Following the lead of his potential replacement Jim DeMint, who said:
"Speaker Boehner's $800 billion tax hike will destroy American jobs and allow politicians in Washington to spend even more, while not reducing our $16 trillion debt by a single penny."
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell wants
nothing to do with John Boehner's latest GOP offer in the "fiscal cliff" negotiations:
[McConnell] declined to endorse a proposal issued the day before from Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) that would raise revenue by $800 billion.
But that doesn't mean he doesn't sort-of like it:
Instead, McConnell praised Boehner for showing leadership and scolded the president for not taking a more active role.
Which translates to:
Phenomenal job, John! It's a piece of shit, but at least it's a Republican piece of shit. You never know, it may come in handy as a stage prop. Oh yeah, Obama sux!
As far as the "stalemate" is concerned, the
veteran of backroom deals had this to say:
"Frankly I had hoped that we would be accomplishing more in the real talks that are going on privately but I can tell you, being aware of those, there’s nothing going on privately that’s not going on publicly," he said. "We’ve wasted an enormous amount of time here sparring back and forth in public."
Yup, out of the same mouth that said this:
"If there is one thing Americans loathe about Washington it’s the backroom dealing to win the vote of organizations with power and influence at the expense of everyone else."
and this:
"[...] free speech isn’t theirs to ration out to those willing to play ball — it’s a right guaranteed by our First Amendment to all Americans.”
about Democrats when it involved
campaign finance reform.
McConnell would much rather avoid making the same mistake he seems to be praising Boehner for making:
[A senior Senate GOP aide] said McConnell had no intention of negotiating in public by voicing support for various proposals.
In other words: Thanks for taking one for the team, John!
...
Side note: It sure is a refreshing to see the "job destroying" talking point used by DeMint directed at fellow Republican John Boehner, rather than Democrats, for a change.