Stay classy, conservatives:
But in an interview with POLITICO, Manuel Miranda – who orchestrated the letter – went much farther, saying that Mitch McConnell should “consider resigning” as Senate minority leader if he can’t take a harder line on President Barack Obama’s first Supreme Court nominee.
Miranda accused McConnell of being “limp-wristed” and “a little bit tone deaf” when it comes to judicial nominees.
Miranda, now the chairman of the conservative Third Branch Conference, served as counsel to McConnell’s predecessor, then-Senate Republican Leader Bill Frist. He left that job in 2004 amid allegations that he improperly accessed thousands of memos and emails from Democratic staffers – circumstances McConnell’s supporters recalled as they pushed back hard against Miranda’s arguments Monday.
For those of you keeping track at home, the conservative spokesperson is now using homophobic language to bully the Senate Minority Leader into fighting for the right to call a Hispanic woman a racist and to filibuster her appointment. The great conservative outreach continues unabated.
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aimai
Wait, you missed one–The HISPANIC conservative used a homphobic slur to force Mcconell to call sotomayor a racist. So that’s “party of one” on the outreach, at any rate.
aimai
MikeJ
Big surprise. Criminals don’t like judges. Miranda should go Cheney himself.
Patriot
Somebody forgot to give Miranda his warning. It’s not nice to call the Senate minority leader limp-wristed.
NonyNony
A Senate Minority Leader who already has rumors swirling about him involving his being in the closet to boot. I doubt that this was a simple “why don’t you man up, you girly man” shot from Miranda -I read this more as a “we know you’ve got a closet – if you want to keep it that way ya better listen to us” threat.
MikeJ
You have to assume that about all Republicans at this point.
beltane
These people are so nasty, individually and collectively, that is was only a matter of time until they began sinking their fangs into one another.
MattF
My suspicion is that the threats that Karl Rove used to make in private to keep waverers in line are now being made in public over the intertubes. I’d pass the popcorn, but I’ve got to go out and buy some more.
ppcli
I agree with NonyNony: “bully the Senate Minority Leader” is less apt a phrase than “threaten to blackmail the Senate Minority Leader”.
.
Even classier.
Brachiator
@Patriot:
Miranda Warning! Good one.
There is zero risk in this guy using homophobic language. There are, after all, no gays in the Republican Party, and no gay Republican politicians. Just ask Larry Craig.
Keith G
I remember wondering in the late 1980s, when would the Republican Party begin to out-stupid the Democrats. I am feeling better these days.
gbear
It’s what they call a big tent. Funny they couldn’t squeeze Wright in there somehow.
Persia
@NonyNony: Are there any straight men in the Republican party?
eric
here is the difference between the dems and the gop: when the dems were out of power, you saw ineffectual, wishy-washy, third way bs; with the gop you see balls-to-the-wall viciousness. the former creates no ill will, the latter, well, we will have to see about that.
eric
kay
I think it’s great how they keep petulantly demanding resignations when they don’t get what they want.
Pelosi should resign, McConnell should resign, and Sotomayor should withdraw. Right. Got it.
What happened to relying on elections? Just giving up on that?
rob!
Maybe Miranda could call McConnell a “limp-wristed hunchback” or something, just to work in another minority to insult.
Zifnab
@Keith G: It would be more fun to watch if it wasn’t a race to the bottom.
Zifnab
@eric:
Pardon? The Democrat third-way “give the opposition everything they want and a free pony, too” approach created a whole fuckton of ill will.
It cost us election after election and – when we finally did win majorities again – continued to hemorrhage political capital to “win” some of the worst legislation you could ask for. I’ve got your ill-will right fucking here.
You want to know what wins popular support? Doing what the public asks of you. Bending over for unpopular legislation isn’t any better than fighting viciously to defend unpopular legislation. At the end of the day, the only thing I care about is whether my country is giving me what I ask of it. If the politicians can’t do that, it doesn’t matter whether they’re hard line or weak kneed. They’re not doing their jobs.
gbear
More on Miranda via TPM:
They REALLY can’t help themselves.
DZ
If the Dems (and I am reluctantly one of them) had cojones, they would say ‘ fine, let’s have a filibuster, a real one. All the way. As long as you understand that no conservative jurist will ever be confirmed again in this century’.
mclaren
Why not? The Governator Ahhhnold used homophobic language to try to bully CA’s state legislators into going along with his far-right agenda a few years back — he called them “girly-men.”
When Ahhhhnold does it, everyone loves it. When the Republicans in congress do it, it’s evil and bad and terrible.
Calouste
@kay:
Yes. SATSQ.
Brachiator
@mclaren:
Sorry. He was parodying a line from a Saturday Night Live routine that had nothing to do with homophobia “Pumping Up With Hans and Franz”).
Actually, the Dems need to shut this crap down. The Republicans would love it if they could prevent Sotomayor from joining the bench when it begins its new term in October (and she will need a little prep time, as anyone would, to get familiar with her new job). This would be merely a symbolic victory, but it’s all the GOP has now. But it would also be a typically childish gesture on the part of conservatives.
someguy
Wow, he’s one of the last guys you’d expect but the rumors about Republicans like this usually turn out to be true so I’ll take it as truth. I had no idea. That whole Elaine Chao thing and their three daughters had me fooled. Not that that means anything – look at the Chief Justice.
TenguPhule
What’s even more headspinning is the contortions given by conservative “up or downers” to justify fillbustering now.
Their excuse?
“It’s a different kind of fillibuster from the ones Democrats wanted to do and thus is extempt from all arguments regarding Democratic fillibusters for Bush Appointed Judges”
Jay Andrew Allen
Except for that part where, you know, not everybody loved it.
What version of reality were you living in at the time, anyway?
Michael
That is some hardball.
There have long been rumored to be some photos of Mitch floating around from when he had been a local official in Louisville. From what I understood, they involved a very young man, and were taken by a cop affiliated with his security detail.
I had a very specific conversation at one time with a GOP state senator who claimed to have seen them. My understanding was that they were being kept in a secure spot by a few people, and that Elaine is a beard.
JR
@Michael: The rumor I heard most often when I was (very briefly) working in Louisville was that McConnell’s Army discharge was arranged to help him save face after being caught in a compromising situation. I give that rumor about as much credibility as the one you cite, but that’s how I always heard it.
jake 4 that 1
A guy named Miranda calling another guy limp-writsted.
Only in America.
There’s also an M&M joke in here somewhere but I need more coffee.
Bokonon
This is sort of like watching sharks attack each other during a feeding frenzy. And, heck, Obama isn’t even throwing chum in the water.
And … yeah, as someone who used to work on Capitol Hill, when I saw that “limp wristed” comment, I knew EXACTLY what Miranda was doing.
The question is why? What can taking that shot possibly get Miranda (aside from assuring that McConnell is now going to use his guts for garters)? That is not a step to be taken casually.
Napoleon
@JR:
And I recall hearing that McConnell has refused to release documents related to his discharge from the military.
Calouste
@jake 4 that 1:
There was also this case in Florida where someone complained about kids being more or less openly gay at the Ponce de Leon school.
kay
@Calouste:
Remember when “resign, you scoundrel” had some shock value? It used to mean something.
They say it weekly, now. They want everyone to just quit? Is that a plan?
JosieJ
@beltane:
By my lights, it’s taken way too long.
JR
@Napoleon: He has not released them to my knowledge (I had access to most of the opp research from the last cycle and that was certainly absent), but I still don’t buy the rumor.
MNPundit
McConnell too?! Is there ANYONE in the Republican Congress that isn’t rumored to be gay?
Little Dreamer
John, I told ya they were gonna try to filibuster. You didn’t listen to me.
JR
Thought for the day:
Know how Beltway types like to say that a “gaffe” is when someone accidentally speaks the truth?
In that vein, based on the Sotomayor “wise Latina” brouhaha, a “misstatement” is when someone says any statement that would give the right wing something to wax indignant over regardless of context.
Napoleon
@JR:
Here is more on that rumor:
http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/tapped_archive?month=06&year=2009&base_name=miranda_walks_back_comments_on
numbskull
Miranda is one of those shit stains that will keep resurfacing (similar to Cheney, Rumsfeld, et al.). He made one mistake: he stupidly did his master’s bidding and in so doing pissed off Hatch. Guess who was left standing? Hatch is still there; Manny and the Kitty Killer were pwned. Had nothing to do with serving the people or honest behavior, of course. It was just one shit sticking the shiv into the backs of another shit and his minion.
However, at the time I remember thinking “Manny is such a complete amoral creep – there is NO WAY the Republicans will ever let him just go away. He’s way too valuable for the underhanded crap they will forever need to pull.” And so it’s come to pass. They’ve kept the little blister percolating along on wingnut welfare and now he’s bubbled to the top of another fart. It’s funny that he’s heading up an organization that previously fought for just the opposite of what it does now, but hey, that’s exactly the type of job you give to someone of Manny’s talents.
The guy is a sociopath.
someguy
Why hasn’t Aravosis gone after this? Seems to me that with a Dem governor running Kentucky, the time would be right for somebody to cross the rainbow line of silence and make the majority a little more fillibuster proof (assuming Franken is a done deal).
The Grand Panjandrum
@gbear: The rest of the TPM piece is pretty good as well.
(My emphasis added)
Great roll model for young Republicans. Oops! Forgot. Young Republican is an oxymoron these days, innit?
torrentprime
@Michael: The funny / sad thing is that any outing of McConnell or any other “known” closeted gay GOPer would not even slow the base down. They would chew him up, demand his ouster, throw him to the side after years of faithful water-carrying, and primary him with a “real conservative” without hesitation.
Michael
I just had a fun memory of going to a GOP event back when Mitch was a mere local official and calling him a “Howdy Doody looking motherfucker” as he was putting his briefcase and binders in his car trunk.
I was just a young punk then. Mitch should’ve kicked my ass and owned my teeth, but he didn’t. Never did understand that – I had a beating coming.
David Hunt
Ah, but it does exactly the same thing that it did before: it opposes judicial appointments favorable to Democrats and supports appointments favorable to Republicans. The only thing that’s the exact opposite is the arguments (using the term loosely) they use to support their positions.
Napoleon
@numbskull:
Roger Stone is a better example of the type of person on the right that no matter what they welcome him in the tent.
Mayken
@mclaren:
As a California, I would like to just say “Bullshit!” Many, many of us here in Cali called him an asshat for using such language. Arnie is a well-known sexist and no friend to the gay community either. No, when Arnie does it we all cringe. I still cannot believe my fellow residents elected this clown. Twice! 2010 cannot come soon enough!
El Cid
From SourceWatch.
Blue Raven
@Brachiator:
Sorry, but “girly-man” was homophobic coming from Hans and Franz, whether it was meant to make them look stupid or not. Archie Bunker as a character was no less a bigot, target of the joke or not.
Tax Analyst
Or just tap three times in a public toilet stall. Then you can ask the Republican in the stall next to you if there’s any truth to it.
Tax Analyst
Or just tap three times in a public toilet stall. Then you can ask the Republican in the stall next to you if there’s any truth to it.
Who knows? You could end up with a position under (or above) a United States Senator.
(Edit: didn’t know that my first post attempt went through)
Anne Laurie
NonyNony called it. As any large-scale criminal enterprise starts to collapse, every thug & bone-breaker inside the Bada-Bing resorts to threating all the other thugs with public exposure as they nervously search for individual bolt-holes. The Republican Party no longer has much in the way of “benefits” to offer in reward for party loyalty, but 30+ years of gleeful ratfvcking by people like Miranda & Rove gives them a rich cache of blackmail material.
Notorious P.A.T.
I’ve been wondering about that, myself. Married at 40, adopted children. . .
Woodrowfan
Or just tap three times in a public toilet stall.
Speaking of gay guys, wasn’t that a Tony Orlando song??
Brachiator
@Blue Raven:
As the link referenced in Comment #25 indicated, some Democrats loved to generate some faux outrage when The Governator referenced them as “girly-man.” However, the original SNL skit and its characters were very popular, and there just ain’t much in the way to show that people took them seriously in any way as anti-gay bigots. If anything, they were another example of an ambiguously gay duo. Wiki notes the way in which Hans and Franz made their way into popular culture:
People who assert that the Hans and Franz stuff is “obviously” homophobic or insulting are just straining to make a connection that just isn’t there.
As long as a closeted gay politician avoids arrest in any major sex-related scandal, the GOP faithful will continue to observe their version of “don’t ask, don’t tell.”
And look for the mainstream media to remain complicit in this. It would be so easy for a reporter to ask relevant Republican politicians who spout off about being against gay marriage or gay rights, “But, Representative X, aren’t you gay?”
But they won’t do it.
“Knock3 times on the toilet if you want me.”
Mike P
Pardon this if it was already mentioned, but this same douchebag made some questionable remarks about African Americans today as well. See either Adam Serwer or big media Matt for more.
binzinerator
@kay:
Yep. They call it Goin’ Galt.
tammanycall
@Patriot:
Hey-oh! But, seriously folks…
someguy
Bullshit it wouldn’t slow the base down.
Can you say, “filibuster-proof”?
Dave M
Speaking of people who can’t help themselves, Uncle Pat is on Hardball doing that ol’ stirring up white male racial resentment thing he does so well.
Woodrow "asim" Jarvis Hill
@Brachiator: When did “it’s popular” become a synonym for “not offensive?”
Don’t mean to pick a fight, but I think “girlie-man” was, in the SNL skits, meant to be an Archie Bunker-style joke, a way of showcasing the characters as idiots. At least, that’s how I took it.
And, like the racist crap Archie said, taking it out of that context wreaks what humor is there, leaving just the homophobia and a Governator looking like a fool.
Allan
Miranda is a world-class douchenozzle.
But Mitch McConnell? When I learned he was married to Elaine Chao, my first thought was, I wonder which one of them is the top.
Brachiator
When it fails to offend anyone except pearl-clutchers and rebunkers who want to re-create what was originally a comedy bit into a political issue.
Which of course, does not mean that the bit was intended to cause offense, or that anyone ever took it that way.
This guy is like a broken record.
freelancer
A WSJ “Op-ed” today, is not commentary, but a cut out of Obama’s 2005 floor speech on why he voted against John Roberts.
I swear this is Wingnut Ovaltine Code for, “Obama favors emo-driven liberal gynos who will vote against all that is righteous and good, as opposed to a crisp, brilliant white man who bases jurisprudence upon the law.”
Mike P
Here’s the bit from Miranda about blacks:
WTF does that mean?