McConnell: Thelma and Louise economics

Oh, no he din't!

“At a moment when more Americans are signing up for disability than finding jobs, Democrats said they think it’s a good idea to drive the country off what economists are calling America’s fiscal cliff this coming January,” McConnell said on the floor Thursday morning.

“You might call it 'Thelma and Louise' economics — right off the cliff.”

Do you remember your reaction when you first saw that movie? I sure do.

My friend and I walked out of the theater and sat down in stunned silence. I remember wishing everyone around me would just STFU because I was so filled with anger and grief.

Sen. McConnell is suggesting that the situation in which Thelma and Louise found themselves - and the decision they made about that at the end of the movie - symbolizes what the Democrats are doing today.

Let's simply remind ourselves that Thelma and Louise had both been raped and abused by men in their lives (the Republicans in this analogy I presume).Throughout the movie, we watch them deal with the pain and begin to toy with their own power. And in the end, that means their only choice is to surrender that power or die. They chose death.

And so Senator McConnell, I guarantee you that anyone who watched that movie (with the exception of hard core misogynists) identified with Thelma and Louise. Up until the very end, we were all hoping that the men in pursuit of vengeance would give them a chance. But ultimately, we were left wondering whether or not we would have had the courage to do the same thing they did when it was clear that wasn't going to happen.

I'm pretty sure this is not the message Senator McConnell wanted to send when he used that analogy. I can only assume that he was one of those hard core misogynists who never got the point of the story in the first place.