Mitch McConnell's Hypocritical Call for Bipartisanship Gets Dragged

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell published a commentary Tuesday on the Fox News website calling for bipartisanship, without irony -- but plenty of people are seeing irony in it.

McConnell noted that Democrats will have a majority in the House of Representatives when the new Congress is sworn in, while the Republicans have retained control of the Senate. He wondered what the new era of divided government will bring, after what he calls "a period of historic productivity" with Republican control of both chambers and the White House.

"I have good news: reports of the death of bipartisanship in Washington have been wildly exaggerated," he wrote. "In fact, some of the most significant accomplishments of this Congress have been delivered with overwhelmingly bipartisan support." He mentioned an increase in defense spending, funding for infrastructure repair, and legislation to address the opioid crisis.

"And looking ahead to the coming year, there will be no shortage of opportunities to continue this impressive record of cooperation across the aisle and across the Capitol," he continued. "What we can make of those opportunities will depend on our Democratic colleagues. Will they choose to go it alone and simply make political points? Or will they choose to work together and actually make a difference?"

Many media users quickly pointed out that McConnell has not always been so keen on bipartisanship. Among other things, he famously said in 2010, shortly before that year's midterm election, "The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president." He also prevented Obama's final Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, from ever receiving a hearing. And just today, he blocked fellow Republican Jeff Flake's effort to call a Senate vote on legislation that would protect Special Counsel Robert Mueller from being fired. Mueller, who is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and possible collusion by Donald Trump's campaign, is in jeopardy now that Trump has replaced Attorney General Jeff Sessions with Matthew Whitaker, a critic of the investigation.

Skewering of McConnell's partisanship and hypocrisy are abounded on Twitter.