“As he escalates his war against Ukraine, Putin must be made to pay a far heavier price than he paid for his previous invasions of Georgia and Ukraine,” said Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell in a statement that called for “devastating sanctions,” military aid to Ukraine, an arrow through the heart of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, and a NATO buildup in eastern Europe.
the absolute foolishness of calling him Moscow Mitch https://t.co/JIAx2ppgbZ
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) February 22, 2022
Senator Mitt Romney has earned the (few) apologies he’s at last receiving from the progressive commentariat — though none have been forthcoming from former president Barack Obama or his then-vice president, Joe Biden — for their scoffs at his identification of Russia as a major, and potentially the chief, geopolitical rival of the United States. So too has McConnell, who was forced to endure the “Moscow Mitch” moniker — first used by MSNBC host Joe Scarborough during the Trump years. An incomplete list of its users includes:
- Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi: “Moscow Mitch says that he is the Grim Reaper.”
- The Kentucky Democratic Party, which sold gear with the label emblazoned on it.
- Chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee Maxine Waters: “Trump & #MoscowMitch rushed confirmation of #AmyConeyBarrett to seal Trump’s desire to KILL Obamacare.”
- Vanity Fair‘s Nick Bilton wrote about “#MoscowMitch and the Republican Plan to Steal 2020,” asking “Is Mitch McConnell a secret Russian agent, or just an unpatriotic hack?”
- At the Washington Post, Dana Milibank asserted that “Mitch McConnell is a Russian asset.”
- Others at the Post, including Colbert I. King and the inimitable Jennifer Rubin, came right out and published the moniker under their bylines.
- Senator Richard Blumenthal observed that McConnell “takes pride in being called the Grim Reaper, not so much Moscow Mitch.”
- MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow dedicated an entire segment to defending the provenance of the nickname.
- The New York Times ran a Jennifer Senior column and editorial referring to the Republican leader as such.
If none of the above has any apologies to offer, I’d be interested to hear each of their prescriptions for the current crisis in Ukraine. I’ve got a list of Russian people, places, and things, organized alphabetically, at the ready if it’s even a half-notch less harsh than what McConnell has suggested.