Mitch McConnell will accuse Democrats of intimidating their opponents. McConnell takes aim at 'liberal thugs'

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell plans to launch a fierce attack on the Obama administration and congressional Democrats, calling out “liberal thugs” for intimidating their opponents in the name of political expediency.

In a biting attack aimed at throwing red meat to a restive conservative base, McConnell will tell the Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday that the “liberal playbook” boils down to this: “Pick a target, freeze it, personalize it, and then polarize it.”


“But rarely have we seen those tactics employed with the kind of zeal that we see today. This White House and its lieutenants have made an art form out of the orchestrated attack,” the Kentucky Republican will say, according to excerpts provided to POLITICO.

“They’ve shown they’ll go after anybody or any organization that they think is standing in their way.”

Without singling him out directly by name, McConnell will point the finger at New York Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer for seeking public hearings into super PACs, saying he’s calling “law-abiding citizens before a congressional panel just because they happen to support causes that he doesn’t.”

He plans to add: “You know the drill. Expose these folks to public view, release the liberal thugs on them, and then hope the public pressure or the unwanted attention scares them from supporting similar causes down the road.”

A Senate Democratic leadership aide shot back.

“McConnell, whose friend [Bob] Bennett was chased out of office by the tea party and who has ever since then feared being outed by the fanatical right wing as an earmarking, foreign aid lover, has nothing to offer CPAC as red meat except hypocritical attacks on partisan tactics,” the aide said.

The attacks are an attempt by McConnell to make an election-year argument aimed at painting President Barack Obama as ideologically driven at the expense of the economy. It comes as Republicans are divided over whether to produce their own election-year agenda or simply take aim at the president and his policies.

McConnell wants the focus to be squarely on the president.

In his remarks, McConnell will say that the government uses resources “to intimidate or silence” their critics,” and then he plans to renew his attacks on the administration’s controversial policies calling for faith-based organizations to offer contraceptives and other birth-control devices.

“These things demean the office of the president,” he will say. “They corrode our democracy. And they need to stop.”