You can tell McTurtle is scared of losing the Senate

[DFW]

He just announced the Senate would recess for only one week in the August recess instead of the usual four. Guess who needs to out campaigning to defend vulnerable Senate seats this fall? We are defending 26 seats. Some are safe. Some are not.

Mitch McConnell says the Senate has to work (as opposed to what they do during the rest of the year?) on nominations and legislation. As we all know, McTurtle is loathe to have the Senate work on nominations when there is a Democrat doing the nominating. So he cleverly shortens the August recess to give Democratic Senators a lousy choice--stick around Washington fighting horrible nominations and awful legislation, or go back home to campaign and miss crucial votes while being accused of not doing their job in Washington.

The House, of course, will be taking their usual 4 week break.

There will not just be dancing on McConnell's grave when he departs this world. There will be everything from break dancing to Stomp.

[Freethinker65]

1. Yep

[bdamomma]

2. why doesn't he just

retire, he made his blood money. oh nevermind the rich resign not to get jail time.

[DFW]

4. He can't be mean to as many people that way.

He acts as if he is out to get revenge on the rest of humanity for having been given faces that don't crack mirrors.

[greymattermom]

24. Because he'd be expected to move back to Kentucky.

Where he has.... maybe more than Pat Roberts does in Kansas. Maybe not.

[unblock]

3. i imagine some republican candidates will be campaigning anyway

they can coordinate with mcturtle and fly to d.c. if they're actually needed for a vote.

democrats can't do that as easily, they may need to be there to prevent republicans from passing something in their absence. at least they need enough there to be able to comfortably filibuster.

[DFW]

5. A few seats are likely to flip to us

Arizona and Nevada are prime candidates. If he doesn't flip a few back (Missouri, North Dakota and Indiana are particularly vulnerable), he loses his majority leader's seat, and ends his Senate career not only hated, but as a footnote.

[fallout87]

12. Yeah but a few seats are going to be hard to hold

Namely Montana, WV, OH, and WI.

[DFW]

17. I give us a better chance in those states than in MO, IN, and ND

If we lose them all, it's a bloodbath, and this time, there will be as good as no attempt to block interference and voter fraud on the part of the Republicans. Only a massive GOTV on our part will do.

[blkyank1]

33. All of those states...

Have veteran Democratic Senators with plenty of funding and who are fairly popular. If anybody is going to lose its Missouri
(McKaskell)

Schumer is a smart guy and can come up with a plan for endangered Democratic Senators to duck out
of Washington to campaign while leaving enough around for a filibuster.

McConnell is building up a crapload of payback IOUs with Schumer and you know he is gonna cry
and talk about working across the aisle when the Democrats cash them in.

[fallout87]

40. If they are waiting for August to hit the road and campaign

It will already be too late. They need to get the message out now. Being the party of Anti-tRump isn't going to work in red states like Montana.

[empedocles]

6. Apart from the number of elected Republican Senators,

there is the significant problem of controlling sufficient votes for his agendas.

[DFW]

7. It gets easier if they flip MO, ND or IN

All three states are running Trumpadors on the Republican side. Republican replacements for McCaskill, Heitkamp or Donnelly will be ugly obedient right wing extremists if they win.

[moose65]

8. That's why I wish the Democratic Party had a long game...

If only Kay Hagan, Mark Begich, and Mark Udall had won their races in 2014, it would be a different world now. EVERY election matters, and should be fought for tooth and nail. I'm in NC, and Hagan's lackluster campaign did not impress me, although I voted for her of course. She only lost by 40,000 votes, and that was after pissing off God-knows how many Democrats by trying to run from Obama and be Republican-lite. 2014 was a brutal Senate year for us. Ugh.

[DFW]

9. Republican-lite is wrong in times when Republican anything is as far off the deep end as it is now

Even in right-leaning states, it can't be so very complicated to present a sensible alternative without being either Bernie Sanders or Louie Gohmert. There is plenty of solid ground on the left or center-left without having to scare center-right voters whom the radical Republicans have disgusted.

A little dynamism is, however, called for. Claire McCaskill, for example, can raise the room temperature when she wants to. She needs to do it more often.

[Kurt V.]

34. McCaskill is leading all polls at realclearpolitics. only 1.7% .

so we will GOTV!

[DFW]

36. CLaire can do this

But it won't be a cakewalk. No breathing easy in Missouri until it's a done deal, for sure!

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

10. I wake up every morning to check the news to see if he (and Tangeranus) have kicked it.

And I have no shame in doing so. The world will be a slightly better place without Mitch McConnell in it.

[smirkymonkey]

37. I wish for the same thing every morning, but I would add Paul Ryan and a few other key players.

I don't feel bad about it either.

[fallout87]

11. He's mostly doing this to pack the courts

with right wing judges.

[DFW]

14. That has been a cherished goal of his that was obvious starting with Garland

What he had in mind was obvious from then on, and I find it more than a little ominous that he seemed so sure that blocking Garland would lead to a right wing SCOTUS replacement for Scalia. That would mean he knew in advance what was coming on election day, which seems more and more plausible.

[fallout87]

16. Yep

He also sat on Obama's nominees to the federal courts. If he gets his way, trump will have a bigger impact on the courts than any president in recent history.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

28. Heck

Republicans were actually advocating for getting rid of a few courts/judges back when Obama was POTUS to keep him from filling them. Worms. All of them.

[Docreed2003]

41. It is certainly how he views his legacy, as he has admitted

Blocking Garland is absolutely an ominous sign that he knew EXACTLY what would be coming Election Day...but he has since stated recently that packing the courts with right wing ideologues would be his proudest legacy. That impact on this country will live on far beyond the time Mitch is worm food.

[mountain grammy]

39. And that's exactly what's happening

It’s frightening. November is our only hope.

[C Moon]

13. Whenever Turtle does something like this, it goes hand-in-hand with something Trump is going to do.

Putin must be up to something.

[BigmanPigman]

15. This can be a good thing....

if the moron fires Rosenstein of Mueller it is best for them to be in DC to try to stop it.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

18. I would piss on his grave...

but I hate to stand in lines.

[DFW]

19. This is one line

...that would stretch around the block and halfway to the next state

[Raster]

20. So do I...

...but I would GLADLY stand in that line!

[mountain grammy]

21. I'd like to stomp him before he's in the grave.

[DFW]

22. I wouldn't

I want him gone by the time I get there. I can handle the frustration

[csziggy]

35. Think of the slime and goo that would be stuck to your boots!

He's not worth it.

[avebury]

23. Democratic Senators should turn it around on McConnell

and have the bonus of making his life miserable.

They should be submitting a massive amount of bills on all kinds of issues that the massive really care about. They should hound Trump on his decision to tear children away from their families. They should push legislation regarding how illegal immigrants are handled and prohibiting private entities from keeping things behind closed door. They should be able to push out ads to the effect - We are in Washington working to promote change that will help our people back home and look at what the Republicans are doing - obstructing our efforts to help our people.

Democrats need to find really good surrogates who can campaign for them back home. Joe Biden would be great at that. They need to have surrogates that are out there all the time talking on MSM to get the Democrat message out.

What McConnell is doing to the Democrats sucks but they need to find a way to make it actually work for them.

[saidsimplesimon]

25. DFW

Thank you, "There will not just be dancing on McConnell's grave when he departs this world. There will be everything from break dancing to Stomp."

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?rel=0" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Hekate]

26. Kick

[C_U_L8R]

27. Unlike Republicans

Democrats can actually do more than one thing at time.

McConnell's move is self-defeating.

[PJMcK]

29. "There will not just be dancing on McConnell's grave when he departs this world."

A lot of grave-pissing, too, I think.

[DFW]

30. May be

But give the dancers a chance to do their stuff first!

[PJMcK]

31. Hah!

My suggestion won't happen until after dark, I'm sure!

[syringis]

32. Je ne comprends pas

l'intérêt qu'il y a à écourter les vacances ?

En quoi ça les favorisera et en quoi ça gênera les dems pour faire campagne ?

De toutes façons à ce tarif-là, la tortue pénalise aussi le GOP, vu qu'ils seront aussi coincés.

Et puis, question à 2 balles, pourquoi attendre août pour bosser ? C'est pas comme s'ils bossaient dur en ce moment....Enfin sauf pour ce qui est de saboter. Vu comme ça, alors oui, ça bosse dur...

[duforsure]

38. He should be scared,

Because of all that they then could expose him with if they win the Senate also. And we will. As long as trumps tweeting and talking we'll win it back.