Democrats are probably hoping they can turn this latest Kinsley gaffe (which is when a politician inadvertently tells the truth) from Mitch McConnell into this year's "I voted for the $87 billion before I voted against it":"The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president."
Should this make you mad? Well...maybe, maybe not. McConnell is supposed to say that the most important thing Republicans want to achieve is to turn the economy around. Saying that it's more important to deny Obama re-election sounds like nothing more than partisan gamesmanship. But the truth is that from McConnell's perspective, having a Democratic president means that each day brings new miseries upon this great nation of ours. The awfulness of living through an administration of the other party surely outweighs, say, extending the recession a bit longer by blocking this or that measure designed to address it. He genuinely feels that an extra four years of Democrats in power will be disastrous for all of us. You may think he's wrong, but he believes it sincerely, just as you probably felt in 2004 that four more years of George W. Bush would be a nightmare.
Not that I'm saying Democrats shouldn't, or won't, try to make whatever hay they can out of McConnell's statement. This particular sentiment may well be repugnant to significant portions of the public, focused as they are on finding commonsense solutions to move America forward and make a better future for our children blah blah blah. So have at it.
-- Paul Waldman
