Over the past couple of weeks the media has told us it is beneth all standards of common decency to question the patriotism of one's political opponets, unless that opponent is a Republican. On Tuesday's MSNBC Live NBC national security correspondent Ken Dilanian declared that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has nobody but to blame for himself when people call him "Moscow Mitch" or a Russian asset.
After former Republican congressman David Jolly and longtime Hillary Clinton spokesman Phillippe Reines condemned McConnell for not allowing a House bill that essentially passed on party lines to pass the Senate with unanimous consent, host Stephanie Ruhle asked Dilanian to, "Fact check us, Ken. Mitch McConnell says he has actually championed these [election security] bills."
Dilanian retorted, "I don't know where he's getting that because as these guys just said the Democrats have a bill that would funnel $600 million to the states to help everybody transfer to paper ballots which a bipartisan report from the Senate Intelligence Committee, endorsed by Senator Burr, just said was required, and McConnell has blocked that." At which point Ruhle interjected to condemn McConnell for not having an alternative. After listing some other bills that McConnell has blocked, Dilanian implied McConnell deserved the "Russian asset" label. "He doesn't have an alternative and that's why you have Dana Milbank of The Washington Post writing a column that says, Mitch McConnell is a Russian asset and that’s why Joe Scarborough is calling him Moscow Mitch and that obviously got to him but he doesn't have an answer."
Immediately contradicting himself, that McConnell does not have an answer, Dilanian opined that concern over federalizing elections was weak. "This issue of states' rights, states always want to run their elections,but our nation was attacked by a foreign power and the Senate intelligence report shows that states are not equipped to deal with this issue."
It's not just that states "want" to run their elections, but that is also what the Constitution prescribes. This is why conservatives joke that Dilanian is an asset to Obama aides like John Brennan and the liberal oppo firm Fusion GPS.
The media and the Democrats have been presenting the House's bill as uncontroversial, but the fact is that only one Republican voted for it. Is the House Republican Caucus full of Russian agents, even the ones who voted for other election security bills that eventually became law by virtue of passing through the McConnell-controlled Senate or do Democrats and their friends in the media just not like Mitch McConnell?
Here is a transcript for the July 30 show:
MSNBC
MSNBC Live with Stephanie Ruhle
9:26 AM ET
STEPHANIE RUHLE: Fact check us, Ken. Mitch McConnell says he has actually championed these bills.
KEN DILANIAN: I don't know where he's getting that because as these guys just said the Democrats have a bill that would funnel $600 million to the states to help everybody transfer to paper ballots which a bipartisan report from the Senate Intelligence Committee, endorsed by Senator Burr, just said was required, and McConnell has blocked that. Mark Warner has a bill--RUHLE: Without an alternative
DILANIAN: Without an alternative. Mark Warner has a bill that would require campaigns to report to the FBI if a foreigner comes to them with dirt on an opponent. Susan Collins I'm told today will get onboard that bill, so that has bipartisan support. McConnell has blocked that. He doesn't have an alternative and that's why you have Dana Milbank of "The Washington Post" writing a column that says, Mitch McConnell is a Russian asset and that’s why Joe Scarborough is calling him Moscow Mitch and that obviously got to him but he doesn't have an answer. This issue of states rights, states always want to run their elections but our nation was attacked by a foreign power and the Senate intelligence report shows that states are not equipped to deal with this issue.
