Mitch "Turtle" McConnell; Senator Of Distinction

[Mr. Shaman]

December 11, 2012

37% Support

....And, her voice doesn't hurt your ears, like Snooki Palin's.​

 

[waltky]

Mitch caught gossippin' `bout Miss Ashley...

McConnell accuses Kentucky liberal PAC of bugging campaign headquarters
4/09/13 - Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday accused a Kentucky Democratic super-PAC of bugging his campaign office and asked the FBI to investigate.

McConnell lashed out at the group Progress Kentucky after the release of a recording from a Feb. 2 meeting between the senator and his aides in which they debate the merits of attacking actress Ashley Judd’s mental health, views on religion and attitudes about family. “As I indicated, last month they were attacking my wife’s ethnicity, and apparently also bugging my headquarters, much like Nixon and Watergate,” McConnell said to reporters on Tuesday. “That’s what the political left does these days.”

McConnell had sparred in February with the group when one of its tweets suggested the senator supported sending jobs to China because he is married to Elaine Chao, a former Bush administration Labor secretary, who was born in Taiwan. McConnell and Democrats alike denounced the tweet as racist and inappropriate, and the group eventually apologized. Progress Kentucky’s executive director, Shawn Reilly, did not respond to requests for comment for this article.

McConnell’s campaign has asked the FBI to investigate the recording, which was leaked to Mother Jones. In it, McConnell aides describe Judd as “emotionally unbalanced” and talk about highlighting her personal history of depression in a potential Senate campaign. Judd had been considering a 2014 bid against the Senate minority leader but opted against running last month. “This is yet another example of the politics of personal destruction that embody Mitch McConnell and are pervasive in Washington, D.C.,” a spokesman for Judd said Tuesday. “We expected nothing less from Mitch McConnell and his camp than to take a personal struggle such as depression ... and turn it into a laughing matter.”

McConnell did not respond to repeated questions about whether it was appropriate to attack a candidate’s mental health or religion. He appeared testy when responding to reporters on Capitol Hill, repeating his accusation that Progress Kentucky was responsible. “Senator McConnell’s campaign is working with the FBI and has notified the local U.S. Attorney in Louisville, per FBI request, about these recordings,” McConnell campaign manager Jesse Benton said in a statement. “Obviously a recording device of some kind was placed in Senator McConnell’s campaign office without consent. By whom and how that was accomplished presumably will be the subject of a criminal investigation.”

Read more: McConnell accuses Kentucky liberal PAC of bugging campaign headquarters - The Hill's Blog Briefing Room