<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class=""><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: rgb(60, 55, 54); font-family: 'Open Sans'; letter-spacing: 0.125px; font-size: 23px;" class=""><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">Pundits are often quick to jump on Democrats for their messaging blunders, but frankly Mitch McConnell made about the biggest messaging gaffe possible Tuesday when he explicitly put some of the government's most popular programs <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/10/16/1804771/-McConnell-disturbed-that-tax-cuts-didn-t-pay-for-themselves-says-we-have-to-cut-entitlements" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 107, 61) !important;" class="">on the chopping block</a>. In an <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-16/mcconnell-blames-entitlements-not-gop-for-rising-deficits" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 107, 61) !important;" class="">interview with Bloomberg News</a>, McConnell pegged Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid as the key drivers of a skyrocketing deficit, which in reality spiked following the massive GOP tax cuts. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: rgb(60, 55, 54); font-family: 'Open Sans'; letter-spacing: 0.125px; font-size: 23px;" class=""><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">Asked about the ballooning deficit and national debt, which is expected to reach fully $1 trillion next year, McConnell responded, on camera:<span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""> </span></span></p><blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 30px 60px; margin: 20px 0px; border: none; width: 660px; line-height: 24px; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247); z-index: -1; color: rgb(60, 55, 54); font-family: 'Open Sans'; letter-spacing: 0.125px; font-size: 23px;" class=""><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 10px 0px 0px;" class=""><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">"It's very disturbing and it's driven by the three big entitlement programs that are very popular—Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid— that's 70 percent of what we spend every year."</span></p></blockquote><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: rgb(60, 55, 54); font-family: 'Open Sans'; letter-spacing: 0.125px; font-size: 23px;" class=""><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">In what appears to have been further interviewing with Bloomberg off camera, McConnell <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-16/mcconnell-blames-entitlements-not-gop-for-rising-deficits" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 107, 61) !important;" class="">expanded</a> on his comments in a clear effort to tag Democrats with cleaning up after the mess Republicans made with their tax giveaway to the rich:</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: rgb(60, 55, 54); font-family: 'Open Sans'; letter-spacing: 0.125px; font-size: 23px;" class=""><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">“It’s disappointing, but it’s not a Republican problem [...] it's a bipartisan problem."</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: rgb(60, 55, 54); font-family: 'Open Sans'; letter-spacing: 0.125px; font-size: 23px;" class=""><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">“I think it’s pretty safe to say that entitlement changes, which is the real driver of the debt by any objective standard, may well be difficult if not impossible to achieve when you have unified government.”… cont. on site</span></p></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><span style="font-size: 22px;" class=""><a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/10/17/1805164/-Democrats-pounce-as-McConnell-lobbies-for-cuts-to-Social-Security-Medicare-and-Medicaid?detail=emaildksp" class="">https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/10/17/1805164/-Democrats-pounce-as-McConnell-lobbies-for-cuts-to-Social-Security-Medicare-and-Medicaid?detail=emaildksp</a></span></body></html>