During a paranoid speech at American Enterprise Institute, Sen. Mitch McConnell burst the right’s bubble by admitting that President Obama wasn’t involved in the IRS scandal.
Video of full McConnell speech at AEI:
This speech was loaded with right wing red meat paranoia, but see if you can notice how McConnell is trying to change his story on the IRS scandal. Keep in mind that Republicans have been trying to claim that President Obama was involved, “Then, of course, there’s the widespread effort to stifle speech from within the government itself, something the Obama Administration has been engaged in from its earliest days. Some have traced this back even further, to the 2008 campaign. But my central point last June, and my central point today, is this: the attacks on speech that we’ve seen over the past several years were never limited to a few Left-wing pressure groups or the DISCLOSE Act, which I’ll turn to in a minute. They extend throughout the federal government, to places like the FEC, the FCC, HHS, the SEC, and as all Americans now know — even to the IRS. These assaults have often been aided and abetted by the administration’s allies in Congress. And they’re as virulent as ever.
Later McConnell blamed unions for the IRS scandal, “The federal bureaucracy, and in particular the growth of public sector unions, has created an inherent and undeniable tension between those who believe in limited self-government and those who stand to benefit from its growth. Let’s face it, when elected leaders and union bosses tell the folks who work at these agencies that they should view half the people they’re supposed to be serving as a threat to democracy, it shouldn’t surprise any of us that they would. Why would we even expect a public employee — whose union more or less exists to grow the government — to treat someone who opposes that goal to a fair hearing? When the head of the union that represents unionized IRS workers publicly vilifies the Tea Party, is it any wonder that members of her union would get caught targeting them?”
Towards the end of his speech, McConnell ruled out Obama involvement, “There might be some folks out there waiting for a hand-signed memo from President Obama to Lois Lerner to turn up. What I’m saying is that a coordinated campaign to use the levers of government to target conservatives and stifle speech has been in full swing and open view for years. It’s been carried out by the same people who say there’s nothing more to the DISCLOSE Act than transparency, and no more to other disclosure regulations than good government.”
And just like the that, the Republican leader in the Senate killed the IRS scandal. The whole allure for Republicans has always been that the IRS scandal would prove that Obama is just like Nixon. Now that the full transcripts have been released, and the evidence has been revealed for the world to see, Republicans need a new story. This is why McConnell returned to that tried in true villain of conservative mythology, the unions.
Sen. McConnell was trying to salvage something from the wreckage of the IRS scandal, that’s why he claimed that the unions are responsible for everything. Sen. McConnell is the most unpopular senator in the country. He is currently tied with his Democratic challenger to his reelection campaign. This is why McConnell’s speech was loaded with right wing buzzwords and union attacks.
While trying to fire up the right and save his job, McConnell did something that he wasn’t intending to do. He virtually killed the IRS scandal.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
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