Friday, August 19, 2022

McConnell Cools On Republican Senate Chances




Senate minority leader and architect of today's right-wing Supreme Court Sen. Mitch "Grim Reaper" McConnell is gloomy these days. Not since the Malignant Loser meddled in the 2020 elections to elect two Democratic Senators in Georgia has the human / turtle hybrid shown such pessimism about gaining a majority in the Senate in 2022. And it's going to be for the same reason: the Malignant Loser's meddling in Republican primaries to ensure that the number one candidate qualification is obeisance to him. Therefore you've got some true, Trump-picked clunkers on the Republican tickets in Pennsylvania (Mehmet "Crudités" Oz), Ohio (J.D. "B.S." Vance), Georgia (Herschel "How Many Kids" Walker), and Arizona (Blake "Flake" Masters) are this election cycle's version of Christine "Not a Witch" O'Donnell, Sharron "Second Amendment solutions" Angle, and Todd "Legitimate Rape" Akin. Here's some of what McConnell had to say at a Kentucky Chamber of Commerce event yesterday:

"Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Thursday downplayed expectations of Republicans capturing control of the Senate in the fall elections, describing 'candidate quality' as an important factor.

'I think there’s probably a greater likelihood the House flips than the Senate. Senate races are just different — they're statewide, candidate quality has a lot to do with the outcome,' he said in Florence, Kentucky, at a Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce luncheon when asked about his projection for the 2022 election.

'Right now, we have a 50-50 Senate and a 50-50 country, but I think when all is said and done this fall, we’re likely to have an extremely close Senate, either our side up slightly or their side up slightly.'” (our emphasis)

"Candidate quality." That's McConnell's way of saying that their candidates are lacking in appeal to the general electorate due to their beliefs: Big Lie promotion, anti-choice radicalism, insurrection justifying, gun-humping zealotry and other unpopular positions. Again this year, the corrupt thumb on the scale of the Malignant Loser as the party's "king / queen maker" may ensure that the Grim Reaper's dream of enacting reactionary laws as majority leader will be put off again. Of course the only way to dash the Grim Reaper's dream is to register and VOTE in November and beyond.

(photo: Saul Loeb/AFP)