Hugh Hewitt, extolling the virtues of Mitch McConnell’s Senate “leadership:”
After a couple of Republican amendments failed, Mitch McConnell took to the floor and offered his own amendment, which was a Sense of the Senate that Guantanamo detainees not be allowed released or moved to U.S. soil. To conservatives, this obviously makes sense. To liberals, especially California’s Dianne Feinstein, one of the chief proponents of the effort to close the detention center at Gitmo and relocate these detainees into the American justice system, especially when tagged onto a student loan and grant bill, you’d think this measure would go down in flames. Except a funny thing happened. The bill was titled in a way that you had to vote yes to vote no, and no to vote yes. The final vote was 94-3, officially putting the Senate on record as saying terrorist detainees shouldn’t be moved to the U.S. Before the Democrats, who clearly hadn’t read the amendment, realized they screwed up, the vote was recorded.
Hahaha! ‘Tis funny and all but a game.
After throwing the Senate back into a quorum call for half an hour, the beleaguered Harry Reid came out and pulled the Salazar amendment off the floor. He’d been Mitchslapped twice in one night.
And there you have it- Hewitt and the 28% outlook on politics. While I am sure all of us appreciate how important it is to have Congressional leaders who are savvy with parliamentary procedure, for the childish Hugh, that is all that matters- winning. The Republicans are his team, right or wrong, the Demcorats are evil and bad, and my “side” must win.
It doesn’t really matter to Hugh that later on, should someone refer to that Sense of the Senate, they will not be accurately reflecting the true will of the Senate and of the people who elected them, but rather, the outcome of a cheap parlor trick. But that does not matter to Hugh, nor do principle, order, or the rule of law- winning does. He now has a Sense of the Senate he can quote repeatedly on his blog, on the air, and at cocktail parties. When someone tries to point out the truth, that can be dismissed as “nuance” or the ramblings of the libruhl media.