Disgusting, racist attack on McConnell is a new low for coal Republican

I'm not one who would normally defend Mitch McConnell when he's targeted unfairly in political ads.

He's made a career out of misrepresenting what his opponents have done or what they have said or how they have voted or the sole, craven purpose of amassing and holding onto political power.

What comes around, goes around, is my way of thinking. So what if karma finally has her way with him. He, of all people, deserves it.

But Don Blankenship, the slimeball West Virginia coal operator who tried to cover up safety violations in the Upper Big Branch mine before an explosion there killed 29 miners in 2010, has gone too far.

Blankenship spent a year in prison for his crime. He was just released a year or so ago. Now he's running for the U.S. Senate in West Virginia.

And people who know about these things think Blankenship has a chance to be the GOP nominee to take on incumbent Joe Manchin.

Unbelievable, huh?

Now, he's using anti-Asian racism and he's trying to tie McConnell to a drug-smuggling operation in which he has no involvement.

Did I mention that Blakenship was the slimeball coal operator who was covering up safety violations in his mine before an explosion ripped through the Upper Big Branch in the most deadly mine disaster in 40 years — killing 29 men?

Apparently, Blankenship thinks the best way to win the Republican primary is to attack McConnell, who apparently is about as popular as gout in other states.

One ad focuses on the fact that McConnell's wife, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, was born in China. Then he goes after McConnell with the most spurious of claims — saying he will "ditch 'Cocaine Mitch' for the sake of the kids."

Whoa.

The second ad is a very odd, 30-second spot airing claims that politicians were responsible for blowing up his mine (yes, he really said that), then it goes on to attack the Senate majority leader.

"One of my goals as U.S. senator will be to ditch 'Cocaine Mitch,'" Blankenship says in that ad.

Now, I've known Mitch McConnell for a long time. The first time I met him was outside a Waffle House in Jessamine County back in 1996 when he was fending off a challenge by Steve Beshear.

I can tell you that the old guy is not the hippest cat in town.

He's more Jimmy Dorsey than Jimi Hendrix; more tie clips than tie-dye.

The hardest drugs he's ever tried, I'm guessing, are digitalis and diuretics.

And while Blankenship is using innuendo to get voters to believe that McConnell is some coke-sniffing maniac and that he's the guy who's going to stop him, well, it's hard to imagine anyone believing that.

Related: Don Blankenship explains why he called McConnell 'Cocaine Mitch'

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The drug-smuggling case to which Blankenship is referring is a 2014 situation involving the Foremost Group, a large shipping company that was founded by James S. C. Chao, Elaine Chao's father.

That year, the Nation reported that Colombian inspectors boarded one of Foremost's ships, the Ping May, in port at Santa Marta with a hull full of coal. In addition to the coal, however, the Colombians found 90 pounds of cocaine on board.

Ever since then, Democrats and anti-McConnell Republicans like Blankenship have pushed the notion that the Chao family and McConnell, by extension, are criminal kingpins who use their fleet of ships to move drugs around the globe.

Only problem is, there doesn't appear to be a lick of evidence to back that up.

In fact, few news organizations reported the Colombian bust at the time, leaving that largely to Democratic mouthpieces like Daily Kos.

Perhaps the most troubling thing about the ads is that Blankenship calls McConnell "Cocaine Mitch" without ever explaining what he's talking about, leaving people who don't know the story to think the absolute worst of McConnell.

In the other ad, Blankenship spins off into anti-Asian racism, saying that McConnell has "created millions of jobs for China people" and then says that McConnell's "China family has given him tens of millions of dollars."

It's disgusting.

Blankenship's ads were even too much for the Trump family, which has shown itself to be more than willing to attack opponents with all kinds of specious claims.

On Thursday, Donald Trump Jr. tweeted, "I hate to lose. So I'm gonna go out on a limb here and ask the people of West Virginia to make a wise decision and reject Blankenship!"

God help us if this is where we are in political discourse in the United States, when slimeballs like Blankenship think it's reasonable to make such claims without any proof and use overt racism in ads.

We ought to reject it, even when the tactic is used against one of the leading practitioners of unfair and misleading attacks in American politics.

Joseph Gerth's opinion column runs on most Sundays and at various times throughout the week. He can be reached at 502-582-4702 or by email at jgerth@courierjournal.com. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: www.courier-journal.com/josephg.

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