Russians are willing to spend BILLIONS to disrupt our elections--and they're winning. We're being seriously outgunned, and Moscow Mitch is perfectly okay with that.
2
If there is no paper trail, the Russian choice will always win. The fact that this issue is now partisan says a lot.
2
Moscow Mitch McConnell deserves no praise for protecting our votes. If he had been working for the good of this country, he would have had a bill before the senate two and a half years ago.
2
"We come to praise Mitch McConnell, not to bury him?" A respectfully genteel but very deep political burial still seems the best path to me.
3
First, the editorial seemingly speaks positively of social media. Social media could be useful in this republic, but largely it has become a sewer, and much of it, especially the snark, should be ignored.
Second, election management is a local duty. Trying to direct it from Washington would be a fool's errand not appreciated by the local officials who have dealt with these issues over the years.
Third, while money from Washington is nice (since, unlike the states, D.C. can just print it) most locales have been working continuously on this since the 2000 election. Here, in my county of nearly 600,000, in flyover country, we switched to a machine-generated ballot for the elections of last year. The voters are handed their blank ballot, insert it in the machine, vote, and then are instructed to remove the ballot check it to assure themselves that it reads as they wish, then to reinsert it and cast their vote.
There are two streams of information. The machines have a running electronic count which one precinct judge takes to the election office. This gives the news the vote totals during the evening. The second stream is the sealed containers holding the paper ballots, which are carried to the office by the supervising judge. In the case of a conflict between the electronic and paper vote, the paper is superior.
What the Federals can do is handle internet security and keep the campaigns informed, which in the 2016 election the administration did poorly.
1
Since the money can be spent on further suppressing votes, what exactly is the praise for?
4
Very clever. Did the NYT come to praise Mitch McConnell, knowing he would be buried in the comments?
3
Impeach him!
4
I am sure your use of Shakespeare was used ironically. It had to be. If ever a person deserved to be buried -- politically, if not otherwise -- it is Moscow Mitch.
4
250 million? That’ll buy a nice apartment in New York City. Maybe the Russians will buy it and set up their election-hacking equipment there.
239
@Kristen Rigney
They already have all the free space they need at Trump Tower.
30
@Kristen Rigney don'y worry they already have at least a dozen and more are being built as I type.
13
@Kristen Rigney
Good one
7
Ron Wyden has a very good point. Aside from being anemic, the money is probably going to get earmarked for road repair or some other unrelated project. If the money is spent on elections at all, I imagine we're supporting voter suppression in most red states. Preventing "voter fraud" is election security too, remember? Loose guidelines are not going to produce a desirable result.
In Moscow Mitch's defense though, elections are a touchy subject. The process rightfully belongs to the states. You could argue the federal government shouldn't provide money at all. If you can't fund your elections, that's your problem. Take it up with the governor.
At the same time though, I would absolutely love to see the federal government mandate automatic registration and universal vote-by-mail initiatives. Why use electronic voting at all? Russian hackers aren't going to steal the ballot out of your mail box. Although, McCrae Dowless might...
4
The most helpful thing Joe Scarborough has done on his show in the past 3 years is to dub him "Moscow Mitch".
7
@JIM
Otherwise all Joe does is talk about Joe.
2
@Homebase "when I was back in congress", "what do I know, I'm just a country bumpkin lawyer" ....
1
Praise him for what? Sponsoring a bill giving money to states with zero restrictions on what the money is spent on?
This is literally the least the GOP could do to appear as if they care about the fact that our democracy is hackable.
The threat isn't just external. In 2002, the CEO of voting machine manufacturer Diebold personally altered voting machines in two major Democratic counties in Georgia prior to the Senate and governor elections there. The patch didn't fix what it was supposed to fix, but the GOP candidates that were projected to lose by large margins ended up winning.
Or witness programmer Clint Curtis's testimony to members of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee that he was hired by a Florida state GOP representative to hack voting machines in Florida in 2000.
These days, the CEO of ES&S, the company that later bought Diebold, is practically begging Congress to require paper records.
But the GOP refuses. Why?
4
Not decency, not patriotism, not duty, not intellect, not integrity led to this, the morbid fear of ending up like several of Trump supporters (in prison) likely shaped this decision of Moscow Mitch.
Wondering whether he will also now fess up to the corruption and return the money he has received. This decision or not, the man should be tried for his crimes.
2
There are times that I think about moving to Kentucky just so I can vote against Mitch.
5
@Bill Seng, Hilarious!
1
“This amendment doesn’t even require the funding be spent on election security,” said Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat. “Giving states taxpayer money to buy hackable, paperless machines or systems with poor cybersecurity is a waste.”
This is a joke, Moscow Mitch is calling this "election security"?
2
Likely, the recent reports of Trump trying to exhort the President of Ukraine caused "Moscow Mitch" to hedge his bets. Because the GOP Senate has never challenged Trump, the president has escalated his corrupt administration; he's more brazen everyday. McConnell is no fool, he knows that most things are finite and Trump's support is not an exception. Despite Trump's belief that he "could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue" it may not be true. Most of us have a limit on vile, dishonest conduct, that we can abide and Mconnell knows it. It's time for "enough already".
2
The sub-headline of this article highlights the problem of how McConnell wields power: “Despite...HE approved... (caps mine). The senate approves, not the Majority leader, yet Moscow Mitch singlehandedly has put a stranglehold on government, deciding which justices and which acts to let the senate vote on. By doing so, he is, in effect, running the government. I doubt this is what the founding fathers had in mind with “checks and balances.” Yet another example of why congressional term limits needs serious consideration.
4
Senator McConnel is the poster boy for why we need term limits for legislators so that some legislator, who I cannot vote for, from over there cannot make my life over here, in NYC, miserable in perpetuity.
6
I long to see what gimmick founds that change.
Please read comments here about Mitch and the voting machine vendors. He is not to be trusted, to say the least.
4
Does "the fox guarding the henhouse" sound about right here? I wouldn't trust Moscow Mitch or the horse he rode in on.
4
In our federal system we must rely on the states to provide voting systems. After all, most elections are local.
The reference to "hackable, paperless machines or systems with poor cybersecurity" is grossly misguided and short sighted if full voter participation is the real goal. More people will vote if they can do it from their smart phones, laptops, or computers at the local library at their convenience. Traveling to the poling place on election day is an unnecessary impediment, particularly to those who are poor or have children. Early voting schemes depend on paper in the mail but even this is costly when compared with an all digital system.
Let business and the states experiment with systems that will bring full participation, convenience and rapid tabulation to future elections.
I am sick and tired of hearing that any digital system is "hackable". We have electronic banking systems and if they can be safe enough for our money we can design digital systems that can be safe enough for voting.
2
Too late, Moscow.
States and counties will have to scramble to make use of the $250 million in federal funds you just bequeathed to them.
An honest government official would have provided that money after the 2016 election revealed the vulnerability of our electoral systems. That would have given elections officials the time to establish much more secure, effective and transparent voting systems.
2
If we actually secure elections California comes back into play for Republicans. Over 2 million non citizens voted there in 2008. That means Trump will win the popular vote as well.
1
I don't think for one minute McConnell approved $250 million for voting protections. I think he did it as a cover for Trump's blatant requests to the Ukraine and Russia to interfere with our elections. Russia was able to hack our ballot machines but apparently did not follow through. I doubt they would stop next time and McDonnell's actions provide them deniability.
3
The $250 million package to ensure election security is okay but what is the guarantee that Trump will not invite foreign assistance to repeat the past success?
3
As a nonAmerican I am astonished that this supposedly representative democracy is actually controlled by one person (other than the president), and that elected representatives are virtually powerless to legislate.
12
Perhaps you should read some books about the American political process, and you will discover that the one person you refer to can easily be replaced in a state election.
1
@David H Understood! Here's hoping the good folks in Kentucky need your call.
We're talking about a government where it costs $400 million to produce a single Pentagon financial audit and we're supposed to applaud $250 million to secure the entire election system? I'm somehow underwhelmed.
5
@Raul Campos
I feel better because we're spending 10 times more than Russian not preventing election interference... why exactly?
No strings attached money, that could be spent on, for instance, blocking the appointment of liberal judges to the courts. That would help safeguard elections, wouldn't it?
NYTimes may not have figured out the angle he's working, but McConnell would not hesitate to safeguard the ability of foreign powers to continue helping elect conservative candidates. He either knows this money won't be spent in a way that will matter, or he knows it isn't enough. You are naive to assume good intentions - look at his record. No praise for Mitch McConnell.
14
$380M + $250M = $630M
That averages out to $12.6M per state (it would be interesting to see a breakdown of which states get how much funding). Barely a rounding error in many state budgets.
And without any guidance - technical or otherwise - on how or on what it should be spent.
Seems like an insultingly paltry price to put on securing our elections - the cornerstone of our so-called "democracy." Way too little, way too late.
Undoubtedly exactly the intention of the majority leader.
1
It says a lot about Mitch McConnell that it would take a silly name to get him to do the right thing; namely, take steps to ensure the American people of a free and democratic voting process, especially when it means he'll have to face his puppet-master president to explain why he did it.
Time to think up another new name.
4
How about expanding this naming convention to our first presidential champion of disparaging nicknames? I'm thinking along the lines of "Tsar Trump."
2
Let's not promote him with such titles, though.
I'd go with "Leningrad loser". Denies his name fetish, too.
The people of Kentucky need to elect Amy McGrath to the Senate and put an end to all of our misery. She will be a template for honor and make Kentucky very proud again.
18
This is a band-aid on an arterial wound. Moscow Mitch is still playing GOP political games as the USA, its bedrock, the CONSTITUTION, is set on fire by the GOP.
7
Someone who is dishonest in one area will be likely to lie again in another area. A person who is a master in the art of deception will not be able to change very easily. And I would be very surprised if this is not the case with Mitch McConnell. He has proven repeatedly that he is not only not trustworthy, but he has followed the template of his commander in chief who is a habitual liar and deceiver in chief .
But to be fair, McConnell has probably given his allegiance to Donald Trump because Trump probably has something on him which would effectively end his political career as a Senator representing Kentucky.
Donald Trump‘s career has been paved by dirtier tricks than Richard Nixon’s... after all he was one of Roy Cohn’s prize students.
5
“Thanks for no longer punching me in the face!” - The New York Times Editorial Board
3
Rings in his ears? Or invented by amateurish journalists?
Why did it take him 3 years? Because he was taunted with a caustic nickname?? What a coward and disgrace.
8
You forgot “hypocrite.”
1
This is just another Republican facade to keep the heat off of the “so called” President. The worst President in the history of our once great Country. What a moron.
8
Moscow Mitch doesn't give in. He gets even. As the editorial points out, there are many ways to foil using the money for its intended purpose, in addition to being too little money to do anything substantive. No, MM is having a good chuckle while he winks and nods at the commander in chief in whose graces he hopes to stay. God forbid that MM would remember that he is Senate Majority leader with an actual job to do.
8
All well and good. But how will it be spent? And by which party at the levels it needs to be spent? Or will it ever be spent?
I can easily see that should the money be spent, and gets in the hands of those who can actually use it, that its misused on things that don't secure the actual individual vote, but instead make various entities and their constituents feel better that they have managed to keep various "others" out of the system.
Securing the individual vote is the must-do. Securing the physical systems is the must-do. Keeping the whole thing out of the hands of Party operatives is absolutely a must-do. And it should be written into bill.
Americans need to know that voting is secure, that its the most secure individual transaction they can perform.
I can only think of a few things as important to each of us as citizens.
What also must be endorsed is that what might look good, or feel good as means to protect the votes, is not always truly inherently good. Such as voter registration policies that are not just, wholly absurd in their requirements, and as such block whole sectors of the population from accessing their Constitutional rights. Which gets back to keeping the system out of the hands of either party or their sycophants.
Protecting the actual physical systems as well as the individual vote - must be #1 and 2 on the priority list. Period!
1
the fact that Amy McGrath is just one point behind McConnell in the latest poll might have had something to do with it as well.
485
@teoc2 Go, Amy!
48
The fact that McGrath is still somehow BEHIND that pest of good government in the polls is telling in itself.
25
Election protection is another form of ''honor and obey the constitution.' oath.
Moscow Mitch, in his stonewalling and obfuscation of House passed legislatures, does not honor that oath. The Garland mess is the most egregious example of his loyalty to party before country.
Kentucky needs a need senator. An the country badly needs a decent, honest and fair play Majority Leader.
9
Moscow Mitch has certainly done a job on destroying our country. I am surprised he was given approval to move ahead on this Bill. There has to be a snatch in it. Some day he will have to answer for all the harm he has done.
9
Praise Moscow Mitch McConnell? Why not! I will gladly say that he is probably the cleverest weasel of all. He knows that this unrestricted cash sent to the states will probably end up buying armored personnel carriers and other "security" toys. So, no limits on election fraud and he can laud himself for passing the bill.
15
Mitch McConnell has done more to undermine our democracy than anyone in my lifetime. He deserves no quarter.
27
Now let’s make sure he deploys it and doesn’t redirect it to build, say, a wall.
8
Safeguard the voters or safeguard Trump/GOP winning? I read this as fees for tampering from within the U.S. Then again, is a foreign power ready to dump Trump by nefarious means? There is a bargain with the devil I might be tempted to approve however undemocratic as a "save the planet" gambit. Interesting times.
I will hold my slow clap for Moscow Mitch until after we see the political ties of the contractors approved to 'safeguard' election security.
9
The ONLY reason Moscow Mitch would have done this is because it will line the pockets of his donors and it will advantage the republicans in the coming elections. He plays dirty and will do anything to win.
9
Here’s what’s wrong with this “accomplishment”: one senator has all the power. This is not a system of checks and balances; this is a dictatorship. Moscow Mitch has held this country hostage for too long.
19
Re:Moscow Mitch. Don’t forget the aluminum deal, and the NRA-filtered campaign contributions... there’s more than one connection
9
McConnel opposed the previous bills because the Democrats loaded the bill with extraneous measures.
See Wall Street Journal editorial for clarification.
McConnell must have received blowback from this donor handlers. He has done nothing to serve the country or his constituents without first ensuring his own pockets and that of his family are lined.
7
Anyone who thinks America is still a democracy is delusional. UNLIMITED billionaire/Koch network money buying elections. Rampant voter suppression. Purging eligible voters from voter lists(mainly in minority voting districts). Gerrymandering of districts- federal, state, and local. We have a totally corrupt president, and the worst ever Supreme Court to rubber-stamp whatever Charles Koch wants. Ladies and Gentlemen, this is not the America you grew up in and it will never be that country again. Now, do you suppose Moscow Mitch is sincere about voter rights, OF COURSE NOT!
10
This is a win-win for Moscow Mitch!
1) $250 million is only $5 million per state, and even less when you count US territories like Puerto Rico, Guam, US Virgin Islands, etc. That's not nearly enough to do anything effective, so states who try won't actually be able to protect themselves very much.
2) Since it's got no strings attached, the Republican controlled districts can use it for voter suppression tactics without penalty.
3) And as a bonus he got praise from the New York Times doing it! That'll help him in his bid for re-election.
Truly a great day! Sadly.
7
This amount is nothing compared with the millionaire/billionaire tax cuts the GOP uses to bribe its masters.
The money sewer remains full and flowing.
4
Draft of next year's State of the Union speech:
"Corrupt and Broken".
That's it!
3
History will not be kind and he will be MM to his grave. So don’t bother being nice about him. Never forget Merrick Garland.
13
One thing must be understood about Mitch McConnell and the entire GOP....they are terrified of the changing demographics of America. They do not want voting to be easy and secure. If the majority of ethnic minorities, millennials and African American women were to vote in fair and free elections the GOP would be soundly defeated, losing the White House and both chambers of Congress. This “security money” will apparently go without strings to red state governors who will absolutely NOT use it for its intended purpose. Don’t believe it? Just ask Stacy Abrams or Andrew Gillum.
12
Moscow Mitch is the epitome of McCarthyism in his silence and refractory behavior in bringing anything that he doesn't like in front of the Senate.
5
Moscow Mitch has a lot more to do than this to make up for all the evil things he’s done and stands for. His feet need to be held to the fire until he’s voted out.
3
Every Republican needs to re-read Lincoln’s speeches and pray that they can find the soul of their party before it dies on the battlefield of political schism in a puddle of greed and malice.
3
These days, the Press is the only thing keeping us all from total disaster. A big thanks to the reporters and editors of the Times and others, and to the folks at NBC/MSNBC and others for keeping the spotlight and pressure on this lawless, shamelessly corrupt administration.
8
Moscow Mitch did not want to do anything to improve election security, then agreed to give limited funds in a way that ensures no oversight. Brilliant!
The Republicans are shameless in abandoning democracy and our country. We can only hope they will be drummed out of office before it is too late.
4
Too little too late. The breaking of the Ukraine story shows how deeply we’ve been betrayed. A lawless DOJ, former prosecutors whose only allegiance is to Trump$$$’s, a Supreme Court beholden to Trump, politicians, the military, and foreign officials filling his coffers. Money from Russia buying up our country. The transgressions of Snowden are little league. Let him come home in exchange for Trump and his cronies.
4
My Senator, Ron Wyden (D-OR), tweeted this: "This money can be used for anything relating to elections. Including giving states taxpayer dollars to buy insecure voting machines."
and this: "Throwing money at this problem is not a solution. If McConnell is serious about securing our elections, then he will bring the #SAFEAct to the floor to require audits of election systems, hand-marked paper ballots, and set minimum cybersecurity standards."
So, not much of a fix. More like the fix is in.
10
Someone -- was it Pocahontas? -- suggested we get in the habit of saying President Pinocchio. Depressingly, it could hardly cheapen the quality of public discourse.
1
Moscow Mitch will likely follow trump to the trash heap of history once this travesty becomes clear to the masses 20-30 years from now. I can dream, can't I? (Bill Malloy, thanks for that quote from many years ago)
5
Hearing footsteps Mitch ? Elaine seems to be having her own troubles too
5
Too little too late. If Moscow Mitch really wants to rehabilitate himself, he should direct Republican senators to reassert their oversight responsibilities, assist Democrats investigating all of Trump's crimes uncovered in the Mueller report, halt the corruption and self-dealing in the White House and rein in the lawless president. That should include reopening the FBI's background check of Kavanaugh and firing the attorney general for dereliction of duty.
5
Never fear, Moscow Mitch is still here. He's bringing his Russian oligarch's aluminum plant to Kentucky. Further, his Russian buddy is now working to expand it further to other US states.
So how will that mere $250 million drop in the bucket protect the entire US from further Russian intrusion, with them running all over America.
It's Putin's take America back plan!
4
I guess the Kremlin sent word that they have everything in place for 2020, so he can go ahead with the public relations farce about suddenly deciding to support this.
Moscow Mitch doesn't deserve praise.
4
In every foreign election, most recently Israel, there is a picture of a voter putting a ballot in a box. But not in the US, here there are just pictures of rows of electronic devices waiting to be hacked. Once again, does everyone else know something we don’t know.
4
This is minuscule compared to the billions stolen from military families to build an ineffectual wall. The man is a criminal..
5
Now it's time to see if "Mass Murder Mitch" could be "proud" to support gun legislation. So far he hasn't met a weapon of mass murder he doesn't want on our streets.
Mass Murder Mitch, our "NRA asset."
Mass Murder Mitch.
8
I voted in the 2016 election. I did not experience any Russian interference that everyone seems hysterical about. Did you? I doubt it. I did see $2 billion worth of boring and wasteful ads by the Clinton campaign and $1 billion in ads from the Trump campaign. But what I really remember most watching on the network and cable news was an empty podium and anchors and pundits breathless and giddy with anticipation for the arrival of Trump. Hours and hours of non-stop talk about Trump-this and Trump-that and can-you-believe-what-he-said? Election specialist said that Trump received about a $ 1 billion in free air time. Funny, I don't recall any Russians or seeing this sad spectacle on RT. But what I do remember is the Chair of the DNC resigning in disgrace days before the Democratic convention. Why? because it was revealed that the Clinton campaign had entered into a secret arrangement with the DNC to effectively take over daily operations of the DNC during the Democratic primaries in return for funding and paying off a bankrupt DNC.I remember Donna Brazile talking about her shock when she discovered this agreement and her recounting of her calling Bernie Sanders to apologize to him for the primary being rigged against him. I remember her disgust that so much money raised at Democratic fundraisers was filtered through the Brooklyn Clinton headquarters and used for her campaign instead of that money going for down-ballot races as it was intended for.
Russians? Never saw any.
1
He worked long and hard to earn the moniker Moscow Mitch. I hope it follows him to his grave.
5
The 250 million will be used to fund a wall to keep out brown voters.
4
My guess, the horse is already out of the barn.
2
Moscow Mitch is so appropriate, but let’s not forget his little friends, Leningrad Lindsey, Gulag Grassley and Cuban Cruz in this little farce. All in the service of Putin’s Puppet. Unless we vote (and insist that it’s honestly tallied and the results implemented), we’re done as a country.
4
How heartwarming to hear that Mitch voted "Da" on election security.
6
Still Moscow Mitch.
4
With few to no federal regulations governing voting systems and election infrastructure this is just very expensive whitewash.
What's happening with the PAVE Act, "Protecting American Votes and Election Act: A bill sponsored by Sen. Wyden, Ron [D-OR] 05/15/2019 is it still lying, dying, in the Senate.
I'm betting the voting machine lobbyists who donate to Moscow Mitch are not keen on it.
The PAVE Act would require voting systems to use an “individual, durable, voter-verifiable, paper ballot of the voter’s vote that shall be marked and made available for physical inspection and verification by the voter before the voter’s vote is cast and tabulated.”
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/1472/text?r=12&s=3
2
McConnell has earned his moniker, it is gonna' stick to him like crazy glue. You broke it, you own it.
2
Paper ballots.
4
“In his testimony before Congress on Russia’s meddling in the 2016 presidential race, Robert Mueller, the former special counsel, stressed that Russia was still “doing it as we sit here” even as other foreign actors were poised to do the same “
Except in that testimony, and in the redacted Mueller report, Mueller never managed to demonstrate Russian meddling in the election.
The report treats such “meddling” as established fact, without providing supporting evidence, and the testimony by Mueller didn't change that fact.
Submitted Sept 20th 9:09 PM eastern
Who is to say that Trump won’t abscond with this money?
Who is going to receive this money?
50 states, $250M = $5M per state. He should have approved moving the $1.6B from the silly wall.
1
A wikipedia.org search for Moscow Mitch will redirect correctly.
2
A leopard doesn't change its spots...still Moscow Mitch to me
2
I'm confused. I thought he was loyal to China.
1
Best opening line of any editorial I have ever read. Bravo. And it could be followed with “the evil that Mitch does lives with us, there is no good within his bones...”
1
And now election security must include making Donald Trump's extortion scheme with Ukraine public and starting Impeachment proceedings for failure of upholding his oath of office on multiple grounds. Show some patriotism, decency, spine, GOP -- it's not too late!
1
Somebody must have outbid Moscow in his campaign contributions.
1
"We come to praise Mitch McConnell, not to bury him."
I would have been much happier with the burial...
4
The "Moscow Mitch" moniker should not bother the thin-skinned collaborator as much as it does. If Republicans in Kentucky are like ours in Texas, a subservient relationship with Putin can be seen as a sign of strength. As Rudy Giuliani and Donald Trump himself described Putin, he's a "man of action," unlike our leaders who like to "deliberate." Trump's slavish obedience to his paymaster has not diminished him in the eyes of his worshippers, and fundamentalist Christians cite biblical passages that portray Trump as Cyrus the Great, Darius the Great and Xerxes. Like Cyrus who freed the Jews to rebuild the Temple of Soloman, Trump had the U.S. embassy relocated from Tel Aviv. In non-biblical terms, he is often seen as Hercules, Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar with a golf club in his hand. If Putin is Jesus, Trump is John the Baptist! Any way you look at it, these are very good references!
1
This is an ounce of what is needed.
1
No one more portrays the gutless, sycophantic behavior of Republicans towards Trump than this person.
1
So if someone was a...collaborator...could they be...turned?
Or could they become a double agent?
Is it possible that they would be beyond being considered trustworthy?
I mean, how could they be trusted if all they knew was duplicity?you
Why would any person, any sane person, ever trust them again?
Best to keep them safely segregated. Away from sensitive positions and information.
Mitch McConnell, Director of Senate Custodial Services and Maintenance.
1
Moscow Mitch, needs to be sent back to a coal mine in Kentucky.
4
It distresses me that the NYT would publish an editorial praising MM for doing - in the smallest way possible - his job.
He personally - as the editorial notes - held up necessary legislation on elections, and everything else, for purely personal and partisan reasons, and to the great detriment of the people of the US ...
And so when he passes a toothless and underfunded effort precisely to distract voters from the fact that he is letting this president work with foreign powers on elections, and everything else, the NYT says (faint) 'praise'.
The title of the editorial should have been: 'Moscow Mitch Passes Feckless Election Bill - Expects Praise, But Deserves Shame'.
644
@S Mira. I agree that its a small win. But the research on the effects of positive reinforcement being far and away more effective than negative is beyond robust.
I don't care how we get these bozos (on both side of the isle) to do their jobs (serve the public good), I just want them to do it.
and them not doing their jobs, again, on both sides, is decades long. Trump is merely a consequence of this.
We need a better educated, more well-informed electorate. We need fed-funded public education so every kid grows up knowing what the constitution actually says and means.
We need fed-established redistricting in fair, transparent, sensible parameters.
We need extensive, comprehensive voter outreach and election systems overhaul that makes it easy to vote, and be transparent and secure for all legal voters.
We need extensive, comprehensive, utterly-transparent election finance reform. Those millions upon millions spent on elections can be better spent.
So, Washington, on both side of the isle: DO YOUR JOBS !
31
@SMcStormy and by way of example, regarding education and basic knowledge of our country, most citizens couldn't pass the test we require of adults from other countries to get US citizenship.
Unless you are developmentally disabled, any citizen you meet on the street should be able to rattle off the answers to this test on the spot.
And finally, I'm 100% confident that (if put on the spot without studying) Trump couldn't pass this test and 100% confident Obama could.
Maybe there should even be a test before you can become a candidate for president?
41
it truly was the least he could do
21
Eyewash. Long past due. Election coming.Political expediency. This Machiavelli clone needs to be voted out of our national government. Vote - double whammy needed. Dump Trump, Ditch Mitch.
Add the goal of flipping the Senate, take our country back, Make America Great Again.
In one term the president will have spent this amount on Golf!!
Moscow Mitch and his teaser of a solution to voter fraud has wasted another $250M, while just showboating, a solution.
One half of a billion dollars, Taxpayer Dollars....Vanished.
1
Who says you can't work with Republicans?
You've just got to find the lobbyist for a contractor who will benefit from the Government project you have in mind.
How about meaningful sanctions against Russia. Put them up there for a vote . Unite both parties of congress, stand up for your country Mitch, if this is your country of preference...
Trillions gifted to millionaires and billionaires coupled with $1.14 per eligible voter to address security. Amazing.
Praise him this once and then boot him out in the next election. We don't need a Moscow Mitch.
2
The people of Kentucky will reelect Moscow Mitch because they don't know any better.
1
Now let us hope that our fellow citizens in Kentucky vote Moscow Mitch out of office.
That’s about a $1.35 per voter. Yeah, that will do it. No watch it get syphoned to the wall.
Mitch McConnell is not deserving of any cheer, only derision for all the ways he has damaged our democracy.
2
This sudden change of heart may have more to do the the Ukraine/whistle blower cataclysm that is about to hit like a Tsunami.
Malenkov Mitch figures he needs to do something patriotic and productive as a counter weight to what's coming.
2
There's an angle here. There always is. Probably several of them. Whatever shenanigans Moscow and the boys are up to it sure ain't for the common good of America.
1
The NY Times cannot let go of the conspiracy theory of Russiagate. The 2016 election was not determined by Moscow whose impact was minimal. As several scholarly studies (Ferguson among others) have shown money was a key factor and this money came from American wealthy donors (the Mercers and Adelsons, Kochs, Weinstein, yes the sexual harasser who gave to Clinton...). Also Trump was elected because the electoral college is unfair and institutionally racist. The GOP purged voter rolls of more than a million minority voters and is responsible for the fraud of fraud that helps it "win" elections it has lost in reality. Even for the impact of fake news the Russian ones had a minimal impact as the book by three Harvard scholars shows (Network propaganda).
If the US went back to paper ballots or electronic voting with paper backup fraud would be much harder. There are huge obstacles to democratic voting in the US, they are US made and usually GOP fostered. Moscow, as bad and undemocratic as it is, it not where the US problem lies. Of course, rigging elections happens in Russia but this does not mean Russian meddling produces results in America. The truth is worth it so the Times should not make its readers believe something patently inaccurate.
1
Democrats, like Republicans, have flip flopped on this one. For years they asserted that election fraud was a myth and a pretense for Republicans to promote their interests. No need for election security then. After the 2016 elections, though, Democrats asserted that election fraud is a fact, and have since used it to promote their interests. Republicans mostly blamed minorities despite the utter lack of evidence. Democrats blame the Russians who know nothing about free and fair elections, which makes you wonder how they are so effective at persuading millions to voluntarily change their votes.
Voter fraud by minorities is an illusion. Russians getting millions to vote for Trump is also an illusion. McConnell’s bill is a waste. Protecting elections from fraud is everybody’s way of blaming losses on ghosts. Anyone who thinks any election has been swayed by minorities or Russians is kidding themselves.
1
The best I can think to say about this puny drop in the bucket by Moscow Mitch is not hip- hip - hooray but a half -hearted hip.
1
Mitch Moscow had to be begged, repeatedly, to do his job, protect the country from outside assaults to this nation's integrity....all to satisfy unhinged and unscrupulous Trump, intent in keeping his power...to abuse it, so to re-assault the presidency again.
Yes, the 2020 election. A.B.C. will be running it just as in the past. This stuff really is that crazy. I've been trying to teach you for years.
$250M with no oversight is a great Saturday night fish fry for the good old boys!
Really, you come to praise Mitch McConnell?
The Senate leader who presided over the theft from Democrats of a Supreme Court seat?
The Republican whose party is involved in organized, widespread and extreme gerrymandering and voter suppression?
The person who rammed through the Supreme Court confirmation of Bret Kavanaugh, who lied his way through a Senate hearing under oath?
The guy who doesn’t want to know or hear a thing about the various malfeasances and crimes of the President of the United States?
This individual does not merit praise, from the NYT Editorial Board or anyone else.
3
Mitch McConnell is heavily funded by the 2 Republican brothers who own Diebold & ES&S and make most of the voting machines. In the 2000 presidential election, Bush vs. Gore, there was rumor that the GOP had hired a felon who was rigging the voting machines. He had gone to jail for bank fraud caught creating a back door on bank computers. Mitch McConnell has the lowest approval and voting record of all the senators. He somehow wins without votes. No wonder he doesn't want the system fixed.
1
$250million? Wow Mitch, thanks. Not even enough to fund 45s golf habit, but hey, nice try.
1
Moscow Mitch no doubt had advanced knowledge of what the whistle blower wrote. At least something scares him.
1
Lip service, nothing more. Sorry Moscow, this doesn’t redeem you. Might not even be enough to get re-elected.
1
We all know that we need to get McConnell out of office just as much as DT. I don't know that it does any good to use DT tactics and add Moscow to McConnell's name. Let's just win the Presidency, Senate and House and put these bad people to bed!
Moscow Mitch is offering crumbs when he should be offering at least half of the cake. Do not be fooled by this guy!
1
This is the United States Senate "Leader" who cedes the independence of that formerly august body by stating he cannot legislate gun control without the permission of the President. Hey "Moscow Mitch" you can over override his vedo to save American lives - almost 40,000 lost in 2017 alone - from gun violence. You can even stop foreign dictators from interfering with our elections so we don't get stuck again with a Russian puppet like Trump.
2
donate to Amy McGrath, I did
2
He must not be re-elected.
3
just a few weeks ago he was proud to defeat the measure.. which one is it?
1
He needs to go just as badly as Trump. Get rid of every last Republican senator and congressman. The country can wait no longer.
So I guess North Carolina gets to spend its share on machines that only record votes for Republicans.
1
Now watch him to everything to hinder it. Never trust would be dictators.
Don't believe the hype. Every penny will be spent to keep the REDS in power. People are voting. last time 3 million more voted for Hillary than Trump. This time 5 million more will vote BLUE but the REDS will not surrender without a fight.
Too little, too late for 2020.
I think it’s a small start for McConnell when he should be conducting vigorous oversight of the President. McConnell’s done nothing while Trump’s actively eviscerating our government and country
1
McConnell is looking down the barrel of losing a senate race. He might appear calm and collected, but holding Trumps water for a year is becoming increasingly more difficult. No matter how McConnell tries to rationalize his behavior, there is not enough time or money to right his ship before the 2020 elections.
The DNC must pour tons of resources into the 2020 senate races as a backstop against a “not out of the realm of possibility” of a re-election of Trump.
People tend to feel a connection to their state representatives and react harshly when those they elect don’t put them above party ( McConnell) Citizens are galvanizing around gun legislation and climate change and want their Congressmen to be responsive. If on those two issues alone McConnell is painted as Darth Vader for not protecting our children, he will go down hard.
Paperless ballots? Exactly why Are paperless electronic ballots better than paper, even with hanging shards?
1
IMO it's a little early for the folks at the NYT Editorial Board to be dusting off the good champagne flutes.
Moscow Mitch undoubtedly knows something we don't know, i.e. that in the states in which it might make a difference, this federal funding to help states to help states "safeguard voting systems" will meet the same fate as the federal funds allocated for Medicaid expansion.
58
House negotiators should not budge when reconciling. If Moscow Mitch wants to lose his nickname, he needs to fund the $600 million with guarantees for paper ballots. Fake security is as bad as no security.
The measure approved by the Senate is woefully inadequate and too late to protect the 2020 elections.
The logistics of holding trustworthy election require hand marked paper ballots, an automated machine (not connected to the internet or any other network) for counting the paper ballots, a paper roster of registered voters signed by each person who votes and a locked, sealed storage for the ballots and the roster of registered voters. Those are the minimum requirements.
IMO every election ought to be statistically audited as well.
The critical link is the automated ballot counting machines. The best, and least susceptible to interference are machines that optically scan paper ballots. Most states and localities that do not use these machines would need a year's lead time to purchase them and train election officials and maintenance technicians to use them in an election.
2
The legislation that McConnell backs does nothing to protect our elections, because it still permits barcodes on our ballots. Barcodes leave our election results vulnerable to hacking which cannot be audited.
264
@Linda D. Also the funding is too late to have a positive impact by the 2020 elections (if, indeed, elections are not suspended by then)
30
"We come to praise Mitch McConnell, not to bury him." Oh, I think he richly deserves to be buried, politically. Other readers have noted the paltry amount of money provided by the bill, and the editors, themselves, point to the provision that allows the states to decide on how to spend that money. This bill gives plenty of reason to think that slippery Mitch has not stepped out of character but simply attempted to obscure his true nature.
This political doppelganger of Donald Trump will probably win reelection despite his apparent unpopularity. But when the time comes for him to leave the political scene, his lack of character will ensure that his legacy will be that of an opponent of democracy.
408
@James Lee. I've come to believe that Mitch and many others of his ilk don't care about legacy. They're here for now and for themselves and it matters not what some history book says as long as they get as much as they can as fast as they can before they die.
63
@James Lee
"...will probably win reelection despite his unpopularity" because he knows the toothless bill he "conceded" to bring to the floor will do nothing to deter election tampering or to ensure auditable handmarked paper ballots.
26
@Thorny - Yes indeed; it's a frenzy of Vulturedom, as if to overwhelm 'normal' so badly that the frenzy can't ever all be documented, then prosecuted.
The longer the frenzy goes on, the more incentive 'the ilk' have to keep at it, and the more 'burn it all down populism' spreads through the polity.
The frenzy is virulently destructive on all levels.
12
I made my first ever political contribution a few months ago to Amy McGrath.
McConnell began his political downfall by refusing to accept Obama's Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, politically a middle of the road nominee, as all Supreme Court nominees should be, and who was broadly respected by members of both parties and extremely qualified for the job.
768
@Richard Phelps
Contributing to McConnell's opponent is a terrific idea. I'm going to do so today. Let's throw him and Trump out of office in 2020.
59
@Richard Phelps
Yes, Richard, and Susan Collins applied the final mortal wound.
36
@Richard Phelps Once McConnell loses his senate seat and we elect a Democratic Senate majority we can Constitutionally remove the un-Constituionally appointed justice (Gorsuch) who took the Scalia seat on the court when McConnell refused to consider the nominee of the sitting president. McConnell's behavior will come back to haunt Republicans in the future, bigly.
29
I doubt the name-calling was what did the trick. Sen. McConnell probably realized that the Chinese and Iranians were just as likely to work against Republicans as the Russians were to help them.
579
@Philip D
He is the nexus between the Chinese and Russian governments influence in this country.
43
@Philip D
I believe your mind-reading of MoscowMitch is off. His calculus is: Russia/China/Iran will do whatever they can to hurt the U.S., i.e., help elect Republicans, which for MM is an acceptable trade-off.
11
@Philip D
No Doubt it was a coincidence...had nothing to do with the name MoscowMitch.
2
This editorial is a quintessential example of all that is wrong in American political discourse.
Instead of a lauding that McConnel is now correct in his decision and turning the focus to positively affecting the next step, the Times instead chooses to shame the man.
The Times is not alone. Schumer did much the same, but with the not unsurprising addition of also taking credit for it.
If we all were a bit more willing to commend each other when they came around to our side of thinking, instead of punishing them for it, perhaps we’d be heading in the right direction. A course correction desperately needed. IMHO.
@Ed Fontleroy If you would read up on Moscow Mitch, you would know he deserves every criticism and more. His move regarding election protections was strictly political. He caved to pressure. MM doesn't take a breath without first weighing the political benefit. He is everything that is wrong about politics in America today.
2
I’m sure Moscow Mitch will find a way to keep Putin in America’s voting booths. It’s his mission to keep the Criminal-in -Chief in the White House. GOP: Guardians of Putin.
2
Praise Moscow Mitch? I think you damn him with faint praise. He deserves nothing but mistrust and doubt about his motives. His instincts are to destroy government as we know it and he may be the most corrupt majority leader in history.
He no doubt made a bargain with dear leader to destroy democracy in exchange for packing the courts with arch right wing and unqualified judges and for passing bills that favor the one percent. To give him the slightest credit for lip service to inadequate election is naive and beneath the NYT editorial boards finer instincts.
5
Nahh ... he's still Moscow Mitch. He can't buy his way out of that name.
10
No No NO. MOSKVA MEETCH is what he is known as in his great love's Kremlin offices. The Russian pronunciation says it all.
Even if the states use the money for the 2020 election, it's too late to have an impact.
Congratulations to MOSKVA MEETCH for waiting so long as to make the appropriation useless and harmless.
Прощай, Спасибо, Митч (Proshchay, Spasibo, Mitch)
So long, thanks, Meetch.
7
Oh I'm sure he stalled long enough for his and the GOP's foreign patrons to fully understand what's being paid for and implemented, and then planned around all it. After all, it's just taxpayer money, and we all know the GOP doesn't care about taxpayers unless they are the VERY rich kind who can afford to purchase whole GOP congress critters and Senators.
Right Moscow Mitch?
5
$250 million is $5 million per state. A pittance.
9
Too little,too late, Moscow Mitch.
7
Thank you, Joe Scarborough,the first to call him Moscow Mitch!
10
Let”s see- 3 billion for a border wall which will not be effective-250 million for election security.This is a pittance considering the threat of cyber sabotage we face!
9
Mueller made it very clear. The immediate situation is dire. The electorate is a sitting duck! It’s so clear what’s happening in plain sight! trump is ignoring the raw evidence of russian meddling, and more than that ... when pressed he denies it. He is recklessly and deliberately doing absolutely nothing to stop the Russian cyber attacks, and more than that ... he eliminated the key role of a cyber-security director while real evidence mounts that russian cyber meddling is proceeding apace at this very moment. And the GOP (ie ‘Moscow Mitch’ McConnell) has been blocking legislation to fund the bolstering of Cyber-attack defenses. WHY? Essentially the GOP is counting on a repeat Russian disruption in the 2020 elections that put them in power in 2016. That’s why. A shift to a truly authoritative regime in the WH is now in full gear, no question.
4
This is the OPPOSITE of election security funding!! Electronic voting machine vendors are BIG contributors to #MoscowMitch. The bill he OKed REMOVED the "security" portions, and make no provisions for cybersecurity. It does not require hand marked paper ballots, allows machines to be connected to the internet (so they can be hacked), and does not require a manual audit trail. The reason he held up this funding this long is a tacit acknowledgement by the GOP that they can't win without cheating. This funding allows them to continue to do that.
8
With the lack of restrictions on this bill, Florida won't see a penny of this money put toward improving security, accuracy, and ease of voting. With a Republican statehouse and two Republican senators, and given our history of having election imterference, this money will likely be used to hire more people to purge more voter rolls. Good job, Moscow Mitch.
6
I love these gullible people with no facts crying over how the country is so ''over.''
Black Americans, Latinos, and women have NEVER had such a low unemployment rate.
I just used two negatives, so to be clear, only white males are not seeing the highest-ever share of their group to be employed.
People are living better lives now than at any time before. The country is FREE of whatever happens in the oil & gas bisuness around the world because we don't HAVE to buy anything from them.
(Complication: we do have to buy a bit of our oil because of where our refineries are located - the gulf coast. More pipelines would fix that.)
If you think the Dem candidates have the answers, you need to decide what REAL problems they are set up to fix or help.
It sure isn't the environment - just read up on what AOC's former aide Saikat Chakrabarti is saying about the Green New Deal.
Liberals and progressives should be wary of tarring political foes with accusations of consorting with Russia or any other foreign country. This kind of tactic has been used, and will likely be turned again soon, on progressives. The conservative electorate is much more moved by mud slinging than the liberal one. We've seen the beginning of this with the 'Send them back' xenophobia against the new female members of Congress. We will see more accusations about the looming 'socialism' and 'un-American' plans of the eventual Democratic presidential nominee. This kind of name calling is a debasement of our politics and will bring nothing good.
1
Is the PM, Putin Method, taught in political science courses yet? You set up a few easy targets with dubious business deals and then help them get elected or to quietly build a nice retirement nest egg, knowing that they'll watch your back in the future for obvious reasons...
1
Does Elaine Chao’s family business have an election security consulting business? Could they derive financial gain from the passing of this bill? There are always reasons.
2
Please. He did this because Trump is blatantly courting foreign interference in the next election. It’s so Trump can sign it and brag the he is “protecting” our electoral process.
3
"Well, my fellow Americans, 'Moscow Mitch' here. The 2020 election is going to work out just fine. We have assistance being offered from all over the globe to keep our election safe and dandy. Trust me."
1
Please bury him. There is nothing left to salvage. This is a no-strings attached spending bill that will be used to suppress voters. He has denied Russian interference, and stopped investigations. He is no patriot, Moscow Mitch.
6
"We come to praise Mitch McConnell, not to bury him".
That's your first mistake. And it may explain your second mistake: failing to roundly condemn the $250M figure as woefully inadequate.
1
Merrick Garland is not offset by a no strings attached gift of $5 million to each state. McConnell is beyond ever being able to redeem himself, why bother to praise him for anything?
5
Congress approves legislation, not Moscow Mitch. His autocratic and imperious reign has damaged the coountry as much as trump's mental wanderings have.
Time for change.
4
That $250 million is about what the US spends on its military every four minutes of each and every day. That gives you an idea of just how important this is to our pointless Congress and their overlord Moscow Mitch.
4
As the old saying goes, the entire GOP has been “riding a tiger” for the last ten years. How do you dismount without getting eaten? How do any Republicans recover from this administrations corruption without going to jail? The smart ones are retiring early, while the worst of the worst will continue to the bitter end.
1
Moscow Mitch will not vote in favor of anything unless there is something in it for him.
3
I'm surprised Moscow Mitch didn't stall some more saying, "I need to know first what Trump wants, before I bring up any legislation on protecting our elections from Russian meddling.
1
This issue never should have been an issue in the first place. But since we have a President and a party who rely on cheating to win, any little bone they throw is better than nothing.
2
With no strings attached to the bill, Moscow Mitch has essentially just approved that federal funds be used to prop up state slush funds.
2
Too little too late and those funds are going to be squandered by states reeling from federal cuts. Pork Barrel politics is election fraud - and that's all this really is. Time to stir the turtle soup . . .
2
This seems like a way for Mitch to cover himself and win praise without anyone taking the time to look closely at the matter. Would be great if the NYTimes had an ongoing series about election security and the impact of these funds.
2
Moscow Mitch was afraid more of his ties to Russia money would be discovered and he is hoping to thwart that discovery.
2
A day (two years) and dollar ($1 billion) short.
1
Show us the distribution of the $250 million per the law! We'll see the pork content: $40 million for Kentucky and $4 million for New York? Then we'll see the election system security component and the fakery and greed.
1
Mr. McConnell, who apparently thinks he is the Lord and King of the Senate which exists solely to do his bidding, has made a 100% political calculation. The thought that he is actually concerned with fairer, more secure elections rather than just Republican "wins" is absurd on its face.
McConnell is a major member of the conservative cabal that has hijacked the U.S. in a fashion similar to the oligarchs who hijacked post-Soviet Russia. He needs to be shown the door.
5
McConnell is distancing Republicans from Trump. Not a coincidence this came out as Trump and his minions slowly released information about his shenanigans in Ukraine. He probably will not head the Republican ticket next year.
So he approved some expensive whitewash.
How is that a good thing?
1
To little, to late and he knows it. By the time it gets signed into law, that is IF the russian asset signs it,the ship for securing the 2020 election will have sailed
1
Are you kidding? Will this measure prevent voter suppression? Voter purging? Don’t the Russians favor voter suppression and purging voters? Moscow Mitch just got the memo and is following orders. It may seem to some that Republicans have been doing voter suppression forever without Russian influence. Why do you think Russia chose to back Republicans in the first place. Republicans hate democracy as much as Putin does.
2
He might’ve caved but there’s no teeth in his bill. It’s more watered down than a cheap bottle of Kentucky bourbon. Sad
1
Now if only we can do something about Beijing-Mitch and his wife. We're all tired of being victims of a modern-day McConnell-ism with stolen SCOTUS seats and getting inflicting with unqualified ideologues for life on our courts only to aid the trump in his illegal quest to be emperor for life of the United States of Trump.
Of course Republicans love tons of unaccountable "money directly to the states, with few strings attached." They'll quickly direct it to supporting Republican electoral shenanigans as usual. Beijing-Mitch would do anything, including feign he is doing something to protect our democracy for his ilk to get their hands on $250 million in tax payer money to add to their dark money stash! That is not deserving of "at least modest cheer."
1
A comment about foreign interference in national elections: the Time magazine, now owned by a internet billionaire, published a photo of the PM of Canada in what was called a brown face. If a Russian billionaire had done the same thing towards a US politician, most Americans would find there’s something fishy.
Maybe, US lawmakers should look at their own citizens before spending money on those pesky Russians. Unless, they think it’s fine to interfere with elections of friends,allies and neighbors.
In that case, isn't it high time to release Reality Winner, who warned the US about actual election interference by Russia?
3
Moscow Mitch has his own set of rules. If, and that is an if, the democrats have to hit back hard and codify some of the rules that are in place.,
2
"Mr. McConnell has spent the past year-plus blocking multiple bipartisan proposals for election security. "
+
Russia was in 2016 -- and is in 2020 -- the prime threat to USA's "election security"
= The name "Moscow Mitch" is richly deserved!
3
I’m surprised Moscow Mitch even had time to consider this bill, much less blather about his magnanimity in supporting it on the Senate floor. Keeping his party in power, packing the courts with 30-something Federalist Society hacks, and undoing any legislation even remotely connected a Democrat - any Democrat, in the history of the Republic - must take up a lot of his time.
8
Though it's useful, it's not enough. More important that the amount, is for the bill to specify uses, e.g. paper ballots, cyber security uses, etc.
The conference is the place to improve the bill. It will be a test for the Senate Leader. If he will not approve improvements to the Senate bill in conference with the House, the good Senator will be back to "Moscow Mitch" again.
3
$250 million is a lot of money.
However, as this is given directly to states without conditions on use, it is just $5 million into the general fund of each of the 50 states.
That won't do much in a small state. It won't be noticed in a big state. For California or Texas or New York, that is barely a rounding error.
That $250 million spent in one place on a system planned to safeguard us might just possibly be of some use, if well done by someone very efficient.
Spent as this is to be, is will disappear without trace, doing no good at all.
7
This amount of funding isn't structured enough. It's "no stings attached" condition merely presages states' certain celebration of their free gift from D.C.
It's akin to the tax break for the rich, also a "no strings attached" package. Corporations were not required to invest in their employees, create job training for those replaced by robots, raise wages permanently -- to "give back".
So they all invested in buying back their own stock, and helped no one but investors.
States must be instructed to buy quality voting machines that include paper ballots. Registrars must be inclusive and accurate in voting registration. If not, the U.S. faces fraudulent voting results.
Moscow Mitch may be "proud" to throw away taxpayer money. He's probably also happy that this "do nothing" measure will assure continued Russian tampering to keep Trump and Republicans in office.
6
Too little. Very likely too late. And little to no assurance that the money will be used effectively to make our elections more secure.
He’s still Moscow Mitch.
15
He may have come late to this party intentionally. I doubt the money for protections will now come in time to ensure the integrity of the upcoming primary and general election cycle where both Moscow supplicants are up for re-election.
6
It's only too bad that this doesn't include money for Voter ID. If I have to show my legal ID to get in almost every commercial building in NYC, then everyone should have to show an ID to vote. We issue non Drivers's license for non Drivers so why can't we issue something for everyone?
4
@Stephen Knill - ugh, because commercial buildings in NYC do something stupid does not mean it should be adopted nationally.
Window dressing and theatre. Like everything else he does. It's nothing more than sleight of hand. While he's voting for what looks like security, someone better have a look at what he's doing while we are mildly cheering. Distraction is the name of the GOP game.
25
Glad to see this happening, but there is something fundamentally, and terribly, wrong with our governance process--at the federal level--where even taking a vote (In the Senate) on a matter is solely at the discretion of one single Senator. I don't care if he is the Majority Leader; he still should not have that kind of authority.
I know the Constitution gives the Senate and House the power to set their own rules of procedure, which any governing body needs in order to function. But now we have a situation--thanks in some degree to McConnell's vanity and to his self-serving ways--where his use of the rules of procedure too often make the Senate non-functional.
27
@revsde
Thank you! You get it! Those Congressional Rules of Proceedings. though granted by The USC cannot supersede it. How can Senators or Representatives inhibit equally elected others from fully exercising their duties on behalf of their constituents. That’s preponderance on its face!
3
Mr. McConnell has always been able to read votes, and it is that ability that signaled that it was time for him to get with the election security program. The moniker, "Moscow Mitch," certainly helped, but his own upcoming reelection bid, in a state which increasingly dislikes him, undoubtedly caught his attention.
I think that we will increasingly see McConnell and Trump soften their rigid positions in ways that tip their hats to the possibility of impending electoral doom. For both, the highest principle of priority is political self-preservation. Don't be fooled.
8
Don’t be so quick to praise McConnell. Since the bill doesn’t require states to spend the money on election security it is not truly an election protection bill. That is why McConnell voted for it. You can be sure the Republican controlled states will not use the money to protect their voting systems.
35
@Don This version has to ultimately be reconciled with the House version, which has more money and stricter controls on spending, and what emerges will be voted on my both Houses of Congress.
moscow mitch has received huge campaign donations from russians so the name still fits.
8
Mitch McConnell should not be praised for merely doing his job on this one issue. When are people going to realize that Congress is not functioning in large part because of him, and that he is a clear and present danger to democracy? I for one will be donating to Stacy Abrams' campaign and hoping for the day we are finally rid of Mitch the Menace once and for all.
17
Fixing the election risk, a real, impending crisis, takes commitment and time - not just with money.
McConnell has wasted precious time in approving this allocation. This is a 50 state complex issue --the "fix" should have been started in early 2017 when our intelligence systems alerted the nation to the election issues involved in the 2016 issues.
Second, this is a national crisis --it should be treated as such meaning the President and all Congressional leaders should be united, regularly speaking out identifying this issue as a crisis to our nation's political system.
Instead, for the past nearly 3 years, the President has been minimizing if not denying the risk; McConnell and his colleagues have done nothing to sound an intense, focused alarm to mobilize the nation and state governments who must address this problem.
As for McConnell, he's still Moscow Mitch despite this tardy appropriation.
23
@Woodtrain50 Trump and the GOP won't point out the flaws because the GOP knows they're rapidly approaching the point where it is statistically impossible for them to win even a remotely fair fight.
Putting aside the whole popular vote issue, some areas of the country are so gerrymandered and rigged up that Trump was nigh guaranteed to win blue states he shouldn't have even been able to get the time of day from. Even with the electoral college, the GOP should be getting phased out more and more each election.
Adapt or die. The GOP needs to figure out whether they want to go the way of the Whig or if they want to change angles slightly to survive while still playing within the rules.
5
$250 million? That's a drop in the bucket. How will that paltry sum help states fight against sophisticated hackers? What about allocating monies on a yearly basis or, at the very least, every 4 years, so that we're not worrying that our votes are being manipulated after we cast them? Does McConnell really want to face accusations of doing too little too late and the possibility that his win or loss isn't real? Part the success of a democracy lies in citizens ability to trust that their government is working for them and has been elected by them. If that trust vanishes the democracy will too. Then again, logic is not McConnell's strong point. Denying reality is.
9/20/2019 7:13pm first submit
319
Is it even states? I think (someone please confirm) in many places it is counties and towns that manage the voter rolls. A quick web search found that in some states the counties and towns also buy the voting machines as well.
Moscow Mitch really did the Russians a favor by delaying these funds for so long. We lost all that time that could have been developing standards, selecting equipment, training, and then deploying a vastly more secure voting system.
And I thought 2000 election aftermath was bad, 2020...
“This is the end
My only friend
The end
Of our elaborate plans
The end
Of everything that stands
The end
No safety or surprise
The end”
The Doors, The End.
144
@Steven Pugh in NY the counties and towns manage voter rolls and buy the voting machines. It's very frustrating to me to see the rush to use technology that can be hacked when we used to use "simple" mechanical voting machines. Pull the levers one way for yes, another for no, check the votes, pull back the curtain and the levers return to their neutral position and your votes are counted.
53
@hen3ry
That has been the answer all along, "hanging chads" aside. Analogue machines. Ca-chunk, done. Efficient and reliable.
14
He will be remembered in history as Moscow Mitch, the stain on our ideas and norms who stopped at almost nothing to grab and hold on to power. That’s some legacy right there!
733
@Cindy
Cindy, Maine used to be part of Massachusetts — as I used to be — but our Maine Senator’s legacy has been cast (like her detestable vote) as the final judge in this Supreme ‘hanging’ Court Against democracy.
14
it's amazing what re-election campaign can do to someone's, ummm, behaviour. #MoscowMitch is not doing as well at home as in the past with the serious challenge(s) to his dynasty. what we should worry about is if Mitch has an agreement with Trump that he will veto the bill. think about it...
6
I’m not buying it, so I’m not here to praise him. I think by now we know what motivates the Speaker, and it’s not election security, or he would have done something long ago in 2016. But this does give states like my own (Georgia) bit of cash to help suppress more votes.
McConnell proved long ago what he’s about. I bet he’s having a good chuckle (with a shot of bourbon) over this editorial.
1197
@Pat I'm not buying it either. He's just funneling money to the vote-machine company that donated to him recently (Dominion Voting Systems).
158
Some readers may become confused by who you are attempting to reference in your comment about Senator McConnell since you write about the “Speaker”.
Do you mean to write about Nancy Pelosi since she is the Speaker, but of the Lower Chamber of Congress, the House of Representatives. If so, referring her as “he” may be politically problematic today.
As the Senate Majority Leader, Senator McConnell, many people like yourself may not praise him, but 2 of his accomplishments make up nearly one third of the third branch of government that have a more lasting impact we’ll beyond elections.
7
@Pat--This amount of funding isn't structured enough. It's "no stings attached" condition merely presages states' certain celebration of their free gift from D.C.
It's akin to the tax break for the rich, also a "no strings attached" package. Corporations were not required to invest in their employees, create job training for those replaced by robots, raise wages permanently -- to "give back".
So they all invested in buying back their own stock, and helped no one but investors.
States must be instructed to buy quality voting machines that include paper ballots. Registrars must be inclusive and accurate in voting registration. If not, the U.S. faces fraudulent voting results.
Moscow Mitch may be "proud" to throw away taxpayer money. He's probably also happy that this "do nothing" measure will assure continued Russian tampering to keep Trump and Republicans in office.
45
Anyone who thinks "Moscow Mitch" has suddenly developed a streak of patriotism needs their head examined.
More likely he's taking a page from Trump's book and trying to divert attention from something else, like investigations into his wife. Or perhaps he thinks Trump is going down and is preparing his 'good guy' defense. Who knows? Whatever his motivation, altruism has no part in it. He's only promoting and protecting himself.
23
No praise for Moscow Mitch until restrictions are added that actually force removal of voter manipulations. This funding has no teeth, only giveaway.
13
I'm suspicious. Is the fix already in and there's no danger from this "reform" so that's why Mitch is ok with it? Sorry, but I don't trust Mitch as far as I could throw him. I'd bet the Trump admin has already lined up its plans for the 2020 election.
20
$250 million won't go very far toward election security in a country as large as the U.S.
However it would buy enough paper to give every American voter a paper ballot that could be hand counted in 2020.
18
Does this mean we need to come up with a derogatoory nickname for Mitch every time he blocks critical legislation? By that measure, we'd run out of names.
Usually, the unflappable McConnell just harbors his negative stances, intoning how "we aren't going to do that," at the podium backed by the usual GOP stiffs.
While it's nice he's decided to play ball on state election security funding, it's going to take a lot more to shake his prevarications regarding bills on gun safety, immigration rules, and a long list of other measures.
The senate, for all intents and purposes, is in perpetual stalemate, because of McConnell's intransigence. Time to shake it up in the next election.
12
It's time to rethink the traditional system whereby management of election procedures is left to the states, even in federal elections. Several states (e.g. North Carolina, Wisconsin) have Republican controlled legislatures that clearly have a low enthusiasm for fair elections. It's time federal standards for equipment and procedures are established and mandated, with federal funds provided as needed to meet those standards. A blank check to the states will almost certainly fail to solve the interference problem, whether that problem originates from foreign countries or our own politicians.
14
What a joke!
All we the people need to do is read the comments posted here to understand we're being duped again.
Let's follow the money and see what really happens.
With such a paltry sum should be easy to see the flim-flam.
25
Anyone who uses the term "Moscow Mitch" is part of the problem with the politics in this country.
Embarrassing.
4
@ted Indeed. It should be Moscow Mitch Vladimirovich. Adding the patronymic not only adds dignity, it also better describes the problem and offers a chance for a rhyming coda.
11
@ted
Try thinking of it as a well-earned title.
3
@ted: the internet disagrees with you - the apt moniker was effective and hilarious. And anything but "embarrassing" except for Moscow Mitch and Russian Asset Republicans who refuse to safeguard our elections.
3
Mitch is so horrible on so many levels, his sop on this issue is small potatoes. I hope the people of Kentucky have smelled enough disgrace. He needs to be run out of the Senate, period.
24
Too little. Cosmetic. Too late. R’s are the party of smoke and mirrors.
16
Unclear how just throwing money at it is going to solve this particular problem...
3
@A
Having the money and mandating each state to have paper ballots is actually a pretty good way to solve the problem.
5
I just feel so petty and unclean if I have to acknowledge that name-calling is useful and effective.
2
@J J Davies... it seems to be working.... I am all for it
1
In Nixon's time, there were Republicans of conscience who stood up and did the right thing. Under McConnell.................................................................
20
The release of 250 million is not nearly enough to protect our election system in all 50 states. We need a uniform system so every state in the union will have the same methods thereby making it more foolproof for detecting problems.
We need to forgo the hackable machines and go back to the paper ballot, as well as what Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado recommended, "strengthen election audits,toughen disclosure on social media & require campaigns to report contact w/ foreign officials trying to interfere.”
7
Only the top 1% have real love for McConnell. At 78 he could careless what everyone else thinks, that's why he's so dangerous to the American way of life.
16
@Clover Crimson
......."he could care less what everyone else thinks"
His "thinking" days are long gone, now he just "is", and as is obvious to most, is just taking up space that could be occupied by someone capable of doing something constructive.
4
How is it that the senior Senator from Kentucky, a state that ranks 38th in quality of education, 36th in environmental quality, 4th in poverty, 30th in teacher pay and 7th in opioid related overdoses is now seemingly in charge of everything in America?
59
@JVK The same reason N Dakota and S Dakota are 2 states and have 4, FOUR senators! With a total population less than most big cities in this country.
16
McConnell can be gotten to behave decently, sort of, by public ridicule. Good to know.
4
States can do what they want with the money? That sounds pretty dangerous, especially when we think back to last November’s election in Georgia—the man in charge of elections was running for governor! Federal government should make sweeping changes to election security and make it mandatory for all states.
If Trump can make California pollute like he wants it to, then surely Mitch can find it in him to do the same for elections.
15
I’m concerned about the fact that there are “no strings attached”.
If Michigan can use welfare money to help upper middle class college students, North Carolina can certainly find a way to use election protection money for voter suppression.
17
@NJNative After all the court cases regarding gerrymandering and the NC Dems caving to the GOP in order to keep their own seats, it will matter little if any of the $ goes to election security.
2
‘He’s proud to support the measure’, in other words, his majesty, his royal holiness, gave Moscow mitch the royal edict to let the measure out of committee, the czar said they had other ways of getting trump re-elected.
12
I will cheer Moscow Mitch; but only at the point when he is gone. Until then he represents not so much a leader of the Senate as the main blocker on all that America needs to move itself wisely into the future.
John~
American Net'Zen
15
At this stage, unless the bill has an aggressive implementation schedule and serious follow-up and funding that is actually released it's a McConnell distraction. Worse, election security is responsibility of States, money has to be actually effectively spent. I'm not holding my breath for Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and their like to actually do anything - even with Federal funding. After the last few years I've become too cynical to believe that this will change with current administration or the current Republican leadership in too many states.
11
A small fraction of what is actually needed.
8
This is such a low bar, I'm disappointed in the Times for applauding Moscow Mitch. Funding election security is a minimum requirement of being a democratic lawmaker, not a courageous action.
18
@Caroline as Trump sinks lower so does the NYT.
Just because Moscow Mitch decided to support one of the many election reforms that should be taken, let's not forget he is still playing footsie with Russian oligarchs to put an aluminum refinery in Kentucky. Yes its nice that the leader of the US Senate finally did something to protect democracy, but he refused to defend the nation when the hacking was taking place, his role in the scheme - all so he could pack the courts.
27
Russia has been storing aluminum ingots in Kentucky for some time.
1
Yeah,
..also Trump has decided he cares deeply about the environment, DHS will treat human beings better than we treat dogs, and Stephen Miller has the first time ever become an actual human being with a conscience. I'm waiting...
35
What a joke of s spending bill. The old mechanical voting machines were impervious to hacking and were used for decades. The technology is already proven. Sometimes you’ve got to stick to what works and not buy into shinny new toys!
35
Mr Trump just revoked California's right to clean air.
How on earth can Moscow Mitch contradict Mr. Trump, and allow states to do as they please with federal money?
23
It’s not enough money, allowing states unfettered control will lead to diversion of funds to voter suppression and paper-ballot backup is vital. On the other hand, the Senate Election Security Bill is a start, so we should give the Majority Leader a break.
From now on, let’s call him M.M. McConnell instead of Moscow Mitch McConnell.
2
@sdw
No, let’s continue calling him Moscow Mitch for what he truly is and continues to be.
1
Its childish, coy, and cheap to suggest that McConnell should be celebrated because he has done something that has the appearance of furthering safe elections.
A dedicated activist in the destabilization of our elections, McDonnell has gone at his work with an absolutely breathtaking audacity and impunity. He has tried to thwart every step of investigating the hacking of the 2016 election, in complete contravention to the interests of the country.
Fairness is not in his self interests or that of his party, and he has not suddenly decided not to grab what is not his.
42
@Eric Moscow Mitch brings to mind the traitors and collaborators in ancient Greece Rome Turkey [Ottoman Empire - see Netflix Resurrection character Sadet'tin Kopek]. Always looking to enhance his power/control. There REALLY need to be term limits on Congress and especially on leadership positions. I include Pelosi et al in this clique that must be rolled over.
1
I am curious about his timing. From what I can see he did this 180 as soon as he heard about the whistleblower.
29
@Texas Democrat
Exactly!
1
For the rest of his life, from the canyons of Manhattan to the valleys of Kentucky, no matter where he goes, and what he does, every American should shout out to him: "Moscow Mitch." Every citizen needs to hold accountable the men and woman who have sold this country out to foreign governments and there are an awful lot of them in the GOP.
118
@Son Of Liberty That's a polite way of saying the GOP is riddled with TRAITORS. Please use appropriate terminology to identify the individuals who have worked long and hard to destroy democracy in America.
3
Moscow Mitch is running scared. Yet, as pointed out, the funding is flawed. We need a unified national approach.
37
Well, what does Moscow Mitch have to lose? He has already driven the country into the ground. So, this is not really surprising. The GOP only responds to taunts. The Dems have to lower themselves down to the GOP’s level to get anything useful done.
38
The good old, and now very wealthy, boy from Kentucky. It’ll be interesting to see what develops with the inquiries being made into his wife’s family’s shipping company and their relationship with China. Quite the close one it appears. Maybe the appropriate moniker is Manchurian Mitch.
105
@Pen Vs. Sword May the gods curse all traitors - who misuse the 'system'.
1
Paper ballots is the answer. Why not? So it takes longer to count. Fraud is eliminated beyond significance.
38
@Yuri Pelham
I agree.
I appreciate having the paper ballots here in AZ. The machines count he paper ballots that are fed in, but they are there for backup. Still, it can take weeks to get though all the mail-in early ballots - but they get it done.
18
@Yuri Pelham
In Oklahoma, where we are behind everyone else in many respects, we do use paper ballots. The voter marks them with a special pen and feeds them into a machine where they are scanned. We rarely have issues or voting problems but if need be, the ballots can be counted by hand.
12
@Meg
If we can campaign for over a year, why should we expect results in a matter of hours?
21
I hope the League of Women Voters and other watchdog groups in all 50 states make sure that all money to insure the safety of our elections is spent to do just that!
30
@P Payne why do I have the feeling that that money will somehow find its way into politicians’ pockets, since it’s not earmarked for anything specific? I guess I should just have faith in Moscow Mitch.
4
I feel unsettled, very unsettled--a somewhat laudatory Times piece on maddening Mitch. Yet there is some succor. Although proclaiming "We come to praise Mitch McConnell, not to bury him," I imagine Times praise can only hurt his election bid in Kentucky.
11
@ZHR
Mitch was damned by faint praise.
1
@ZHR
We can hope.
Too little, too late. He'll always be Moscow Mitch.
72
So how is the money to be split? Half to the States and half to Ukraine? For the sake of appearances — and I'm not trying to help Moscow Mitch — I would suggest that the U.S. get at least 55 percent.
16
Praise if you must, but can't we bury him, too?
If McConnell is doing anything right you can rely on the fact that it's simply because he's exhausted all the possibilities to do something cynically self-serving, politically expedient, and/or pedestrianly underhanded already.
33
@richard -- "Bury him too"...Well-played, Richard "The West'....Bravo from San Agostinillo!
If we can get Machine Gun Mitch to stick, maybe we will see the absolute bare minimum of gun safety legislation pass. I won't hold my breath.
18
Here's the spy plot. Chinese and Iranian election interference working against Russian.
And we haven't done anything to prevent it.
A sub plot of North Korea and Ukraine would be included.
4
Makes you wonder if there was some pretty strong stuff revealed due to the whistle-blower complaint - so that now no one - not even the GOP - can ignore it all anymore - so now shaken, they are starting to behave.
I'm just wildly speculating of course - that the jig may be up.
That's what one does when things don't make perfect sense - speculate about a cause. Thus, one is only limited by the power of one's imagination.
Why is McConnell finally addressing this issue after all this time? What has changed?
I hope this means that all the unconditional acquiescence is over regarding Trump.
One can dare to dream.
15
“This amendment doesn’t even require the funding be spent on election security,” said Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat. “Giving states taxpayer money to buy hackable, paperless machines or systems with poor cybersecurity is a waste.”
"....since the Senate provided for $380 million for election security in its funding bill for fiscal year 2018. This argument would be more convincing if Mr. McConnell hadn’t, on multiple occasions, said the $380 million was enough and that further funding would be a waste.
So why the false title then? Moscow Mitch wants us to think he protected our elections, but he didn't. That is the real story.
22
Mitch McConnell never acts except out of self-interest, a prototypical modern-day Republican, not worthy of praise.
Any benefit of this legislation to society at large is by happenstance.
22
They should have his mug beside this definition of superfluous:
1a: exceeding what is sufficient or necessary : EXTRA
b: not needed : UNNECESSARY
4
With no requirements, I wonder how much good it will do in the places where voting has seen issues last time around.
The most discouraging thing of all the dreadful actions of this Administration is the silence from the Republicans and the weak Democrats. Madam Speaker, we are beyond the information gathering stage. So where are at least a few who could take the plunge to save the country from the rampant lawlessness? It seems Trump has correctly that his opponents are are not very savvy.
The only one who apparently gets it is that lonely whistleblower. I thank him or her from the bottom of my heart. One out of so many.
29
This is more of the bait-and-switch game. Just another vote to campaign on so they could say, "see, we support election security."
If the bill passes, the administration will find a host of reasons to drag out the disbursement of funds. Just ask Puerto Rico or the Ukraine!
The monies will only trickle to states in such a manner that doesn't allow states enough time to actually do anything to secure election processes before the 2020 elections.
Blue states will decry the slow-walking of money, Red states will claim their systems are iron clad and trump will claim widespread voter fraud.
Only YOU can secure your democracy. This is not a drill.
28
@LivingWithInterestIt's hard to imagine that the trio of Georgia, Texas, and Florida will step up to the plate to make an accurate count of election results.
No money.,Paper ballots cannot he hacked.
I have little confidence that Republican Controlled States and localities will use this money for any real and meaningful reform. Most, if not all Republicans have vigorously resisted paper ballots. Exit polling has been showing voting discrepancy results in their favor. I fear that this will likely be a waste of money, and (as has already been commented on) at worst, the money will be used to help strengthen Republican lead voter suppression measures.
27
Don't think for a moment McConnell will change his stripes. He will find ways to undermine election security, in spite of this appropriation.
And McConnell still needs to be removed from the Senate in 2020.
64
Never praise McConnell - he and his kind needs to go!
Whatever the impetus. Odd that Moscow Mitch suddenly has a moment of clarity the day after Trump gets caught red handed negotiating election interference with a foreign power. This is just McConnell ducking for cover.
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@Erich Richter
Or maybe the voting machine lobbyists who donate to him are calling in their markers before any regulations on secure systems are passed.
3
@Erich Richter
Completely agree. No coincidence. He maybe sees that his prison cell is getting closer after the Ukraine news.
3
Go the Oregon route!! Mail in paper ballots. Mailed to you, allowed over a week to fill out and mail back. Don’t have to find time in the day to wait in line at a voting booth. Engages our US postal service. Only reason not to do it is to rely on a low voter turnout to win an election (ahem. . . RNC).
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@John Election Day - clearly needs to be a National Holiday. Increased voter turnout - up from its current low level. Come on Moscow Mitch - you can get this done - next week.
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@Gordon Jones
Why would he do this?... The people who need the day off to vote are less likely to vote republican. If there is no incentive to keep republicans in office he won't do it. Im surprised he did this. 1st thing democrats need to do if they win the senate in 2020 is get rid of gerrymandering, #2 make Election Day a national holiday. RNC is doing funky things to keep the power.
8
Another non-effective billed passed by republicans after they wrote it to still allow the possibility of widespread tampering or hacking within the voting machine vulnerabilities. Paper ballots are the only method that can be monitored with some accuracy assuming the poll workers are not corrupt.
31
$250M plus the original $380M. That's a bit more than $10M per state. How many voting machines does that buy?
12
@PJ: The number depends on whether the machines are magic bean machines which serve Republican interests and the price. What other kind is there?
12
@MAX L SPENCER
True. You don't have to be foreign to influence elections.
Moscow Mitch watered down the bill so it is meaningless while taking huge donations from the companies that make voting equipment.
Demand Paper ballots
100
Moscow Mitch is releasing this money for an ulterior motive. We just don't know what it is yet.
And let's not clap hands at $250 million, a drop in the bucket for a country this large.
58
Now his task is to make sure the money isn't spend in an effective way.
47
So the Times believes that Moscow Mitch actually has a fragment of a conscience?
News flash: he doesn't. So what has motivated this sudden "change of heart"? McConnell has been watching the polls, and has seen that Amy McGrath is the real deal. So all of a sudden, he needs to put on yet one more phony act, and pretend he's a "statesman" before the next election.
Other motivations he has? McConnell has been paying close attention to Trump's poll numbers, which are starting to erode. And after this latest Ukraine whistle blower incident, McConnell may be deciding that Trump is a liability to him going into next year. Now, that doesn't mean that McConnell won't vote for everything Trump shoves on his desk in the meantime. He will. But the media will only pick up the headlines where McConnell seems to show some independence. Again, this is all strategy for his re-election, and nothing else.
The Times is premature in praising McConnell. There is no doubt that he will continue to toady to Trump when Trump needs Senate votes. And his recent "come to Jesus" moments are actually nothing more than kabuki theater. McConnell understands that he does not need to act independently of Trump. What he does need, though, is to be seen as acting independently, and thus his recent "change of heart" about voting protections and the integrity of our elections.
It's a pity that even the Times has fallen for his theatrics.
151
@Henry Hurt Agree completely. But it does say that for once he reacted to the public not to his donor base. Moscow Mitch is all over Twitter, for good reason, and maybe just maybe it's his Achilles heel and he'll do some actual legislating. Not completely hopeful but have to start somewhere.
9
@Henry Hurt
Is it possible that Mitch is worried about Chinese interference on behalf of a Democratic candidate?
9
@Kathy Too late - you just can't change the stripes on a Zebra.
3
It is much to early to declare this bill a success in safe guarding our election system. It depends too much on where the money goes and how it is used. But this article makes it seem as if Mitch McConnell has all of a sudden has become the savior of voting rights which Mitch McConnell has no intention of being. A tiger does not change its stripes and if you turn your back on him because he makes friendly sounds you are bound to be lunch.
29
250 million is basically nothing. That amounts to 5 million per state which is probably not the way it really works. If he were serious about protecting and encouraging voters, he would support the House bill.
Maybe he can be moved on gun violence by the taunt MassacreMitch. I hope he is more generous there.
41
Your editorial overlooks the substantial campaign contributions made to Senator McConnell by manufacturers of voting equipment, none of whom wanted what you refer to as "more centralized reforms".
Gone from the bill are provisions requiring hand-marked paper ballots, election audits, public disclosure of who sponsors social media posts & the like. Your editorial skims over those, but applauds Senator McConnell's support of what is the industry's plan & minimizes his gutting of 'centralized reforms'.
The editorial board missed the mark - again.
96
@Joe Gould Methinks the story is being written. As most voters know, Moscow Mitch has been the genesis of our current situation. He has been a roadblock on most critical issues here for over 12 years. Word on the street and up on the Hill is that he is frequently seen mumbling to himself and poring through his copy of the Machiavelli book --- "The Prize". Kind of like Pence and his bible.
4
The problem is not the voting techniques and machines, it's the system of reporting the votes. Don't you think it odd that almost all elections are very close? It has the effect of shocking the public into accepting the results. Everyone watches TV for the results, right?
11
Republicans "approve" monies to be spent, but are they actually spent in a timely manner that will help election security? Please, NYT, stay on this. Just because it's authorized doesn't mean it will be spent soon and on districts that are in jeopardy. They could actually being using this money that will benefit safe districts. We can't underestimate the Washington GOP trying to fool us.
Through indirect reporting, it seems that only a fraction of monies the federal government appropriated for disaster relief is actually being distributed. Many people may think that the federal government is massively helping victims, but it seems that a fraction has actually been spent. We need to know if the government is following through on its commitments.
How fundamentally wrong it is that we need to rely on authentic news organizations to police our government.
Notable exception: The U.S. House on Thursday passed legislation to make sure Ukraine can spend $250 million in military aid after White House delayed it this summer.
37
$250 million is only $5 million per state. That buys almost nothing in this day and age. When out whole election system is in peril, we need some kind of verifiable voting system so that recounts (and there will be recounts) can be done with impunity. MN has a system with paper ballots that are scanned (and rejected at time of submittal, if unreadable) into machines that are not connected to any network. There are preliminary results that are submitted from each polling station but the official results are tallied after the ballot machines are DRIVEN to a central location. That is not to say that this is the only way, but MN has shown that this is a secure, efficient method to run elections.
27
It's a shame when a former Tea Party republican congressman now a talk show host, Joe Scarborough, can do more to get legislation moved through Congress than Nancy Pelosi can.
Too bad whistling past the graveyard Democrats refuse to learn from Scarborough's tactics:
Repeat. Louder. Repeat. Louder. Repeat. Until you achieve the desired results.
17
HANDMARKED PAPER BALLOTS to back up the voting machines. Bar code printouts don’t count. There is no other security measure more important for any type of electronic voting. If it’s not handmarked, it’s a failure and electronic systems will continue to be at very high risk of hacking with no real protective accountability measure. Moscow Mitch knows that and shame on Leahy and the other Dems who know that too but pretend it doesn’t matter.
38
McConnell is up for election in 2020.
Maybe a recent AARP poll showing Moscow Mitch’s Democratic opponent, Amy McGrath, only one percentage point behind him finally got his attention.
168
@Zabadoh
The amazing thing is that Mitch has any support. He is 78. Way past time to go. I don't understand why he and Biden and Bernie don't retire and become advisors to younger people that need to lead for decades.
I wouldn't be surprised if Kentucky elections are rigged.
59
@Zabadoh
At this time 6 years ago the polls showed the same thing for then flavor-of-the-month Allison Grimes, KY's 2 term SecState. She lost by 16 points.
11
@Anne
You can probably count on that..
1
Astonished to read Moscow Mitch passed any bill to support election security, then read no requirements on how the states spend the money. Oh let me guess, more money to spend on ensuring no voter fraud and clearing up the voter rolls even more in state house controlled by the GOP. We must secure our elections from the all those terrible people voting twice or not entitled to vote. Given the challenge of voting in some states, like anyone would try to vote twice.
31
Just FYI, in case you wanted to include the whole truth in your article, he only signed the bill after gutting several of the important protections that election security experts called for. The bill he signed, with a last minute amendment, is not nearly as comprehensive in defending our elections from foreign or domestic interference. This is just to save face.
513
As a moderate with no allegiance to either party, thank you Mitch! I like Americans voting for my elected officials, not Russians
1
@Russell
Hey Russell: I appreciate your sentiments, but check what McConnell really intends before praising him.
4
@Russell: I like Senators who have not been captured. Moscow Mitch is captured and caged.
3
@Russell
He first gutted the protection in the bill so he gets no accolades from me.
2
The 250m sounds a paltry sum for fifty states election security. That would be 5m. per state and several key states, such as Florida, Pennsylvania and possibly even Texas in the next federal election, have large populations of citizens.
26
If all it takes is a nickname to create movement and change in Washington, may I suggest "Appeasing Pelosi" until the House of Representatives takes their jobs, their oaths and their constitution seriously. Every day that goes by without an impeachment hearing shows weakness on the part of the Democrats and let's "Moscow Mitch" off the hook. Now that we know that the moniker stings we should take advantage of making him choose between the "Party of Lincoln" or the "Party of Putin".
9
Until and unless McConnell repudiates all Trump and makes up for his fixing of the Supreme Court, he will always be known as MOSCOW MITCH.
149
@Mike It will not matter what he does now, he is indelibly stained with an accurate and painful main identity. History books will include references to his new and justified name of Moscow Mitch McConnell. This is his forever name.
5
@Mike. nothing will rid him of that moniker
2
The votes your citizens cast should be the most valuable thing in any country. The way votes are used, abused, and manipulated in the USA are shameful. Yes it is good that Mr McConnell has provided some funds for the safe guarding of democracy, but a politician of his stature should in the eyes of ALL the people he represents be seen as willing to defend it at all costs. If you don’t believe that a person running for office will not expand and defend the vote with all their will Don’t vote for them. If you believe that they’d allow electoral interference if would favour them, don’t vote for them. Even if they are your political party. Politicians have been using the vote as a sacred cover more and more around the world lately. They believe that no matter what they have done, corrupted, cheated or lied about, there is no way anyone can expect them to step aside because they had been voted in before they abused(or the abuse has come to light). In essence the initial vote is some kind of indemnity from ever having to be decent or punished for wrongdoing ever again. That is a perverted way to think about democracy. So again, I reiterate, at the very least, if you don’t believe that a representative will stand up and give their all, their life to protect your vote, DON’T give it to them. Because they will only use it against you.
18
Paper ballots are not the answer. They are flammable and easy to hide. What we need is certificate voting: each voter is issued a private key when he or she votes. All votes are posted online for everyone to inspect, showing the votes, precincts, and approximate times they were cast. Each voter an use his or her key to find their vote, decrypt the exact time, and verify that their votes were faithfully recorded.
9
That's an interesting idea, and perhaps the best of the technological ones (I love computers, code, and math, but have strongly preferred HCPBs).
But we both just KNOW the election officials won't even bother with free-as-in-GPL software for this, let alone a PGP-style thing, and will just contract out some pricey bloated cloud app to, say, Bezos, Diebold, and Symantec.
9
@Debbie While your intentions are good, you've just designed a great system for vote-buying. Here's how your system would work.
Vote Buyer says to Vote Seller, I will pay you $1 if you vote for candidate Boris Badenov. Vote Seller agrees to the deal, goes to the poll and votes. The Vote Seller receives a private key to decrypt his publicly posted vote and hands it over to Vote Buyer who decrypts and confirms a vote for Boris.
On confirmation, Vote Buyer pays Vote Seller $1.
Designing cryptographically secure voting systems is very hard. This is why most cryptographers who have specialize in the field have usually recommended paper records as backup.
Recently, Microsoft Research released some of the work of Josh Benaloh (https://sipadigitalfutures.org/speakers/josh-benaloh/) designed with some of the properties you're looking for. He has devoted over 20 years to the endeavor. Read his papers for details.
Today, the greater trick than inventing a reliable system, is getting it accepted politically. Look what barriers Mr. McConnell put up to less ambitious goals.
1
He has successfully delayed the ability of states to implement the funds to enhance security, but this capitulation won't distract from Trump's latest criminal activity.
18
Certainly some states will use the money wisely. However it's very hared to imagine any state that refused Medicaid or has undercut it will find helping voters is a priority. Imagine what would happen if you couldn't control elections?
Mitch doesn't go along with anything unless it suits his plans.
33
From the gist of the comments here, I expect a lot of "Too little, too late, Moscow Mitch" signs to appear at his election events.
I wholeheartedly approve.
53
No strings means that in Republican controlled states, there will be a windfall they will spend on making it harder for people to vote and nothing to improve election security.
That’s how the GOP rolls. Just expect it.
390
@Chickpea Excellent point.
5
Moscow Mitch is in this game for himself. It must be for the power 'cause he does not need the money, he's a millionaire.
Do not expect him to do the right thing.
89
@Lynn
No matter how much people like McConnell have, they always want more, more, more.
3
This is progress on the part of McConnell, but I have to wonder about the timing. Is part of this his attempt to separate himself from the President's attempts to undermine the 2020 election?
In other words, is there more to this story than "just" a quid-pro-quo with the Ukrainians? Or was that enough to make him stop and worry about his own long-term prospects and complicity in election fraud?
If he really wanted to do the right thing about protecting our elections, he would urge the Speaker of the House to do her job and open authentic, recognized impeachment proceedings. How much law breaking are the two of them willing to look away from before they are willing to act to save the country?
We already know Pelosi would rather pray for the president than act to impeach him. Maybe Moscow Mitch can show her the way before it's too late.
13
It's all a game for Sen. McConnell. He only did this because he thinks it might help him win his game. There is not one ounce of care for the welfare of the country in any of his actions. He's got a scorecard and he just put a check in a box because it suited his purposes.
75
But he did NOTHING to properly investigate Trump's Russian collusion and obstruction of justice. He is complicit in the undermining of our Democracy . This is an effort to try to save face for the GOP as the polls show them losing votes. He needs to go to jail with Trump. He will be remembered in history for his failures that contributed to the demise of our Nation on many fronts.
184
Yet, the FBI didn't find enough to bring charges. I guess you'll never stop, but what you are doing is driving people to the right.
Half measures aren't enough - it's too little, too late, with not enough specifics to matter. Moscow Mitch earned his nickname, and it will be the very first thing mentioned in his obituary.
214
@Markymark, Beijing Elaine as his spouse. Moscow and Beijing have solid hold over the couple.
9
When it comes to protecting elections, get as much protection by any means necessary.
It's probably best to go completely analog, but I don't hold out hope for that.
17