Intelligencer

McConnell Blamed for Defeat

There was lots of finger pointing after the failure of the immigration bill defeat last week, but one Republican, Senator Mitch McConnell, the minority leader in the Senate, was particularly singled out.

McConnell had stood with Democratic Majority Leader Senator Harry Reid and President George W. Bush when they had agreed to bring back the bill to the floor. Most observers believed that having agreed to that plan, the votes must surely have been there to pass the legislation.

Not so. McConnell was missing in action during the debate, much to the chagrin of his deputy, Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi, who shipped heavy punishment from the Rush Limbaugh crowd for his advocacy on behalf of the bill.

It got so bad that one leading Republican was heard to mutter that they were considering putting McConnell's face on a milk carton because no one could find him.

Bill watchers knew that McConnell needed to twist arms for it to pass. Key among the "soft" votes were the two Republican senators form Alaska who could easily have been put into the "yea" column by McConnell if he so wished, as illegal immigration hardly counts as a problem in the far north.

However, when the two Alaskan senators both voted nay the Republicans who had held the line knew the fight was over and that McConnell had failed to even basically try and defend the bill. Shortly afterwards Senator San Brownback, who had agreed to support the bill and at first voted aye, changed his vote to nay.

McConnell turned up on the day of the vote, however, and had no hesitation voting no against the bill despite his earlier advocacy of it. A profile in courage it was not.

Many reasons were advanced for McConnell's disappearance, not least the fact that he is up for re-election next year in Kentucky and could face a hard race, though most experts consider it unlikely he will be targeted.

Staffers Knew Bill's Fate

The night before Thursday's vote there was a farewell party for Noel Fahey, the departing Irish ambassador to the U.S. Many of the key players in the immigration debate were there to pay tribute to the popular ambassador who will next serve at the Vatican as Ireland's man there.

The view at the party, however, was that the legislation was in real trouble. While senators themselves were circumspect, rumors among staffers were rife that the bill was certainly down for defeat the next day.

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Nster.com