Senator McConnell is not my cup of tea. And yet here I am, having risen from my bed which wasn’t encouraging sleep, and transcribing a passage from a speech he gave in the Senate when the riots were over and when the Senate resumed its task of counting the electoral college votes, more normally a semi-ceremonial event.
Why? Because McConnell summarised – concisely and, it must be admitted, without emotion – the full horror of what the former TV star had tried to do earlier in the day.
“If this election were overturned by mere allegation from the losing side our democracy would enter a death spiral. We’d never see the whole nation accept an election again. Every four years would be a scramble for power at any cost. The electoral college…. would cease to exist, leaving many of our states with no real say in choosing a president.
“The effects would go even beyond the election. Self-government requires a shared commitment to the truth and a shared respect…”
I don’t like Senator McConnell any more now than I did yesterday. He’s a hard man to like. But for a minute or two he hit the nail on the head.
At last, someone thinking about the country rather than the survival of the Republicans. I hope Trump will be held to account for his behaviour.
ReplyDeleteIt was a surprise to hear Mitch McConnell sound almost human and thoughtful. I guess it took a right wing insurrection to add a bit of depth to his otherwise shallow mumbling rhetoric. Yesterday was quite a day, never to be forgotten.
ReplyDeleteHe always knew right from wrong, he just chooses wrong. Until now, because he lost his majority in the Senate earlier the same day, and now must compromise with his Senate colleagues to get what he wants. Don't for one minute give this horrible man any credit. He is the scum of the earth. But yeah, I was happy to hear him say all the right things for once.
ReplyDeleteSaying the right things, now, means nothing. Actions are what count. The scoreboard in my head for McConnell's enabling Trump's 4 years of fiascos far outweighs his too few words, too late. I did see a hint of remorse and heart, but that is probably from him realizing he is a dinosaur staring at the meteor that has finally 'done him' in.
ReplyDeleteAll: Look I'm a toffee-nosed outsider, likely to get that same nose snipped off for poking it into places it should not go. Nor am I able to refer to my own so-called government and compare it favourably.
ReplyDeleteBut in the mid-sixties, at my own expense and driven only by intellectual curiosity not greed, I managed to find journalistic employment in Pennsylvania and my family and I stayed there for six years. When we left, to return to the UK, it was for a complex set of reasons which in no way cast criticism on the USA.
You could say I have a certain minor investment in the country. Certainly one of the unexpected rewards has been the gratifying US response to my blog. You could also say I do know one or two things about US life and culture and this knowledge forms the bedrock of my novel Out of Arizona.
When I planned this post - in bed, unable to sleep - I saw the risks. For many years I have recognised the senator can best be described with a short word starting with s. I tried to make this clear. But what struck me about his words was that they were apolitical. He was simply predicting what Trump's actions would inevitably lead to; for me this prediction seemed all too likely and horrifying. And no one among the many US commentators I have followed had said anything so concise and/or telling.
Of course his words are incomplete. Of course they said nothing about the senator's grievous record as a politician. And of course he may well have been saying them to get himself out of a hole. And yet again any prediction may turn out to be invalid.
Never mind, the words were worth saying. And my only immediate reaction is horrifying and must take the form of a question: might it already be too late?
I admit saw some sort of 'human' reaction in McConnell's eyes, for the first time. Perhaps he was mourning the death of Democracy instead of his own fate, but still---too little, too late. We need to get back to a congress that governs for 'now' and for ALL people, and not for their multiple re-elections.
DeleteSandi: McConnell's apostasy - possible or actual - is of no interest to me. He made a prediction; I found it precise and believable. The rest of him can go to Hell in hack.
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