Great, great article on Cocaine. Gives me chills about our Senator.
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He has been educating GOP senators, coordinating with the White House, preaching the importance of party unity and bearing the brunt of Democratic attacks on behalf of his 53 members "
"But while McConnell could never have anticipated that he would be the top Senate Republican during a presidential impeachment, in many ways the 77-year-old has been preparing for decades to lead Republicans through a politically perilous moment like this one."
“He’s the only person at this point in the Senate that can manage the task at hand,” said Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C.
McConnell’s supporters are watching now with great excitement. They expect the events of the coming days to mark the triumphant culmination of McConnell’s years of study, observation and application of consensus-building strategies that have allowed him, time and again, to persuade colleagues to do what he wants while making them feel good about it."
“Have you been to Kentucky lately? They can’t get enough of Trump,” said Jennings, who recalled the enthusiastic welcome McConnell got at a local fish restaurant in Louisville after the Senate confirmed Trump’s controversial Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh in 2018.
And while McConnell has long held the reputation of being a fierce institutionalist,
critics are pledging to make sure the majority leader goes down in history not as a savvy rules tactician, but as a ruthless political operator who loves his party more than he loves the Senate. (Could much better can it get???)"
"Asked to respond to the Democrats casting McConnell as a partisan villain, Republicans close to the majority leader laughed.
For one thing, they said, he doesn’t care what people think of him. The walls of his Senate office are covered in unflattering political cartoons of him from over the years, and
at one point he started answering the phone as “Cocaine Mitch” in reference to a now infamous campaign ad from a failed Republican Senate candidate in West Virginia.
“I’ve been around a lot of politicians in my career and most of them are sensitive to every little thing. And
he is sensitive to nothing,” said Jennings.
“In terms of skin thickness? Level ten.”"
"Josh Holmes, another former chief of staff and longtime political adviser, agreed, describing the majority leader as
“ruthlessly effective” who has “absolutely” relished the process of strategizing around the impeachment trial.
“He is absolutely committed to winning, "
https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/congress/article239579828.html