In what Senator McConnell is calling “a Nixonian” event, Mother Jones has released some recordings of the campaign office of Senator McConnell’s staff discussing less than honorable approaches to attack then potential candidate Ashley Judd.
Important fact: the senator has no proof of any buggin. He just threw it out in a repeated talking point because he knew it would make the news.
When asked three or four times if he thought using an opponent’s mental health history is “fair game” in political campaigns, all McConnell did was repeat himself… every time… about being attacked and bugged by left wing politics… even though he and his campaign have no proof whatsoever who recorded the meetings…. yet in the mud as usual, McConnell blames a liberal organization of bugging his campaign office. Without talking points, Mitch McConnell has no voice. Without dirt and lies, he has no point.
Did Senator McConnell bug his own office as a political ploy?
“Caught on Tape!” seems to be something Mother Jones and David Corn are specializing in lately. This time, it’s McConnell’s staff at the senator’s campaign headquarters who are heard discussing Ashley Judd’s mental health in the past and, of course, how that might used in a campaign against her if she had decided to run against McConnell for his seat in the Senate.
We all know politics is ugly, but it does bring a new twinge when we hear such things actually discussed around a meeting table in a campaign office.
Since Senator McConnell is trying desperately to win over the extreme right-wing in his state (who basically hate the government, and all things liberal before they even take their first breath in the morning) he is demanding an investigation by the FBI and using words like “Nixonian tactics” by the “liberal” Mother Jones outfit. I’m sure the more extreme parts of his base are cheering away. The thing most media outlets seem to forget: the far right LIKE this crap. The tape will get more support fromt the wacky right, not less.
Insofar as who bugged McConnell’s office: sorry, senator McConnell, you claim it’s a progressive entity and some conspiracy theory (we know how republicans love conspiracies), but it’s most likely a pesky intern who snuck in a recording device.Not everything is a conspiracy. Mother Jones got their hands on the thing, which is exactly how a young intern would think. After what happened to Mitt Romney, “David Corn, that guy who released the Romney 47% tape” is the first person to whom they’d turn.
But it’s OK, we understand that you (our friend Mitch) are worried about losing your job by being primaried from the right, so you have to blame some larger liberal organization. In truth this sort of thing is what you want, and what you need, to prove to Kentuckians that you’re as far right as they come.
The people who will run against Mitch McConnell in a primary are also prone to being very, very paranoid and believe whole-heartedly in conspiracy theories. Who’s to say that they won’t start claiming the senator had his staff record it and leak the tape yourself? That gets the story out, and gives him deniability at the same time….
Makes sense, really: the senator stages the meeting, records it, then leaks the tape to a liberal media online magazine that’s already well-known for such things. Then what happens? All the voters and media outlets jump on it so now the world is reminded that Ashley Judd had some mental health struggles in the 90’s, AND the McConnel campaign gets to say that they would never, NEVER, use such information in a campaign…. hence looking clean and honorable. Sure, you talked about it at a meeting, but you wouldn’t use it… all you have to do is leak it, then shout “NIXONIAN TACTICS!” in front of every microphone… kill two birds with one recording.
Senator McConnell… did you bug your own campaign office? Two points for creativity if you did. The odd part is given the far right’s love for conspiracies… I have no idea if such a scenario would help or harm the Senator.
Your guess is as good as mine.
