McConnell offers scathing 'scorched earth' filibuster warning | TheHill
He just described his obstructionism in the previous Congress and in Obama's Presidency.Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) offered a scathing warning to Democrats on Tuesday, amid growing pressure to nix the legislative filibuster.
“Let me say this very clearly for all 99 of my colleagues: Nobody serving in this chamber can even begin, can even begin, to imagine what a completely scorched-earth Senate would look like,” McConnell said.
He added that in a chamber that functions on a day-to-day basis by consent, meaning all senators sign off on an action, "I want our colleagues to imagine a world where every single task, every one of them, requires a physical quorum."
But, in a warning shot to Democrats, he outlined a laundry list of conservative policies that could pass the next time Republicans control the chamber: Defunding Planned Parenthood and so-called "sanctuary cities," anti-abortion legislation and nationwide concealed carry reciprocity.
"So the pendulum ... would swing both ways, and it would swing hard," he added.
Yes, Moscow Mitch is perversely proud of his own evil obstructionism. But the more important message is that Republicans would abolish the filibuster in any event, whenever they're in power and it would suit their agenda. The idea that if the R's can't filibuster the D's won't be able to either when the screw turns misses the key point: R's with 51-59 seats will selectively override filibuster whenever it suits their agenda anyway. That they didn't use this power under Obama to repeal Obamacare is simply that they had enough self-awareness to know that such a repeal — rather than mere babbled promises to "replace" Obamacare at some future date — would be a disaster for them. (And of course the gamble that gullible D's would allow the filibuster to coexist with their own brief turn at control.)