Lipless weasel Mitch McConnell sends letter to Harry Reid, warning him to give GOP input

[Amerigo Vespucci]

McConnell warns Reid to give GOP input
By J. Taylor Rushing
Posted: 11/21/08 11:48 AM

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Friday sent a message to Democrats that Republicans are not prepared to bend to a stronger majority.

In letter to Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), McConnell urged Reid to adopt a more conciliatory tone and warned him that Republicans will unite against Democrats if he does not. The letter was signed by all 40 GOP senators and two Republican incumbents who are awaiting the results of elections in Georgia and Minnesota.

“As a caucus, Republicans will insist on our basic right to participate in the legislative process,” McConnell wrote to Reid. “The Republican Conference intends to protect the Senate’s history of full and open consideration of major legislation, which includes a fair amendment process and the opportunity for debate.”

Reid responded by saying that he supports working across party lines but blasting Republicans for obstructing the work of the current Congress.

“I have always said that Democrats and Republicans need to work together to pass legislation that helps people in their daily lives. After Republicans in the last Congress opted for a strategy of blocking progress, the American people clearly rejected those partisan tactics,” Reid stated. “They have given us another opportunity to work together in the 111th Congress as the people of this country expect, and I look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to come up with solutions that will get our country back on track.”

The minority leader also held an unusually long news conference Friday to reiterate points made in his letter. He said Republicans are not sorry to see President Bush leave office, given his unpopularity, and praised Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) for running a “fabulous” campaign “under very, very difficult circumstances.”

McConnell pressed Democrats to address the future of Social Security and urged Republicans to defeat ‘card-check’ legislation that would allow workers to bypass secret-ballot elections when organizing unions.

“What I’m saying to the new president and the new administration: ‘Do big things, and do them in the center, and you’ll be surprised at how much support you might have,’ " he said at the news conference.

Otherwise, McConnell warned, his party would stand together and block a far-left agenda.

“You're likely to have very significant unity among Republicans," he said.

In regard to this week’s failure to pass an auto bailout package, McConnell said he supported a plan by Sens. Kit Bond (R-Mo.) and George Voinovich (R-Ohio) that would lift restrictions on $25 billion in loans that has already been granted by Congress to help the industry make more fuel-efficient cars. The White House has also pushed that idea as the only possibility to pass through the Senate.

“It strikes me that the Bond-Voinovich proposal, which is basically rewriting the terms of money we’ve already appropriated, would be a way to get a law,” he said.

McConnell bristled when a reporter suggested his reelection race in Kentucky against Democrat Bruce Lunsford was “close,” but said he had no ill will toward Reid or Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Charles Schumer (N.Y.), who poured millions into the race to defeat McConnell.

“Let me hasten to remind you, my election was not close,” McConnell said. “I won by over 100,000 votes, I carried 87 out of 120 counties, and it was the third-largest margin I’ve ever gotten. It was contested, but it was not close.”

McConnell took nine days to return a congratulatory phone call from Reid after the election, but the Republican leader returned a flurry of other calls earlier. McConnell spokesman Don Stewart said McConnell called President-elect Barack Obama the day after the election — Obama returned the call a day later — but took another week before calling Reid back on Nov. 13. Stewart said he did not know the reason for the delay, but did say McConnell had a long list of callbacks to make.

McConnell on Friday said he was not disheartened by the widespread GOP losses on Nov. 4 because the party has a strong stock of governors and up-and-coming Senate leaders.

“We are beginning a slow and deliberative process of finding our way back,” he said. “Both parties have done this periodically. My reaction to the election was not one of despair, but one of understanding that we have to retool and come back.”

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/mcconnell-warns-reid-to-give-gop-input-2008-11-21.html

[gratuitous]

1. Oh, let's see . . .

What stock response from the Republican Horde of Neener-Neener Answers should we use?

Who cares what you think?

We have a mandate.

We've earned political capital, and we're going to spend it.

Go fuck yourself.

Hmmm. Which is most appropriate? Think, think.

[LittleApple81]

2. The last one. nt

[TheKentuckian]

3. My response would be...

Senator McConnell, obviously we will be extending the same courtesy that the Democratic Caucus enjoyed under President Bush and the GOP majority.
Clearly, our commitment to checks and balances as well as continuing the long traditions of civility and constructive debate in the Senate will continue as it has been demonstrated by you our friends across the aisle in the recent times when the shoe was on the other foot.
I appreciate your concerns and hope we will be able to count on your caucus to be as accommodating as we were when the roles were reversed.

[LiberalFighter]

4. Doesn't Mitchell know where to find the toilet?

A shame that his wife won't be the Secretary of Labor. Good riddance!

[TheKentuckian]

5. No, the living turd people fear the toilets far more than death

[SoCalDem]

6. and in other news: mouse sends nasty warning note to cat... n/t

[DemoTex]

7. "Hymn, hymn."

Fuck hymn.

[ColbertWatcher]

8. What a dumbass. Of course Reid is going to include the GOP in stuff.

Does McConnell believe people will see this as a sign of his leadership?

[lonestarnot]

9. I think the light switch for the basement is located on the right hand side of the wall as you're

going down fuckwad.

[malaise]

10. Why don't we email these to him with a note

Read this over the holidays Mitch
http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0670018201/ref=sib_dp_pt#reader-link

http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0670018201/ref=sib_dp_pt#reader-link

[Tutonic]

11. Ok and Harry Reid is just such a worm that he will probably fold his

tent immediately in favor of lipless Mitch. Can we elect a democrat with a spine?

[mascarax]

12. Shut up, Mitch

Maybe you should work on your "slow and deliberative process"...instead of writing whiny letters and holding news conferences.