It seems Mitch made some uncharacteristically sloppy moves that resulted in Rand getting the opening to grab the spotlight.
From AP via the Boston Herald:
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, generally seen as a master congressional deal-maker, walked into a legislative dead end on domestic surveillance that left some of his friends bewildered.
The Kentucky Republican had repeatedly insisted on continuing the government's bulk collection of Americans' phone data. That put him at odds with the Obama administration and the Republican-run House, which overwhelmingly endorsed significant limits.
Senators say McConnell overestimated his ability to force a deadline-driven extension, and seemed to misjudge the bipartisan support for the House-crafted changes.
Most puzzling to some were the veteran lawmaker's actions that allowed a first-term senator — his GOP colleague from Kentucky, Rand Paul — to use the Senate's elaborate rules to delay things long enough to cause the entire USA Patriot Act to lapse for a couple of days, starting at midnight Sunday.
As Democrats heaped scorn on McConnell, even some allies said they didn't understand what end game he had in mind.
"I don't know. I just don't," said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.
"You'll have to ask him," said Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss...
Senators in both parties said the Patriot Act lapse could have been avoided if McConnell had let the debate play out a few weeks earlier. "Senate Republicans wasted precious time as the clock ran out on key national security authority," said Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois...
"I don't know why McConnell got in the way of this. It just doesn't make sense to me," said Rep. Bill Flores, a senior House Republican from Texas.
When something in politics doesn't seem to make sense, it means it only makes sense in terms of deep politics.
I don't know what went down or why, but Mitch didn't end up as majority leader by making sloppy plays like this.
-RW
I we really supposed to believe that Rand would have been allowed to put on his little show on Sunday if it actually made a difference. As it is, they got what they wanted with the Freedom act which is even better for the powers-that-be than the patriot act, AND- as we read here and elsewhere - even if the patriot act had expired, NOTHING would have changed in terms of surveillance. So, tell me again how Rand is a hero and mcconnell - much less the surveillance state - is a loser.
ReplyDeleteWith each passing day, it seems to me that Rand is playing the role of Reek from The Game of Thrones.