In his new memoir Decision Points, George W. Bush states that in September 2006, Mitch McConnell (R-KY) visited him in private and told him that the President's unpopularity was going to cost them the mid-term elections. When asked what the president could do to boost numbers, McConnell then told him to bring some troops home from Iraq. Bush goes on to say in the book that he told McConnell that he would not bring troops home until it was safe to do so and he would most certainly not do it for political gain. In fact, Bush did not only not take McConnell's advice, after elections he increased the number of troops on the ground.
Let me state it again - McConnell told Bush to bring troops home from Iraq in order to boost their popularity to maintain control of Congress. He wanted to use troops as political capital.
During that same time, while democrats were publicly speaking out on the need to reduce the number of troops overseas, McConnell and other congressional republicans were lampooning the idea as bad for America - as "waiving the white flag in the war on terror". Again, he was not concerned with the bloodshed, the wasteful spending, or worldwide ramifications - only the political consequences here at home.
At this point, McConnell has two options - he can publicly call Bush, a former leader of his own party a liar, or admit what he was doing. He can admit that he was attempting to use American soldiers and the emotional attachment that comes along with that to win an election cycle.
This behavior is deplorable. Politicians and leaders are to be held to a higher standard. They are expected to do what is best for the American people. They are not expected to do what is best for their political party, regardless of what is best for the country.
At this point, McConnell has not made any attempted to discount this information. Makes you wonder, doesn't it?
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