Mitch Begins to Lose his Grip on the Senate

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Eighty-year-old Mitch McConnell, the senior US senator from Kentucky, has been serving in the Senate since January of 1985, and he has been the Republican leader in the Senate since 2007, a post he routinely wins by unanimous vote when Congress reorganizes every two years.  This year, however, things were markedly different for McConnell when fellow Republican Senator Rick Scott of Florida announced that he was challenging McConnell for the leadership post.  Yesterday, in a secret-ballot vote, Mitch McConnell successfully beat back Senator Scott's challenge.

That vote was 37 for McConnell, 10 for Scott, and one member voted "present."  At this time the only senator besides Scott to have publicly stated his opposition to McConnell is Ted Cruz of Texas, but one can safely assume that a wily politician like Mitch McConnell knows exactly who his friends are - and aren't.

Mitch is keeping a list - and checking it twice!

Rick Scott seems like an odd choice to challenge the current leader.  Scott is not only associated with massive Medicare fraud in Florida, he has also been positioning himself as a proponent of gutting Medicare and Social Security.  Add to that the fact that Senator Scott has, until yesterday, headed up the National Republican Senatorial Campaign (NRSC), the party's campaign arm in the Senate that had very lackluster results in the recent election, and it would certainly seem that others would have been better positioned and equipped to have challenged McConnell.

But Rick Scott was the challenger, and he lost - and Mitch McConnell still reigns supreme among Senate Republicans.   McConnell is just one of the many stubborn barnacles from a generation reluctant to give up their hold on the ship of state.  Today the nation will also learn what plans 82-year-old House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has for her future after her party, the Democrats, narrowly lost control of the House.

Retiring gracefully and getting out of the way is always a good option, one that more people should consider.