The fact that Mitch McConnell hasn’t fired his campaign manager makes it appear like the Human Turtle does not come with testicles. It also makes him look like he is terrified of the Tea Party and no longer has any freedom of action. After all, the only reason that McConnell hired this guy was because he had run Rand Paul’s campaign and McConnell figured it would help inoculate him from a challenge from his right. But then the guy was caught on tape saying that he was only working for McConnell to help Rand Paul’s presidential prospects and that he was going to “hold his nose” for the two years he’ll be working with the Minority Leader. And now the guy is saying that he saw “hurt in the eyes” of McConnell when they talked about his nose-clenching. But McConnell didn’t fire him?
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BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
Well, Addison McConnell is no snapping turtle, that’s for sure. More like a kid’s cartoon version. Leave the poor turtle alone, kids!
Looks like this yapping tea partier knows the score and is really gonna have some fun with A. Mitchipoo McConnell, reportin’ on their every conversation (“hurt in his eyes”) in ways calculated to make Mitch look even more wimplike. That’s gotta help.
Since the Randite knows he’s got future “employment” with his real boss, why would anyone think he even wants Mitchipoo to win?
Mitch really is living up to the Dr. Seuss caricature of him.
Geez, you almost singlehandedly obstruct the results of a national prez wave election of the hated blah-person Obammy and “hold my nose” is the Tea-thanks you get! Seriously, the ingratitude!
Maybe Mitch will try switchin’ parties, ala Arlen, ha-ha. Another great option.
Just picturing Schumer’s reaction, grimacing, arm’s length, ‘aahhh sure Mitch, I’m sure we can find room on the stfu couch. Then air kisses from Boxer from 100 yards.
He can get Durbin to do it. He’ll geek for anything.
Touching almost Southern gothic romance, isn’t it.
I just have a strong feeling this is a power move on someone’s part, but I don’t know who. it seems like a concerted effort to kick McConnell in the nuts when he is already in trouble. So someone wants to get him out of office. Biven looks like an incredible jerk. Could he actually beat Alison Grimes in 2014?
I’m sure assuming it’s not the Dems doing this. So, if someone on the right is manipulating this. It seems to be Randian. Why and to what purpose? To manipulate the base to go more for Rand in 2016?
They GOP is so manipulative and transparent that I can’t see this as anything but a game move. What do you see?
In a normal situation, a normal political operative would do this for some kind of gain, yeah. In the current situation in the Republican Party in Kentucky, I’m ready to believe that this is just Jesse Benton being a bastard for the fun of it.
He has, as folks have noted, no loyalty to McConnell and no real stake in whether McConnell wins or loses. He’s just passing the time until the Randroid gravy train gets rolling again for 2016. If McConnell had any backbone of his own he would never have gone begging for Benton’s help in the first place, so Benton knows who’s the punk here. So why not have a few laughs kicking the boss around? It only wins him more points with the Paultards and the Tea Party people, who hate McConnell like they hate the rest of the GOP establishment.
Good point. They were asshats in several GOP state conventions for 2012.
We’re seeing the Tea Party getting frustrated in the House because GOP establishment doesn’t want them to default on the debt over defunding Obamacare. This looks to me like the Randian/Libertarian/Tea Party wing is totally onboard with showing their muscles and making a big break from establishment GOP. Not that we haven’t seen them giving them a primary from the right many times with losing election results. Even if Rand and McConnell are in the same state it just seems like taking on the Minority Leader of the Senate when the GOP is salivating taking over the Senate in 2014 is a much clearer power challenge than someone like Christine O’Donnell running in DE in 2010.
Plenty of time for this to cause havoc in the GOP in 2014 and certainly in 2016. I like how jacked up the GOP is about Hillary too. It keeps them stirred up when they are already having problems. Even if she decided not to run, it’s perfect timing for causing them waves.
hmm. Maybe “they” (the TeaP ?, the Estab GOP ?) don’t want to win in 2014.
Has Mitch been skinny dipping in Scandinavian waters?
Experts warn male skinny-dippers: Testicle biting fish in the water
the Campaign dude knows where all of Senator Turtle’s bodies are buried
And this is why the GOP has sunk into madness and keeps going further and further.
Mitch might actually gain some traction if he showed some spine and stood up to the lunatics, perhaps the party could even be brought back from the brink but alas, like so many other establishment Republicans, Mitch has to feed the monster in hopes he will not be devoured next.
Prepare to see him go the way of Bob Bennett.
As was said upthread, one can never tell with these folks, but I do wonder if it’s part of an overall narrative for the McConnell team. They know that there’s dissatisfaction from his right – why not play that out a year ahead of the primary and show everyone coming together as one team just after the primary (which McConnell should win easily). Not sure if that’s the gameplan or if there is any actual gameplan, but I suppose this is as possible as anything else.
Of course, the most likely scenario is simply that the campaign manager is an uncircumcised phallus flashing openly in full glory…
McConnell probably thinks the election is far enough out that this will blow over, but this makes him look weak and pathetic. The photo with the guy holding his nose did not help much (if at all). It just reinforces how pathetic the turtle truly is.
In my opinion, the better move would have been to fire the guy because he wouldn’t have looked half as pathetic and teabaggers respond only to power. It’s not like there aren’t other campaign managers, and a bold move would have opened the door to Paul making a supportive statement that might have had an impact.
Mitch will have his revenge. Benton just won’t see it coming this week.
I don’t think that is where he was hurting.
I disagree. Firing Benton would mean that McConnell was allowing a hostile party to force his hand. Benton didn’t stand on a public corner and ridicule his boss, he was recorded making an offhand comment.
McConnell hired Benton for his own reasons and he’ll keep him on board as long as he remains an asset. He probably doesn’t give a damn what Benton thinks of him and realizes that people who would vote for him don’t give a damn either.
Honestly, Democrats constantly fall for this tactic. Conservatives have managed to get Democrats to attack their own repeatedly; whether it was the Senate resolution against MoveOn, The House vote defunding ACORN or the firing of Shirley Sherrod. They have an organized attack squad focused on forcing Democrats to react, and the Democrats look like morons every time they fall for it.
The fact that liberals would like to see him fire Benton is reason enough for him not to do it.
Too often, Democrats mistakenly try to evaluate Republican behaviors and thought processes from their own comfortable, and what they view as a rational, mindset. Seemingly forgetting that Republicans value a completely different set of characteristics in their allies and political cohorts than do Democrats. The Republican brain is simply not wired anything like that of a Democrat.