[Old School Hound]

Mitch is angry.  He knows he’ll never be back to the top of the mountain because of Trump.

Mitch got what he deserved. He and Paul Ryan collaborated to work against the Trump Presidency from day one. Hoot said McConnell is a snake but no more than Ryan. Voters could see through that facade from the early days, and even then many media types predicted McConnell would pay for his betrayals.

The losers are the Republican Conference and their supporters. The ultimate losers are all Americans because even if the election wasn't rigged, it might as well have been. A house divided against itself cannot stand.

You're right, TRT, Mitch and Pauley were never in the Trump camp. Mitch pretended because that's what he does. Hoot is right, Mitch is a snake . But he's more clever than the snake in the Garden of Eden(did I just compare him to Satan?) He is easily one of the shrewdest(and most self-serving) politicians in my lifetime. People underestimate that bastard at their own peril.

Total transparency. I made the switch to the Republican side during the Reagan years and thought I had left all or most of the lying deceit and getting played behind. In the preceding election I had voted for Jimmy Carter. A good man who didn't really understand economics and I believe, got thoroughly manipulated by his liberal advisors.

But soon I realized that Capital Hill is just another collection of self absorbed snobs whose lives and actions are governed largely by peer pressure; but who walk around acting more like monarchs than 535 public servants. Conservatives have no more of a safe haven by automatic votes for Republicans, than blue collar America can depend on Democrats to provide good jobs. A little aside on that; when Dems first started claiming they 'created' jobs, the entire media horse laughed them to scorn. Supply and demand creates jobs. The three main groups being courted by the Dems of the 60's were organized labor (who Dems have always played for suckers and used as a pinata), women, and the black community. Now they just say all Republicans are rich greedy white men who callously care for nothing except themselves.

Mitch did pretend with Trump. Going simple majority on judges was the one thing he did to work with the administration. But shrewd as he is, in going against Trump he still brought down his own house because I don't think he saw the loss of Majority Leader in the tea leaves.

Mitch has always tried to walk a fine line that keeps his big donors happy and doesn't p!ss off the more right-leaning folks in his party. He is very, very skillful .  I agree, I don't think he anticipated Georgia reducing him to minority status. I guess even very politically shrewd turtles do make a miscalculation every now and then.

Btw, who would have ever thought that you voted for Carter and I didn't? That was my first presidential election and I voted for the outspoken Independent candidate , John Anderson , who looked like the love-child of Bernie Sanders and Harry Morgan, who played Sgt. Joe Friday's sidekick on "Dragnet."

Btw, you're right about the 96 year-old former President ,Jimmy Carter. I think he abhorred Washington politics. He wanted to do the right thing but a combination of some bad luck and circumstances, poor advice, and his disdain for Washington caused him difficulties. Carter was made for Plains, not D.C. The man is a true, humble servant . He walks the walk. Gotta respect him for that. I think in the statement below you can see why JC and Plains was a better fit than JC and Washington. I think he was too often conflicted between his personal beliefs and what was expected of him as the head man in the nation's capital..

Carter in 2012 on abortion:

I never have believed that Jesus Christ would approve of abortions and that was one of the problems I had when I was president having to uphold Roe v. Wade and I did everything I could to minimize the need for abortions. I made it easy to adopt children for instance who were unwanted and also initiated the program called Women and Infant Children or WIC program that's still in existence now. But except for the times when a mother's life is in danger or when a pregnancy is caused by rape or incest I would certainly not or never have approved of any abortions. I've signed a public letter calling for the Democratic Party at the next convention to espouse my position on abortion which is to minimize the need, requirement for abortion and limit it only to women whose life [sic] are in danger or who are pregnant as a result of rape or incest. I think if the Democratic Party would adopt that policy that would be acceptable to a lot of people who are now estranged from our party because of the abortion issue.