Dana Milbank: Sticks and stones break bones, but words hurt McConnell's feelings

Washington * Sticks and stones can break his bones, but poor Mitch McConnell thinks the words hurt him too.

The majority leader in the Senate is concerned that people are calling him by name. There was first "Mitch Moscow" (because he was refusing to do anything important to end Russia's interference in the US elections), then there had had "Mitch Massacre" and even "Murder Turtle" (because he was refusing to pass legislation on gun violence massacre after massacre). At the risk of further wounding the tender sentiments of the Kentucky Republicans, I suggest another nickname: Musel Mitch.

McConnell, who poses as a defender of freedom of expression, has not been as fan of freedom of expression against him. The psychological boo-boos inflicted on his thin skin caused him into hypocrisy.

In the show of radio host Hugh Hewitt (and contributor to the Washington Post) this week, McConnell reiterated his complaint that calling Moscow Mitch was unacceptable – "modern day McCarthyism" , did he declare. "You know, I can laugh at things like the Grim Reaper, but call me Moscow, Mitch, that's too much."

Oh? McCarthyism, by definition, is a type of defamation using indiscriminate allegations based on unfounded accusations. But the underlying allegations in Moscow Mitch are specific and well-supported. He has blocked virtually all important bills to prevent the recurrence of Russia's interference in the elections of 2016. He led efforts to help trade a Russian oligarch to escape the sanctions and when this trade then made a substantial investment in Kentucky, his former advisers lobbied.

McConnell believes that the speech he does not like is a defamatory confrontation with his declared dedication to the First Amendment. His "money-word" argument prevailed at the Supreme Court, causing the current flow of unlimited unlimited money in politics and unprecedented vitriol that he was injecting. He, to his credit, defended the burning of the flag by declaring: "in this country, we have long respected the unpleasant speeches". He also defended freedom of expression in the Senate.

"Hearing the criticisms of one's beliefs and learning those of others, it's just learning to live in a democratic society," he said in June 2017. "That's not to say that it takes to agree with these opinions, but nobody gets trapped. " oneself and others in cocoons of ignorance. It is far from being the recipe for a free and informed society. "

He and his staff certainly have argued for their right to make a bad speech. A few hours after the filming of El Paso in August, his campaign tweeted a photo of fake gravestones bearing the name of McConnell's Democratic Senate candidate, Amy McGrath, among others. In another contemporary incident, young men (apparently volunteers) wearing "Team Mitch" t-shirts posed on an Instagram photo groping and smothering a cardboard cutout of Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.

McConnell's campaign erased both, saying the gravestones were a light tribute to a caricature and that the young men were not campaign staff.

But Team Mitch has a less tolerant view of the speech that is addressed to him. In July, McConnell delivered a tirade to the Senate denouncing his criticism (by myself and others) as a threat to the survival of America.

In August, when I detailed McConnell's role in helping Russian interests escape sanctions, his former campaign manager (and still informal adviser), Josh Holmes, suggested McConnell "sue" the plaintiff , adding: "This guy deserves to lose his job and the post office should pay the price."

And when 25 anti-violence protesters demonstrated in front of McConnell's home in Louisville in August, McConnell's campaign said it was "serious appeals to physical violence, and we have alerted the forces of order. " But the Louisville police told the New York Post that the group was "peacefully protesting".

Examples of threats from live Facebook Live sequences include the "F – YOU MURDER TURTLE" placards and a woman who encouraged someone to stab a hypothetical voodoo doll representing McConnell in the heart.

Talking about violence against public officials (and journalists) is disgusting, although commonplace today, and I deplore the vulgar speech in front of his home. But this sounds more like an "unpleasant" but protected speech that McConnell has already argued that the "real threats" criminal asserted the McConnell team. (Ironically, a tweet from the McConnell campaign showing demo images caused Twitter to make a dubious call to block the campaign count.)

Congress will be coming back next week and McConnell will again be doing the muzzling business. He said he would dismiss the debate on any proposal related to firearms unless President Trump supports it. "If the president is in favor," he told Hewitt, "I'll put him on the ground."

No other idea will be considered. So spoke Musel Mitch.

Follow Dana Milbank on Twitter, @Milbank.