Mitch McConnell tells Coke to: Shut Up and Donate
By way of a baffling and contradictory threat in explaining his position, Senator Mitch McConnell, in his best southern drawl, warned “Co-cola” to not be “stupid.” Addressing a gaggle of reporters in Kentucky, McConnell said, “It’s quite stupid to jump in the middle of a highly controversial issue,” he went on to say, “Republicans drink Coca-Cola too, and we fly and we like baseball,” he said. “It’s irritating one hell of a lot of Republican fans.” The obvious and flawed premise of his statement does not take into account the irritation to black voters who are having their right to vote subject to the whim of Republican legislatures. Also contained in his admonishment to corporations was an appeal to continue to donate to conservative causes and politicians.
Mr. McConnell’s statements were in direct contradiction with his 2010 reaction to the Supreme Court case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. “For too long, some in this country[corporations] have been deprived of full participation in the political process … the Constitution protects their right to express themselves about political candidates and issues up until Election Day,” said McConnell. If you remember, the 2012 presidential campaign was partly decided on a statement that haunted Republican Mitt Romney throughout his run against former President Barack Obama, “Corporations are people, my friend,” said Romney. So for the GOP to now object to corporate interference is laughable.
The phoniness of the sudden concern by Republicans for the workers who would be displaced by a boycott is filled with so much hypocrisy, it hurts the brain. In 2009 when Barack Obama courted the International Olympic Committee to bring the Summer Olympic Games of 2016 to Chicago, the GOP shifted into high gear opposing the move. The Games would have added to the prestige of America—needles to say millions to the private coffers of industry and small businesses. Although Mr. Obama has never been smeared with the taint of scandal in his political life, conservatives immediately accused him of cronyism and incompetence. The late radio talker Rush Limbaugh insisted to his listeners, “The world has rejected Obama” and “This is the guy who’s gonna talk Iran into giving up its nukes?”
The greatest talent of the GOP has been to shift the conversation, Colin Kaepernick’s protest against the brutalization of black Americans became a referendum on the flag and patriotism. Russian collusion was redefined as a “deep state” conspiracy. Currently, the visual evidence of white nationalists and supremacists beating and murdering Capitol police officers has become a ‘hugging and kissing’ fest.
The world according to Trump…
“It was zero threat, right from the start, it was zero threat,” Trump told Fox News host Laura Ingraham. “Look, they went in, they shouldn’t have done it. Some of them went in, and they are hugging and kissing the police and the guards, you know, they had great relationships, and a lot of the people were waived in, and then they walked in and they walked out.” The constant gaslighting from the GOP because they have become a party with no principles or governing strategy but that of obstructionists and conspiracy theory is a hindrance to the American idea of fair play, substituted by the lust for power.
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