McConnell: Bush was a ‘millstone’ around Republicans’ necks.
McConnell: Bush was a ‘millstone’ around Republicans’ necks.
Yesterday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) told reporters he is convinced that the public will again embrace conservatives now that President Bush is gone:
“President Bush had become extremely unpopular, and politically he was sort of a millstone around our necks in both ‘06 and ‘08. We now have the opportunity to be on offense, offer our own ideas and we will win some.”
McConnell hasn’t always rejected Bush. As Matt Yglesias has noted, “It’s McConnell, after all, who was architect of the unorthodox notion that Senate Republicans should respond to losing their majority in 2006 by launching a lot of filibusters in defense of the unpopular incumbent president’s agenda.” So who is the new leader of the party? In the same interview, McConnell said, “Newt Gingrich, for example, has an idea a minute. Many of those are quite good. Many of those become amendments.”
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“Millstone around America’s neck,” I think he meant to say. And he and the thugs were the chain that held the millstone in place.
March 28th, 2009 at 9:19 amIf chimpy was a “millstone” hanging around republicans’ necks, then the rest of the repugs that goose marched in lock-step sync with him are dingleballs hanging from republicans’ @sses.
I am not sure this makes the dems that capitulated to the treason, war crimes, and crimes against humanity… but they are culpable too.
March 28th, 2009 at 9:24 am“Millstone around Republican’s Neck”????
More likely “Cement Overshoes”.
And as far as Mr. Gingrich’s “Idea a Minute”…. you don’t really need much time to think up Ideas, if you just gonna throw them at the wall, and see what sticks.
March 28th, 2009 at 9:37 amso mitch,
what can we put down for
on the gw library thing?
**
March 28th, 2009 at 9:37 amPeople rejected the Republican machine. Bush obviously wasn’t in charge during Katrina or the financial meltdown. Thousands of Republicans failed the American people, including most red members of Congress.
March 28th, 2009 at 9:37 amOld White Man McConnell believes Old White Man Gingrich has some good Old White Man ideas for the Old White Man’s party.
Interesting, given that the much-touted faces of the “new” GOOP are Steele, Jindal and Palin. Rabid Christianistas but not Old White Men.
PEACE
March 28th, 2009 at 9:40 amSwitching Mitch, Idea-a-minute Newt, Michelle the Wise, Shotgun Sarah and on and on….wow what a collection of future leaders and creative minds! What ever happened to the Whig Party?
March 28th, 2009 at 9:40 amAnd here I thought he was a pile in America’s butt.
March 28th, 2009 at 9:41 amI’ve been wondering what that thing under Mitch’s chin was….
March 28th, 2009 at 9:42 amGuido, Obama’s people have not emphasized sufficiently that everything, including costs in Iraq, are now in the budget, in contrast to Bush who asked for emergency appropriations every six months.
March 28th, 2009 at 9:45 amHis speeches, town halls, addresses, and press conferences are so full of information and the press can only handle one little item at a time (like why did he smile). They refuse to focus on the meaning, the background, the facts of what he says.
Obama needs to have the Democrats, as well as his own staff, repeat these facts often until the press finally acknowledges it, or the public finally hears it.
look out! for a lipless bush lapdog, mc connell surely has a nasty little bite on him. sort of like the taco bell chihuahua
March 28th, 2009 at 9:48 amMConnell is a partisan and greedy opportunist. His wife was a joke as Sec. of Labor. They have always concentrated on their own wealth and well being.
March 28th, 2009 at 9:49 amBush lost the Republica majority, and they know it. So now that he is gone, they will reverse their cheerleading of him and blame him for the disasters we now face — even though they passed everything he desired and then some.
They will focus blame on him instead of their own sorry asses.
Typical of the juvenile tactics of the repugs – the Eddie Haskells of politics.
This is so much BS. Bush was a millstone around all American’s knecks. Interesting that McConnell would say this – I didn’t see him disagreeing with Bush’s policies while he was in office! Newt Gingrich has an idea a minute? McConnell had to be joking! Newt is probably thinking about another label to stick on our President. They’ve already used socialist, fascist and dictatorhip. Newt needs to go help Boehner and Cantor come up with a better “Fudget”! ROTFL!
March 28th, 2009 at 9:51 amOf Millstones and Moss: If Bush was a Millstone, then the Repugs were Moss which collected and supported the millstone as it tumbled over the cliff.
Believing that they have anything innovative or credible to provide at this point with their cavalcade of buffoons (Limbaugh, Palin, Steele, Cantor et al) is beyond moronic.
March 28th, 2009 at 9:52 amHis speeches, town halls, addresses, and press conferences are so full of information and the press can only handle one little item at a time (like why did he smile).
Or, OMIGOD – He used a Telepromptor!
The Ruling Class owns the media – and thus the message.
We,the People, must continue to do what was done earlier – tell the sponsors of talking heads such as Bill O and Rush that if they advertise on those programs, we won’t buy their products. There are more of us that DON’T watch those hate shows than those that do. We can use the power of the pocketbook to encourage corporations to become progressive or risk becoming marginalized.
March 28th, 2009 at 9:53 amDr. Matt: I heard this one and it sent me into hysterics.
Truer things are said in jest. Bachmann has become the postergal for paranoid schizophrenia.
March 28th, 2009 at 9:53 amGOP: Moss Around the Millstone!
March 28th, 2009 at 9:53 amBozo: Taco Bell Triple Waddle Chihuahua!
March 28th, 2009 at 9:55 amBush/Cheney were more like a stink bomb around republicans’ neck that exploded prematurely. Now they are trying to get rid of the stench!
It never ceases to amaze me how many zealot republicans who defended Bush for years are now claiming to be “independents”.
Republicans are liars, hypocrites, selfish, immoral, despicable people, who deserve to be relegaded to the fringes of decent society.
March 28th, 2009 at 9:56 amwhat can we put down for
on the gw library thing?
I’d like to donate something for the lobby: a life-sized and life-like sculpture of the infamous human pyramid at Abu Gharib!
March 28th, 2009 at 9:57 amnext week, batshit crazy bachmann will be making the rounds calling for the shutting down of rolling stone magazine for their “anti american” slant. yes folks, she is that crazy
March 28th, 2009 at 9:59 amBush was not just a millstone, he was a disaster. So much of what we are dealing with right now can be laid at his feet, and the feet of all his lackeys who said, “Yes, Sir!”
March 28th, 2009 at 10:01 amIn the CNN article:
In other words, the Republiscum Members of Congress have no ideas of their own so they outsourced their thinking.
March 28th, 2009 at 10:03 amNevarmantis Says:
I’ve been wondering what that thing under Mitch’s chin was….
I thought it was his gullet. Now I see, it was a millstone. Thanks for clearing that up. :)
March 28th, 2009 at 10:05 am“will again embrace conservatives”: Oh, good. That will be very helpful. It will happen about the same the Brooklyn Bridge sprouts wings and flies south for the winter… in May.
March 28th, 2009 at 10:06 amI’m really looking forward to the Republicans presenting their Alternative Budget Plans….with Numbers.
As Rachel Maddow pointed out, President Obama set a TRAP for the GOP, by challenging them to Come up with an Actual Alternative…instead of just criticizing the Obama Plan.
The Republicans took the bait….and when their glossy pamphlet failed to Impress the recently Emboldened Washington Press Corps…they left the Task to their “Numbers Guy” Rep. Paul Ryan.
The GOP plan contains Massive Tax Cuts…so it will be interesting to see how Mr. Ryan compensates for this. Will it be Balooning Deficits…Massive Cuts in Popular Govt. Programs….Fantasy Predictions About a Surging Economy…or Smoke and Mirrors.
Many Republicans Warned Rep. Boener not to take the Bait…but he couldn’t resist.
Stay tuned.
March 28th, 2009 at 10:07 amPachydiplax St. Augustine Says:
In the CNN article:
McConnell said many of the ideas for amendments come from conservative think tanks and other Republican thinkers off Capitol Hill.
In other words, the Republiscum Members of Congress have no ideas of their own so they outsourced their thinking.
The article goes on to say:
“Newt Gingrich, for example, has an idea a minute. Many of those are quite good. Many of those become amendments,” he said.
They’re giving Gingrich the credit for all his great ideas…
March 28th, 2009 at 10:07 amI think we’re both on it… his gullet is where he keeps his millstone…
March 28th, 2009 at 10:09 amBush was everything the Republican Party stood, and still stands, for. He was the model of a school-yard bully who thought with his gut, who put bombs before diplomacy, and who bragged about being a C student with more power than PhDs.
Besides, didn’t they want more of the same when they nominated McCain and Palin?
March 28th, 2009 at 10:14 amSome quotes from Paul Begala at the end of the article:
“The Republicans are like an arsonist who complains that the fire department is wasting water.”
and, regarding the crises that Obama’s having to deal with:
“If this were ‘Sesame Street,’ the announcer would be saying, ‘This program brought to you by the letters G, O and P”
March 28th, 2009 at 10:16 am“Besides, didn’t they want more of the same when they nominated McCain and Palin?”
They may actually have been willing to settle for less.
March 28th, 2009 at 10:18 amConsidering that Cheney was the brains, albeit totally evil and corrupt, behind the Bush white House, could you imagine if McCain had a meltdown and Palin stepped into the void?
Yikesee.
Wayne Ant Schneider Says:
Nevarmantis Says:
I’ve been wondering what that thing under Mitch’s chin was….
I thought it was his gullet. Now I see, it was a millstone. Thanks for clearing that up. :)
Now, I thought it was his wattle.
wattle: a fleshy wrinkled and often brightly colored fold of skin hanging from the neck or throat of certain birds (chickens and turkeys) or lizards
PEACE
March 28th, 2009 at 10:20 amHow soon they forget the olde 11th commandment of the RePUG creedo. Never to speak bad about another RePUG. seems like McConnell figures that maybe no one will figure that he is rotten and stinking like Bushboy.
March 28th, 2009 at 10:21 amBriseadh,
First, nice new name.
Second, we on the left have to figure out the best way to frame this entire debate. By tapping into peoples’ fears, the right wing has managed to frame the Bush presidency as a struggle against violent extremism, with a “we must do everything we can at all costs”-mentality toward that fight. Instead, we need to re-frame the Bush presidency for what it truly was – a massive grab for power by the Executive Branch to, in effect, turn this democracy into a dictatorship by abandoning our constitutional principles.
March 28th, 2009 at 10:24 amGDumbya, M-I-C (Millstone-in-Chief) . . . yup, I’d say that’s about right. Now, it looks like Chinless Mitch is contending for the title. What he fails to realize is that GDumbya has a life-time appointment to that position.
Everything confronting our nation at this time has its roots in GDumbya’s disastrous administration . . . sinking economy, treasure wasted on unnecessary and bungled wars, disregard for the rule of law, health coverage crisis, a culture of reliance on debt, anti-government mentality, etc., etc.
March 28th, 2009 at 10:29 amWhere is that man’s chin?
March 28th, 2009 at 10:34 amHe’s had it against the grindstone too long.
March 28th, 2009 at 10:37 amNevarmantis Says:
I think we’re both on it… his gullet is where he keeps his millstone…
March 28th, 2009 at 10:09 am
And here I always thought that was Mitch’s venom sac.
March 28th, 2009 at 10:41 amI think he meant to say “millstone around my jowl”
March 28th, 2009 at 11:14 amBush was a millstone around their necks that they wore proudly until the 2008 election. McConnell expects us to forget that he and the remainder of his party embraced Bush and everything he said and did and enabled him to become the “millstone” he was at the end.
March 28th, 2009 at 11:36 amWhew, talk about wishful thinking?
Republicans who supported Bush and Cheney 110% now think because Bush is gone we will think better about them? Bush may be gone but their transgressions persist.
March 28th, 2009 at 11:44 amIt’s not about Bush anymore, it’s about them. They are not to be trusted.
blistex11 Says:
Dr. Matt: I heard this one and it sent me into hysterics.
Truer things are said in jest. Bachmann has become the postergal for paranoid schizophrenia.
I really don’t believe we should be laughing at Bachmann. She is dangerous and the things she has been saying are treason. She is advocating sedition.
March 28th, 2009 at 11:51 am
These guys continue to absolutely boggle the mind with their ability to delude themselves and to avoid reality. It would seem that most adults with any degree of cognitive dissonance would begin to “see the light” after a while. Yet, these guys just go farther into the tunnel. It’s simply breathtaking to watch.
March 28th, 2009 at 11:57 amIn the last election, the American public rejected George Bush, the Republican party. Since the Republican party is continuing the policies that Bush set forth, I doubt that they are going to be coming back into favor any time soon. The only way the Republican party can regain favor with the public is if they come up with new ideas that make sense to the public.
March 28th, 2009 at 12:08 pmAnd yet the republicans supported bUSH 100%.
It’s quite funny how suddenly bUSH has become the scapegoat of the GOP since he is now out of office. My very republican sister recently told me “bUSH has ruined the republican party, he was the one who initiated all of these problems we are facing.”
Well of course I had to agree that bUSH is too be blamed for a lot but didn’t the republican party support him 100%? When the republican party held the majority wasn’t it them who spent money like there was no tomorrow? Wasn’t it the republican voters who voted twice for bUSH?
The truth really hurts these people.
March 28th, 2009 at 12:09 pmI am sure Newt has lots of ideas, many of them what Republicans would consider good. I also highly doubt there is a new or original one in the entire batch.
This appears to be the Republican idea of being eco-friendly…recycle old ideas.
March 28th, 2009 at 12:10 pmBilbo I agree! The republican party knows they are dead. This is why they are in attack, smear and fear mode. They are using the same tactics on Obama that they used on Clinton.
Their recent tactics of attack, smear and fear include:
1-One World Currency
2-Socialism
3-Obama is going to take our guns away
4-Obama’s teleprompter use
5-Anti-Americans are in congress and should be investigated
6-Obama is making our country unsafe
7-Phony birth certificate
I’m sure there are more that I’ve missed but the tactics listed just show how desperate and pathetic the republican party has become.
March 28th, 2009 at 12:16 pmThe Republican dictionary must be much thinner than the one used by the rest of the world. Words like loyalty, honor, honesty, fairness, decency, compassion seem to have been expunged for lacking relevant meaning.
March 28th, 2009 at 12:17 pmI remember the cries from the right that we all must support the president while our nation is at war and how some of us were unpatriotic and traitors for criticizing the bUSH policies and war strategy (or lack of). I guess this works only when a republican is president.
March 28th, 2009 at 12:20 pmRepublicans are very adept at pointing fingers and ducking responsibility. It is why so many of their leaders are not veterans.
What they are terrified about is that the public is slowly waking up to the knowledge that the stench from the disasters of the past eight years is still on the Republican’s shoes. People who work for a living know enough to leave the barn boots at the back door.
March 28th, 2009 at 12:29 pmBush became unpopular because he was the focal point of the failure and essential dishonesty of the Conservative ideology, not the other way around. What the Republicans don’t seem to get is that people don’t like their policies, not just their figurehead. It’s not Bush, Mitch. It’s you.
March 28th, 2009 at 12:46 pmUncle Fester Lurks Says:
And yet the republicans supported bUSH 100%.
It’s quite funny how suddenly bUSH has become the scapegoat of the GOP since he is now out of office.
Are they really so stupid? Are we supposed to think that Bush did all the things he did all by his little ole lonesome? Bush would not have been able to cripple this country the way he did without the lock-step lemming Republicans behind him. We know that and we are not going to forget it.
March 28th, 2009 at 12:49 pmI am completely heartsick today. I’m sure many of you visit mudflats.com for the latest on Alaskan politics. Well, the author of the site, AKM, has now been outed by a Democratic State legislator because AKM wrote an article about how rude he was in an e-mail exchange. This guy stalked her and somehow found out her real identity and published it. So now AKM will be subject to the retribution of Sarah Palin and any nut-job right winger in Alaska who decides to punish her for exposing the truth about Palin and Alaskan politics.
March 28th, 2009 at 12:52 pmbilbo, do you have a link for #56?
March 28th, 2009 at 1:04 pmBriseadh na Firefly Says:
bilbo, do you have a link for #56?
http://www.themudflats.net/
March 28th, 2009 at 1:08 pmAlthough I despise most tv reporting as trash on all sides, we cannot deny that fox is destroying in ratings all other networks so although ups might stop advertising, it is a drop in the bucket for fox. in fact, ups might lose more than they gain. again, i am an independent in most aspects but amanda was totally humiliated in front of the cameras. now with glen beck, he will only bring in more viewers so the future dominated party will be fox and its viewers. we can blame bush for this since we went from a incompetent out of control spender to competent obama out of control spender. remember everyone, us independents hold the ticket and at this time, many of us who voted for obama are terribly disappointed. he will be a one term president unfortunately. LOOK AT THE RATINGS NOW OUR OPINIONS
March 28th, 2009 at 1:23 pmNow that they’re free of bush, they’re free to be themselves. And, my oh my, they are a pitiful sight to see.
March 28th, 2009 at 1:56 pmGingrich’s hand is already being seen in the republicans’ counter tax-cut proposal, to cut taxes for those making less than $100,000. That’s roughly the upper limit for Reagan Democrats, and he’s hoping to peel those voters off of the democratic coalition, in time for the next presidential election cycle. There will be many more such initiatives, aimed specifically at the Reagan D’s, for Gingrich knows republicans’ only chance at regaining control is by narrowly-focused special interest group pandering, to that easily-frightened electoral subset.
March 28th, 2009 at 2:12 pmbillys, I’m repeating myself, but Fox is the number one cable news program. Network news has a much larger audience.
The link is on the other O’Reilly thread.
I can’t bring myself to fear the Fox news audience.
March 28th, 2009 at 2:22 pmIt’s funny that President Obama is supposed to have fixed everything the last administration broke by now, yet the Republicans are still trying to crawl out from under Bush’s shadow.
March 28th, 2009 at 2:30 pmThe public lost it faith in Bush and the Republican party.
They have spent the last two months rearranging the deck chairs on their Titanic. The country needs a viable Rebublican party. Sadly to get viable they have to admit they played a bigger roll then Bush in getting us in this mess. In some perverse way the Republican congress served Bill Clinton and the country far better than they did George Bush. They aren’t wasteing any time hanging thier boy out to dry.
I wonder if all the noise we are hearing is the current Republican party’s final death rattle.
March 28th, 2009 at 2:35 pmWow! So the Repubs are writing all these amendments that are created by the non-Congressional member Newt Gingrich. Amazing! Newt is yesterday’s news. That’s all the Repubs have to offer, just more of the same old failed policies. Yawn.
March 28th, 2009 at 3:04 pmbillys Says:
Yes we CAN deny it. Fox only leads cable. The networks still DWARF Fox ratings. Also Fox is the ONLY destination if what you want is your daily brainwashing fix while if what you want is actual information there are a lot of venues. So Fox laps up the troglydites and the normal humans are split among all the other stations. Fox found a special niche. MORONS.
March 28th, 2009 at 3:43 pmYeah I’ve been posting this story up here on think progess all day yesterday,,can you say TROLL REPELLANT?
I havent seen a single troll on this thread…..trolls trolls, you inbred sistergroping cowards, where are your bold reichwinger spasms of logic now? where are they?..probably hiding under the filthy mattress you call a mind, to try and escape the cognitive dissosance your extreme and deluded beleifs causes you…
March 28th, 2009 at 3:43 pmCan I get some clarification of how anyone might know who the next president might be? Is the fix in or is billys and the rest just pissing in the wind?
March 28th, 2009 at 5:01 pmbillys Says:
Yes we CAN deny it. Fox only leads cable. The networks still DWARF Fox ratings. Also Fox is the ONLY destination if what you want is your daily brainwashing fix while if what you want is actual information there are a lot of venues. So Fox laps up the troglydites and the normal humans are split among all the other stations. Fox found a special niche. MORONS.
billys, I disagree with you, strongly. Why have you so narrowly defined the FOX nitch! The Republicans are an equal opportunity camp, a big tent if you will. I am thinking more in the lines of a circus, three ringed. Morons has such a narrow scope.
Buffoons, clowns, wingnuts, idiots, and dittoheads broadens it up a bit.
March 28th, 2009 at 5:36 pmBilbo, what’s odd about the MudFlats outing is was done by a Democrat. Rep. Mike Doogan must still think he’s in the newspaper business, only Mudflats wasn’t a letter to the editor requiring name and city.
So why does he out someone likely to get abuse from the Repugnicant wing nuts? It must be to make himself bigger.
http://www.akdemocrats.org/doogan/032709_2_doogan_in_juneau.htm
There are some hypercompetitive people in politics.
March 28th, 2009 at 5:54 pm“We now have the opportunity to be on offense, offer our own ideas and we will win some.”
Haw ha! McConnell thinks being sidelined equals being on offense.
March 28th, 2009 at 6:22 pmThey say that congressional Republicans have no new ideas. Well, filibustering every major bill is a new idea! Never been tried before.
March 28th, 2009 at 6:24 pmCan we donate a nice plaque with this quote to the George W. Bush Library?
I’m sure they’d welcome the “donation”.
March 28th, 2009 at 6:47 pmWe now have the opportunity to be on offense, offer our own ideas and we will win some.”
We now have the opportunity to be even more offensive, offer recycled ideas from the 80’s and we might win some.”
There. Fixed it for him.
March 28th, 2009 at 6:48 pmMcConnel loved Bush in the past,but suddenly he discovered that Bush to be the reason why Republicans lost the House and the Presidency.
Republicans are struggling as it seems to find leadership these days,struggling for something they might say or do that can benefit the public.
May be Joe The Plumber will provide them with ‘how to win’ formula.!!
March 28th, 2009 at 8:48 pmMarch 28th, 2009 at 8:51 pm
The nitwit McConnell does not realize, he is a millstone, like the Criminal Bush.
March 28th, 2009 at 8:55 pmUh if Bush was so bad, why did the repubs praise him as an object of religious devotion right up until the 8th year ?
Kind of says even worse about the repubs.
March 28th, 2009 at 8:55 pm1. Candide, while I thouroughly agree that Bush was a millstone (or worse) for the entire country,
somehow I suspect that McConnel was only interested in what the Bush legacy would do to the GOP.
March 28th, 2009 at 8:56 pmwhere are the Bill O lovers? they pollute other threads, why don’t they pollute amandas comments? are they scared of her?
March 29th, 2009 at 12:44 amHey Mitch;In case you haven’t noticed,you and your GOP ideologues have been roundly rejected by the American people. You have had your sorry,incompetent,corrupt asses handed to you in the last two elections. Oh,that’s right,I forgot you are tone-deaf also.
March 29th, 2009 at 2:37 amyeah repugs bring back the felonious newt. bring back your best and brightest.
HAHAHAHAHA
when will you fools ever learn?
repugs and their no nothing gang
March 29th, 2009 at 8:50 amI find it odd that Mr. McConnell would say that about President Bush being a “millstone” around the collective necks of the Republican Party. As many have noted in comments preceding this one, the Republicans with their rank and file system danced to every tune that Mr. Bush played to them, to include everything in their power to still pass his failed policies when they were taken out of power by a mandate from the American people in 2006. I find this odd because he’s now admitting that the policies of Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney were toxic, policies that he and his yes men and women allowed to happen. Now we have a President who is doing everything he can to try and fix the damage caused by the policies of Mr. McConnell’s millstone and the GOP is opposing them and impeding President Obama at every turn. America trusted you guys with the reigns of our country once, and ya’ll lost the surplus, the world trade towers, part of the pentagon, and the entire city of New Orleans as well as put us into a needless war of choice that’s cost thousands of American men and women their lives, health and sanity not to mention the millions of people that are dead as a result of this war from other countries, sent our economy into a downward spiral, lost millions of jobs and set us back many years in environmental progress. You’re right Mr. McConnell President Bush and his administration was millstones but not around the neck of the Republican Party, but around the neck of the entire United States of America. A millstone that you guys tied around our neck. Mr. Lewis Black put it best when he said, “We all gave the President plenty of rope after 9-11, and he hung us all.”
March 29th, 2009 at 12:21 pmI think to have Bush be so unpopular and still have such a close election says a lot for the Republican party.
March 29th, 2009 at 12:49 pmTry the best homepage
Good Old Mich. He always is looking for an excuse to be offensive.
March 29th, 2009 at 6:16 pmWhat is he, St. Jude for the Republican party?
March 30th, 2009 at 3:06 amNice try but it’s a lost cause, for at least four years anyway, that the people they lost will be back to vote for his party.