CNN: 'Democrats Probably Rightly' Blame McConnell for Gridlock in DC

On Wednesday's Anderson Cooper 360, CNN's Dana Bash pointed the finger at Senator Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans for the "dysfunction" in the federal government. Bash asserted that "Democrats probably rightly have a complaint that the reason the Senate isn't working is because Mitch McConnell and the opposition made it so." [MP3 audio available here [1]; video below]

Moments earlier, the correspondent forwarded a liberal talking point about the GOP's midterms victories – that "this is going to be a true test for Republicans on whether they can get beyond just winning in politics, and get to doing well governing."

Of course, Bash glosses over the fact that under outgoing Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, over 350 bills from the House of Representatives have waited for a vote (a fact that Politifact acknowledged [2] in August 2014, as they tried to blur the issue).

The transcript of the relevant portion of the segment from Wednesday's Anderson Cooper 360:

ANDERSON COOPER: So, for all of the talk of working together – I mean, they said all the right things. How much common ground is there really?

DANA BASH: Well, there are some issues where there's common ground, but it's – sort of, as they say here, low-hanging fruit. There are some – some issues that they can work together – not unimportant issues – infrastructure bills, for example. But I think that – that, at the end of the day, this is going to be a true test for Republicans on whether they can get beyond just winning in politics, and get to doing well governing.

And it was very clear in listening to Mitch McConnell, who is very likely going to be elected the majority leader next week – he was abundantly obvious that he knows that they didn't – have to prove that they can govern, and that this wasn't just a referendum against the President – but it's also against dysfunction in Washington. And he said, 'Voters don't think that the Senate works. It doesn't work. We have to make it work.' Never mind Democrats probably rightly have a complaint that the reason the Senate isn't working is because Mitch McConnell and the opposition made it so.