The Misadventures of Moscow Mitch--From The New Republic: Mitch McConnell Is No Genius
By WALTER SHAPIRO
Mitch McConnell believes in one political god: campaign cash. Since he got his start in Kentucky politics in the 1970s, masquerading as a moderate Republican, he has been the Gordon Gekko of politics. After he was elected to the Senate in 1984, no one spent more time ingratiating himself with top GOP donors. As Alec MacGillis recounts in his biography, The Cynic, McConnell even met his wealthy wife, Elaine Chao, the daughter of a shipping magnate, while fundraising in 1987. By the late 1990s, McConnell—a politician who normally displays the emotional range of a coatrack—was the most passionate opponent of any effort to rein in the wealthy through campaign finance reform. He believed Democrats would always struggle to match the spigot of special interest money the GOP could attract by preaching the gospel of low taxes and minimal regulation. And, especially after the Citizens United decision—as the Koch brothers, the DeVos family, and Super PACs put together by Karl Rove dominated campaign finance—McConnell was right.