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Shocking, Just Shocking . . .

Bill Haskell | July 29, 2022 9:00 am

Politics

Mitch McConnell Expels Joe Manchin from Republican Party

“Mitch McConnell Expels Joe Manchin from Republican Party“

Andy Borowitz, New Yorker, July 28, 2022

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report) – Accusing the West Virginia senator of “collaborating with the enemy,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell angrily announced Joe Manchin’s expulsion from the Republican Party.

“Joe Manchin’s behavior during the past twenty-four hours has shocked and dismayed his fellow-Republicans,” McConnell told reporters.

“He has gone over to the dark side.”

1 Comment

Fred C. Dobbs says:

July 31, 2022 at 4:41 pm

Democrats Gave Mitch McConnell a Taste of His Own Medicine

The New Republic – July 29

… On Wednesday, the Senate minority leader and the entire Republican Party were blindsided after Democrats came to a surprise deal on the Inflation Reduction Act, a bill that would raise corporate taxes, provide green energy funding, and cut prescription drug costs. Republicans were seemingly upset because they felt they had been tricked into passing additional legislation on Democrats’ agenda.

Shortly before the deal was announced, Republicans had joined with Democrats to pass a bill that would provide $280 billion to boost semiconductor production in the United States. For some Republicans, the problems went back further—to a bipartisan infrastructure bill (passed in November) and gun control legislation (passed in June). McConnell was making deals with his counterpart, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. Now Schumer and Democrats were double-crossing them by putting together a spending package after they had already roped Republicans into passing a series of smaller bills. …

“We got our ass kicked. It’s just that simple,” said Republican Senator John Kennedy. “Looks to me like we got rinky-doo’d. That’s a Louisiana word for ‘screwed.’ And we got our ass kicked. That’s the way my people back home see it.”

The problem, it seems, is that the typically more tepid Democrats have started to act like Republicans. The decision to hoodwink the GOP was a positively McConnellish move: Pass a series of bipartisan bills that wouldn’t have moved forward if Republicans knew that a version of the Democrats’ reconciliation bill was still alive; then, after passing them, move forward with that reconciliation bill. McConnell can only fume. “It’s an unmitigated disaster for the country, and we’re going to fight it as hard as we can,” he told reporters after the deal became public.

If Democrats are able to pass their new reconciliation bill—something that’s far from guaranteed—there is little Republicans can do to stop them. The party’s majorities in both houses are slim but large enough to move forward a bill that Democrats desperately need as they head out on the campaign trail. This partly explains why some Republicans are getting creative—and a little deranged—about other options. …