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The Texas Blue
Advancing Progressive Ideas

Mitch McConnell Rediscovers Bipartisanship

Sunday, on CNN's State of the Union, Senator Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) discussed his disappointment with what he characterized as President Obama's lack of bipartisanship. Senator McConnell is the latest in a long line of Congressional Republicans who, after 8 years of a Republican White House and 12 years of a Republican Congress, have suddenly re-discovered their interests in bipartisanship and oversight of the Executive Branch now that both Congress and the White House are led by Democrats.

It is worth noting that the recently-ended era of Republican control of Congress saw an expansion of political polarization (the measure of the ideological distance between the two parties voting records in Congress) to the greatest levels seen since Reconstruction. I think Senator McConnell and his colleagues might have some credibility on this issue if they had made a legitimate attempt at bipartisanship on major legislation at any point in time while President Bush was in the White House.

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