Novak: McConnell's "Major Failure of Leadership"

Bob Novak hammered Mitch McConnell today for what he coined as a "truly major failure of leadership." More and more conservative Senators and columnists are hammering the Louisville liberal for selling out conservatives once again and pushing Teddy Kennedy's amnesty bill through the Senate, only to flip-flop and vote against it once enough votes were cast to guarantee it would fail:

The spectacular failure of the immigration bill for the second time marks an unhappy day for President Bush, Sen. McCain and a handful of Republicans who may have put their reputations on the line by backing it. It also marks the first truly major failure of leadership by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

One of the few conservatives to side with the President in backing the immigration reform bill stated, not for attribution, "If this were a war, Sen. McConnell should be relieved of command for dereliction of duty." Not only did the minority leader end up voting against an immigration bill that he had said was better than the 2006 version that he supported, but he also kept himself off the floor during final stages of Senate debate.

Until now, McConnell had high marks from GOP colleagues during his six-month leadership following four dreary years under Bill Frist (R-Tenn.). McConnell's non-performance on immigration derived from general Republican malaise going
well beyond a single issue.

And while we're on the topic of the Louisville liberal selling out conservatives, did anyone hear Mitch McConnell say a single word of praise about Governor Fletcher during the Independence Day events around the Commonwealth? Larry Forgy said he'd give McConnell one last chance to deliver for the Governor. Now its about time for Larry Forgy to deliver a one-way plane ticket for McConnell to fly back from Washington for good.