Mitch McConnell’s Government Teacher Would be Appalled

“The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice. Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president.” –  Mitch McConnell, 2016

Sen. Mitch McConnell’s high school government teacher would be appalled by the senator’s hypocrisy concerning the appointment of Supreme Court justices.

I would know, because my grandfather, E.V. Purnell, was the student government academic advisor to young Mitch when McConnell was the student government president of Manual High School.

Born in Alabama, Mitch’s family moved to Louisville, Ky., where I was born, where my parents were born, and where E.V. and Florence Purnell moved, from Benton, Ill.

Curiously, after the Brown v. Board of Education decision, in 1954, Manual racially integrated without controversy and two black students graduated in 1958. Mitch graduated from Manual in 1960.

E.V. Purnell worked in a coal mine when he was in high school. He played football and basketball in college, and was a tall, slender man. I inherited my build from him.

My mother remembers when her dad would sit around the table, and talk with her mom about their day. . . and the young student class president.

My grandmother wasn’t happy that McConnell moved to Washington where he divorced his Louisville wife to marry a Washington D.C. wife.

(Incidentally, my grandmother worked with and was friends with the mother of  TV reporter Diana Sawyer. But that’s another story.)

Mitch blocked President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee 10 months before the presidential election and he has hypocritically committed to confirming President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee fewer than 10 weeks before the next presidential election.

My grandfather taught Mitch about honesty and fair play. My grandfather, a champion of working people, wouldn’t support Mitch’s actions or his politics. Mitch’s vision for America wasn’t my grandfather’s vision for America.

I’m reminded of the scene in It’s a Wonderful Life, where Jimmy Stewart’s character calls Mr. Potter a “scurvy little spider.”

In the grand scheme of things, Mitch McConnell is little more than a scurvy little spider spinning his web of hypocrisy devoid of integrity.

Honest, hardworking, fair-minded people like my grandfather should be appalled by McConnell’s behavior.

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Jim Meisner, Jr. is the author of Soar to Success the Wright Way, a motivational history book about the Wright brothers and the novel Faith, Hope, and Baseball.
Follow this link for more information about both books: https://faithonthefringe.com/faith-hope-and-baseball-a-novel/