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McConnell says Biden speech was 'incoherent, incorrect and beneath his office'
Wed, January 12, 2022, 11:45 AM
Minority Leader Leader Mitch McConnell (R-.) arrives for a press conference after the weekly policy luncheon on Tuesday, December 7, 2021.
Minority Leader Leader Mitch McConnell (R-.) arrives for a press conference after the weekly policy luncheon on Tuesday, December 7, 2021.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-**.) on Wednesday offered a blistering rebuke of President Biden's speech in Georgia, in which the president pushed for voting rights and changing the legislative filibuster, saying that it was "abandoning rational persuasion for pure demagoguery."

"Look, I've known, liked and personally respected Joe Biden for many years. I did not recognize the man at the podium yesterday. ... The president's rant, rant, yesterday was incoherent, incorrect and beneath his office," McConnell said from the Senate floor.

"Yesterday, with the world's largest megaphone, he invoked the literal Civil War and said we are on the doorstep of autocracy. Talked about domestic enemies. Rhetoric unbecoming of a president of the United States," he added.

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McConnell's remarks come a day after Biden traveled to Georgia to make a high-profile case for Senate Democrats changing the legislative filibuster, which requires 60 votes for most legislation to advance, in order to pass election and voting legislation. Republicans have blocked three such bills over the past year.

Biden, as part of his speech, framed the fight over voting rights as a matter of historical significance, suggesting lawmakers must decide whether they want to "be on the side of Abraham Lincoln or Jefferson Davis," referencing the former U.S. president and the president of the Confederacy, respectively.

McConnell and Biden served together when Biden was in the Senate and cut deals together during the Obama administration when Biden was vice president.

But Biden, speaking in Georgia, argued that while he was an institutionalist, the