If we ever needed proof (and we didn’t) that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell reads polls, we most surely have it now. As proof that he has put up his finger (but not the one he usually holds up to the White House) to gauge the political winds, he now says it’s time for a “come together moment” and actually bragged about how he has worked with Democrats and compromised.
We haven’t seen such a quick shift in position since the 2012 Presidential campaign, when onetime moderate former Massachusetts Republican Governor Mitt Romney had more positions than the Kama Sutra. Bluegrass Politics:
McConnell, in an interview with the Lexington Herald-Leader in his Capitol office, noted past agreements he has brokered with Vice President Joe Biden and Democrats, and he said “that’s what we’re going to need to do again now, sometime soon.”
Clearly the NBC/WSJ poll that showed the GOP, Congressional Republicans, their case against Obamacare, their case against the shutdown, and their branding doing a political imitation of the Titanic has not been lost on him. There is no way McConnell, who was notably publicly missing in action during much of the shutdown crisis, would have talked about compromise one month ago. McConnell is one of the most skillful and disliked politicians in the country. He doesn’t take big risks, particularly at election time.
It’s clear reading this that he senses a shift in the winds nationally, just as he has seen his Tea Party support drop:
While the state’s senior senator has come under fire from Tea Party Republicans for folding while lawmakers like Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, continue to rail against Obama’s health care law and demand purity, McConnell said that compromise is the only way forward in a divided government.
“If you paid any attention to my recent history, I’m not opposed to reaching agreements with this administration,” McConnell said, noting his role in deals reached over the 2010 extension of the Bush tax cuts, the August 2011 Budget Control Act and the fiscal cliff crisis last New Year’s Eve.
“I brokered all three of them with Joe Biden,” the senator said. “I do not have the view that it’s inappropriate to talk to Democrats.”
If you think he would have said that four weeks ago, I can sell you THIS for $5.01.
But there’s more:
When asked about the challenge from Bevin and its effect on his ability to reach across the aisle in Washington, McConnell was philosophical, noting the realities of Washington.
“I’ve fully demonstrated that as much as I would rather have a Republican president and would rather be the majority leader of the Senate, I’m willing to work with the government we have — not the one I wish we had,” McConnell said.
McConnell shook off the suggestion that compromise on the shutdown and the looming debt ceiling could be a liability as he looks to protect his right flank ahead of next year’s primary.
“Look, I’m just gonna do my job,” McConnell said. “The American people have elected divided government. They’ve made me the leader of a consequential minority in a body that requires 60 to do most things. And where we can find common ground and advance the country in the right direction, I’m gonna look for it.”
And:
The senator added that “just because people elect divided government doesn’t mean they’re voting for no outcome.”
AND:
“And it’s our job to see where we can come together and advance the country’s interests,” McConnell said, referring again to the deals he made with Biden. “And we’re in one of those situations right now where it’s going to require some sort of coming together here to get past the current impasse. And I’m going to continue to work on that.”
Is this happenstance, or a shift?
It’s clearly a shift and it’s not lost on truly severely conservative conservatives, such as Red State founder and Fox News commentator Eric Erickson, who is going to put his money where his ideology is. He announced he’ll contribute to defeat GOPers who give in to Obama on Obamacare funding:
Republican leaders in Washington, DC are signaling they will cave on the fight against Obamacare.
Heck, they are signaling they are caving on everything.
Isn’t it interesting that when Ted Cruz and Jim DeMint were touring America to fight against Obamacare, the popularity of the GOP was going up and the popularity of Obamacare was going down.
But now that John Boehner and the Orange Man Group of Capitol Hill are the faces of the GOP, Obamacare’s popularity is going back up and the GOP’s popularity is going back down.
GOP Leaders, by caving, are signaling they want us to primary them.
I am happy to help.
I have just given money to Heritage Action for America.
I have just given money to Senate Conservatives Fund.
These two groups will be at the forefront of the fight.
I am also giving money to Eric Gurr and JD Winteregg. Both have decided to primary Speaker John Boehner in Ohio. For reasons noted below, you probably want to go with Winteregg for now.
I am also giving money to Matt Bevin. He is the primary challenger to Mitch McConnell.
Another like reason why McConnell is changing his political tune faster then a Miley Cyrus twerk is that he was recently dumped by the Tea Party he had tried so hard to woo or at least neutralize:
Tea Party Nation (TPN) had previously defended its endorsement of McConnell, despite the fact that the senator has a conservative primary challenger, Matt Bevin, who is supported by local Tea Party groups.
In dropping its endorsement, TPN cited a report from conservative commentator Glenn Beck that McConnell suggested during a closed-door meeting of GOP senators that anyone who supports FreedomWorks or the Senate Conservatives Fund (SCF) is a traitor to the party.
The SCF has run multiple ads against McConnell, and has made clear it’s looking for a conservative alternative to the senator.
TPN founder Judson Phillips explains that the endorsement of the group was initially based upon the fact it members felt McConnell was the most electable conservative in Kentucky.Phillips adds, however, that McConnell “always talks about fighting but never gets in the ring.”
“While endorsing Mitch McConnell seemed like the right thing to do at the time, Mitch McConnell has proven he is not worthy of conservative support. Glenn Beck is right. It is time to defund the GOP until the GOP pushes people like Mitch McConnell out of leadership,” Phillips wrote in a post on the group’s website.
McConnell has clashed with conservatives in recent weeks over the strategy, led by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and other Tea Party-backed senators, to defund ObamaCare that ultimately led to the government shutdown.
So McConnell is no Tea Partier, but he had tried to assure them. He failed at that — and the polls show the Tea Party has failed to win over the public, even though it has dominated the GOP, which is why the GOP is failing in the polls.
graphic via shutterstock.com
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.