iPhone app iPad app Android phone app Android tablet app

Featuring fresh takes and real-time analysis from HuffPost's signature lineup of contributors
Howard Fineman

GET UPDATES FROM Howard Fineman
 

Kentucky Derby 2012: Mitch McConnell Becomes The Soul Of Graciousness

Posted: 05/06/2012 9:15 am

I picked the winner of the Derby, "I'll Have Another," but for shamefully accidental reasons. Everybody's having another here, juleps, Buds or whatever. So it seemed appropriate.

A certain welcome giddiness takes over during the Derby race. People sing "My Old Kentucky Home" and cry. People who don't like each other share the sagas of their respective dice. People almost forget what they do and who they are in the real world they inhabited before the call to the post -- and the world they will inhabit after they go home.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, who is known in Washington as a relentless and somewhat humorless partisan, became the soul of graciousness as the horses came out on the track. He retreated to the back row of the stands we were in so that my wife, who had never been to the Derby, could have a better view. McConnell made the same offer, and it was gratefully accepted, to Cathy Yarmuth, the wife of Louisville's Democratic congressman, John Yarmuth. "I've seen a lot of those so move up in front," he said. He forgot about politics and talked about sports. He was affable. It is what you do at the Derby. "I'm glad you're having a good time," he said, and even seemed to mean it.

And we were.

 

Follow Howard Fineman on Twitter: www.twitter.com/howardfineman

FOLLOW
I picked the winner of the Derby, "I'll Have Another," but for shamefully accidental reasons. Everybody's having another here, juleps, Buds or whatever. So it seemed appropriate. A certain welco...
I picked the winner of the Derby, "I'll Have Another," but for shamefully accidental reasons. Everybody's having another here, juleps, Buds or whatever. So it seemed appropriate. A certain welco...
 
 
  • Comments
  • 413
  • Pending Comments
  • 0
  • View FAQ
Comments are closed for this entry
View All
Favorites
Highlights
Recency  | 
Popularity
Page: 1 2 3 4 5  Next ›  Last »  (19 total)
photo
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
JustABriefThought
DEMS want Prosperity4ALLofUS - Not just 1%
07:01 PM on 05/07/2012
He wanted her in front cause that's the only way you can keep an eye on them Democrats.

Similar to the crime bosses who only sit with their back to the wall in restaurants.
photo
MarcDel
What a child should never see
06:02 PM on 05/07/2012
Geez Howard, I like you but it's not like he ran out on the track and pulled a child away from the approaching horses. In that case he probably would have asked if the child's parents were voting for Obama.............remembering his number one goal
photo
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
papa224u
No dirty politics but dirty people
03:39 PM on 05/07/2012
Turtle running against horses?
photo
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Hipster Dufus
Dufus Hipster
03:27 PM on 05/07/2012
Why is it surprising that McConnell was gracious and affable.
He knows what he is doing when in the Senate.
That's why he should be replaced.
photo
imusintheevening
With,without,who'll deny it's whatthe fights about
02:57 PM on 05/07/2012
It is easy to have a good time when, as a Senator, your Chinese daddy-in-law gives you a check for $5 million. According to Mitt, Mitch could go out and start a business if being a Senator wasn't so profitable.
This user has chosen to opt out of the Badges program
photo
sackman
I am Jaguar Paw
02:44 PM on 05/07/2012
Beware of Greeks bearing gifts...........Obama 2012......
photo
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
suddenfun
Subvert the dominant paradigm
02:29 PM on 05/07/2012
Really Howard, a quaint little anecdote ...still sounds a bit ridiculous in comparison to the craven and vile behavior of he and his party and they damage they do and hope to do more of, to average working class people (or not-working class as the case may be). The GOP embrace of take-no-prisoners politicking, where they aren't winning unless the other side looses...is inexcusable.
To put it another way, it was probably the least he could do...and I am sure he was quite comfortable with that.
photo
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
ctwhite
Stop the world, I want to get off!
01:59 PM on 05/07/2012
Whatever! That one "kindness" doesn't come close to making up for the damage that he has caused this country. In his personal desire to ensure that The President serves only one term, he has neglected the duties he was elected to perform! In my opinion he is not worthy of the office that he holds.
photo
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
AsISaid
12:34 PM on 05/07/2012
Kind move? Did he step aside for the good of the country?
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
ultrawiz
Holding the Middle Ground
12:12 PM on 05/07/2012
Putting others up front gave McConnell a better opportunity to pick their pockets.
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Rockerbabe
01:21 PM on 05/07/2012
sounds about right.
11:53 AM on 05/07/2012
Beware of smiling faces and remember, this is a political season. Remember Mitch McConnell when you read the below lyrics. The below lyrics are portions of the song by the Temptations: “Smiling Faces Sometimes”

Smiling faces sometimes pretend to be your friend
Smiling faces show no trace of the evil that lurks within
Smiling faces, smiling faces sometime
They don’t tell the truth uh
Smiling faces, smiling faces
Tell lies and I got proof
The truth is in the eyes
Cause the eyes don’t lie, amen
11:38 AM on 05/07/2012
The most anticlimactic 2 minutes in sports! If a republican does the right thing you can be sure it's for all the wrong reasons!
11:29 AM on 05/07/2012
This is a political ploy, with horses first and people last.
11:26 AM on 05/07/2012
Big deal. One rich white guy let a couple of other rich white guys' wives sit in the front row. Stop trying to humanize someone who would throw over the least of us in a heart beat.
photo
Scoppertop
Sunny Side
11:10 AM on 05/07/2012
Mitch's behavior is easily explained by the facts that he must 1] demonstrate his chivalry towards women 2] who happen to be wives of journalists and opposing politicians.

Incumbents OUT