Scott v McConnell

I supported Matt Bevin against Mitch McConnell in 2014. I got taken off Fox News because of it. They paid me and would not give me air time. Roger Ailes had a relationship with McConnell and McConnell’s wife sat on the board. Roger said he was tired of Elaine Chao yelling at him.

I was one of the very few conservatives to support Rick Scott when he ran for Governor in Florida. He has a compelling story and bio. He was a good businessman. He was a good governor and is a fine senator.

This effort to oust McConnell is poorly timed. It only provides more drama for the press to salivate over a Republican civil war right before a runoff in Georgia that already has the National Republican Senatorial Committee (“NRSC”) run by Scott and Senate Leadership Fund (“SLF”) run by McConnell feuding. In the Georgia runoff, McConnell’s SLF is spending $14.2 million to NRSC’s $700,000, plus taking over Brian Kemp’s ground game operation.

The hilarious irony is that had McConnell not raised and spent $400 million extra through the Senate Leadership Fund (“SLF”), Scott alone would be tied to the mess that was the 2022 Senate election.

McConnell stepping in with SLF to help the NRSC, combined with a frank assessment of the candidates that proved to be correct, gave Scott room to blame McConnell and escape blame for the NRSC’s failures.

McConnell spent money in Alaska that others wanted elsewhere. He did so because he kept Murkowski with the GOP and returned her loyalty by showing his.

McConnell blocked Merrick Garland and personally took all the slings and arrows for the rest of his conference. He owned it and refused to back down, making him the most unpopular politician in America. Then he rammed Gorsuch through by killing off the last of the judicial filibuster and weathered the storm to get Kavanaugh and Barrett through. The latter he did so quickly and again took the full brunt of criticism in the Senate, protecting Susan Collins in the process. The former he did so with the media firestorm surrounding his conference. He kept Jeff Flake and others on board to make it happen.

He has kept a rowdy group of disparate souls together and did so to end Roe v. Wade. Trump might have nominated them, but McConnell got them through, and the precipitating event was his “damn the press” attitude in blocking Garland.

Ultimately, this present fight is about Trump’s nominees. There’s only so much Scott could do to brand a turd sandwich tasty, and McConnell made no effort even to try — a lie too much for an old politician to bear. The voters refused even to taste the turd sandwiches, agreeing with McConnell’s obviously correct assessment. Hell, the voters of Pennsylvania picked Fetterman over Oz.

Neither Scott nor McConnell really deserves the blame for what happened. They both, in their own ways, did what they could in a difficult situation. Part of me suspects the various consultants are frustrated too, and want bigger pieces of the pie. The money and commissions have amplified the antagonism.

Maybe McConnell should be replaced. He is 80 years old. He has been in the Senate since 1985. Scott clearly has higher ambitions. I noted in my morning piece that it really is time to leave the Boomers behind. But if you’re going to oust McConnell, do so honestly and not with trumped-up grievances about 2022 when he was not in charge of the Senate’s election strategy. Be honest that it is because of a long list of prior grievances.

Replacing McConnell because he raised and spent $400 million to get the GOP the Senate against Trumpian-level headwinds is not the reason to oust him from a leadership position where he’s personally taken the attacks to spare others with more precarious seats.

The man obstructs a lot of what I’d prefer. Still, the truth is also that he’s kept some pretty liberal Republicans in the GOP fold and managed to orchestrate them permitting critical judicial nominees to the floor that led to the end of Roe.

I, for one, am fine losing the Senate while killing off Roe. It’s a worthy trade. Move on.