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MSNBC's Martin Bashir: Mitch McConnell 'Suffering Some Kind of Mild Dementia'

By Alex Fitzsimmons | June 29, 2011 | 17:04

A  A
Alex Fitzsimmons's picture

MSNBC's Martin Bashir, who once argued Sarah Palin's bus tour was in "breach of federal law," attacked Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Wednesday, wondering if the 69-year-old Republican is "suffering some kind of mild dementia or long-term memory loss?"

Excoriating McConnell for rejecting tax increases as part of a potential budget deal, the former ABC "Nightline" anchor regurgitated a litany of liberal talking points about the Bush years on his eponymous program:

[Video after break]

Mr. McConnell castigates two years of Democratic profligacy at the hands of President Obama, but has he failed to remember that it was President Bush who took us into Iraq, it was President Bush who introduced those tax cuts, and that the Congressional Budget Office says that these tax cuts alone will add $3.3 trillion if they're extended into 2020?

Bashir's guest, former Newsweek scribe Jonathan Alter, chuckled before dismissing the Senate Minority Leader as "just a very hearty and misleading partisan."

A transcript of the relevant portions of the segment can be found below:

MSNBC
Martin Bashir
June 29, 2011

3:36 p.m. ET

MARTIN BASHIR: Mr. McConnell castigates two years of Democratic profligacy at the hands of President Obama, but has he failed to remember that it was President Bush who took us into Iraq, it was President Bush who introduced those tax cuts, and that the Congressional Budget Office says that these tax cuts alone will add $3.3 trillion if they're extended into 2020? Is Mr. McConnell suffering some kind of mild dementia or long-term memory loss?
 

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JONATHAN ALTER, Bloomberg columnist: No, he's just a very hearty and misleading partisan. Look, Martin, people are entitled to their own opinions, they're not entitled to their own facts, as Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan said. When Senator McConnell's office took office, took the presidency is 2001, we had a $200 billion surplus. When George Bush and Elaine Chao left office in 2009, we had a $1.2 trillion deficit, that's a $1.4 trillion turnaround on the watch of the Republicans.So for him to be blaming this all on the Democrats, and I'm not suggesting that we haven't added another $300 billion since Obama's been president, that's true. But for him to blame this all on the Democrats is just factually indefensible and untrue and they've got to stop saying these things that are untrue. They're not going to stop saying them because that's the nature of politics right now. But we need to concentrate on the facts. They took us from a surplus to a deficit. Both parties are to blame for the pickle that we're in right now. And the only way to get out of it, as even the most conservative Senator Tom Coburn knows, is with both spending cuts and tax increases. We cannot do it without a balanced approach.

--Alex Fitzsimmons is a News Analysis intern at the Media Research Center. Click here to follow him on Twitter.

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Comments

Is President Obama senile?

Submitted by Fredy on Wed, 06/29/2011 - 5:12pm.

He completely forgot his first 3 years of record deficit spending.

He forgot that it is his failure to produce a budget for 2012 that has led to this debt ceiling discussion.

And Obama cannot even remember the ages of his own children!

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Good point, Fredy

Submitted by Galvanic on Wed, 06/29/2011 - 9:00pm.

Let's hope the voters don't forget in 2012.

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no longer wearing masks

Submitted by MidAmerica on Wed, 06/29/2011 - 5:40pm.

  It's sooooo obvious that the tip of the spear for the re-eelction of obama are members of the media.

  Democrats only need to be nominated and then members of the old media take it from there.

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Not dementia.

Submitted by Newsbubba on Wed, 06/29/2011 - 5:49pm.

No, BatShiite, it's not dementia.  He's just a wimp.

He is going to fold like a cheap suitcase on the debt limit just to prove it.  You really should be trying to prop him up.  If someone with a backbone replaces him, Bambi is dead meat.

Comrade Bubba
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Not to be trusted

Submitted by Galvanic on Wed, 06/29/2011 - 9:05pm.

McConnell is just another Beltway bottom-feeder.

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So their claim that George

Submitted by MichaelPaladin on Wed, 06/29/2011 - 6:21pm.

So their claim that George Bush rang up a 1.4 Trillion deficit over 8 years is far worse than Obama's deficit of over 3 Trillion in two years. I'm sorry the math doesn't add up, at 1.4 Trillion over 8 years, comes out to around 175 billion a year, Obama's first year they rang in at over 1.4 Trillion. But I guess if real facts aren't on their teleprompter, then they have no clue as to real economic policy.

Personally I think we need to enact a TV News Anchor Tax, where the government takes 70% of their income each year and give it to reporters who don't earn as much as they do. And no they would not get any tax deductions other than the standard deduction. then possibly they might understand what real working people have to deal with.

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That famous date

Submitted by jon_torlin on Wed, 06/29/2011 - 6:55pm.

I guess they forgot about how the bogus potus put down May 24, 2008 at the Westminster Abbey?  Or how to pronounce certain words?

-Jon

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It won't hurt my feelings to see McConnell's constituents...

Submitted by Dave. on Wed, 06/29/2011 - 8:10pm.

...vote his worthless RINO self out at their next opportunity.

-Dave

Vote for the American in November

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Stop Censoring The Gosnell Trial!

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