A New Low for Senate Republicans: Mitch McConnell Filibusters his Own Bill to lift the Debt Ceiling

You want to know what is wrong with Senate Republicans -- look no further then the Minority Leader Mitch McConnell who had a first in the Senate -- filibustering his own bill.  You cannot make this up for the abject stupidity we are seeing out of the Republicans in Congress.

Maybe a certain large aerospace company who made rumored deal with McConnell in KY should be worried that he may not survive  the election in 2014 as Kentucky wants better representation.  If he loses in 2014, will that same company start losing sole source contracts and have to compete?  Who pulled McConnell's chain on this one for him to make himself look like an idiot?  Looks like he did it to himself with misjudging Majority Leader Reid and the Democrats.  Is Ashley Judd thinking about running for Senate getting to McConnell?

In fact there are a lot of Senate questions this week swirling around after Sen DeMint (R-SC), the defacto head of the Senate Tea Party who kept some members in line, announced his resignation on December 31st to take over the Heritage Foundation.  He may make more money but prestige wise -- no way.  Maybe he can do to the Koch Brother's Heritage Foundation what he did in Senate races by supporting some hard left conservatives in the primary who lost in the general.  Heritage was already hard right so how much further right can they go?  We are about to find out.

Then we have Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) now declaring the earth is 4.5 billion years old not under 10,000 years which he said a a few short days ago.  Guess he is no longer pandering to the hard right evangelicals. If that wasn't enough this week, along comes the author of the Ryan Budget that devastated senior citizens with Paul Ryan's speech at the Kemp dinner about we as Republicans respect everyone.  I guess that goes for women who were raped?  Has he quit defining rape at least for now?  Rhetoric has changed but has the basic philosophy of those two?  I doubt it especially from Ryan.  I was shocked when Rubio went hard right and became attached to DeMint as part of the hard right of the Senate.  Is he now going to move back to center right where he gave speeches on American Exceptionalism.

McConnell with filibustering his own bill which has never happened in the Senate has now topped my list for Stupidity of the Week -- trust me -- he had a lot of competition after the GOP Senate defeated the Disabilities Treaty and he could still be ousted as there are a few more days in the week.  It seems McConnell thought the Democrats didn't have the vote to pass his bill weakening the Congressional power on the debt ceiling so he called their bluff and he ended up on the short end of the stick

Can only imagine the look on Majority Leader Reid's face when he made this announcement:

“The Republican leader objects to his own idea,” Reid declared on the floor. “So I guess we have a filibuster of his own bill.”

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) scoffed at that notion that a senator would ask for a vote on a bill in good faith while requiring that it be “filibuster-proof.” 

“This may be a moment in Senate history, when a senator made a proposal that, when given an opportunity for a vote on that proposal, filibustered his own proposal,” he said. “I don’t think this has ever happened before.” 

Don't think I could have kept a straight face when announcing a Senator especially the Republican leader was going to filibuster his own bill:

McConnell Filibusters His Own Bill To Lift Debt Ceiling
Sahil Kapur December 6, 2012, 2:20 PM  

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) wanted to prove on Thursday that Democrats don’t have the votes to weaken Congress’ authority on the debt limit. Instead they called his bluff, and he ended up filibustering his own bill. 

The legislation, modeled on a proposal McConnell offered last year as a “last-choice option” to avert a U.S. debt default, would permit the president to unilaterally lift the debt ceiling unless Congress mustered a two-thirds majority to stop him. 

McConnell brought up the legislation Thursday morning. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) initially objected, seemingly proving the Republican leader’s point that it cannot pass the Senate. But then Reid ran it by his members and, in the afternoon, agreed to hold that same vote. This time it was McConnell who objected. 

 Excerpt:  Read More at Talking Points Memo

How can voters take the Congress seriously after things like this?  We are certainly not getting our monies worth as taxpayers from the current Congress.  Time to cut their salaries, their staffs and their benefits until we see progress being made on what is best for the American people not just the wealthy!