Nancy Pelosi Uses Unfounded 'Moscow Mitch' Smear Against McConnell
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday referred to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell as “Moscow Mitch,” using the recently-coined moniker to attack McConnell for blocking legislation passed by the Democrat-controlled House.
Speaking to the Illinois Democratic County Chairs’ Association in Springfield, Illinois, Pelosi said that “we all want to invest in building our democracy and saving it from any enemies, foreign and domestic,” according to The Hill.
“We’ve sent our legislation to the Senate. Moscow Mitch says that he is the Grim Reaper. Imagine describing yourself as the Grim Reaper, that he’s going to bury all this legislation,” Pelosi said.
“Well, we have news for him. All this legislation is alive and well in the general public.”
The California Democrat’s remarks come after left-wing commentators have attacked McConnell over his refusal to bring highly partisan election security bills to the Senate floor.
McConnell took to the floor days after those attacks to explain why the criticism was so misguided.
The Senate majority leader pointed out the absurdity of expecting a Republican Senate to pass House Democrats’ partisan legislation by unanimous consent.
“These theatrical requests happen all the time here in the Senate,” he said. “I promise that nobody involved, including my friend the Democratic Leader who made the request, actually thought he’d get a Republican Senate to instantly, unanimously pass a bill that got one Republican vote over in the House.”
“I was called unpatriotic, un-American and essentially treasonous by a couple of left-wing pundits on the basis of bold-faced lies,” McConnell said.
“This kind of objection … doesn’t make Republicans traitors or un-American; it makes us policymakers with a different opinion,” he added.
McConnell took establishment outlets MSNBC and The Washington Post to task for accusing him of “what amounts to treason.”
Watch his full speech below.
The Kentucky Republican’s statement was no exaggeration. The Post ran an opinion column titled “Mitch McConnell is a Russian asset.”
On MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” co-host Joe Scarborough called McConnell “un-American” and charged him with “aiding and abetting Vladimir Putin’s ongoing attempts to subvert American democracy.”
“This is the state of left-wing politics in 2019,” McConnell continued in his speech. “These people have worn out the volume knob so badly that they have nothing left but the most unhinged smears.”
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