The great virtue of Mitch McConnell has always been his willingness to eschew the cloying displays of insincere virtue preferred by his fellow politicians, and bluntly confess the game he is playing. Republican leaders professed to be morally aghast at Donald Trump’s racism and prolific smears, then had to crawl back in humiliation to the feet of the man they vowed never to support.
McConnell is currently dealing with a West Virginia Republican primary in which one leading contender, Don Blankenship, is a criminal who has smeared McConnell as a cocaine smuggler and made racist attacks against his family. Asked by reporters today if he would describe Blankenship’s ads as racist, McConnell admitted the answer would depend on whether Blankenship won the nomination:
If Blankenship loses, he’s a racist. If he wins, he’s just another important voice for pro-growth blah blah blah.
