Jesse Benton Issues a 'Hold Your Nose' Letter

Joan Walsh at Salon sets the scene:

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell looks the worst right now, having stayed on the sidelines of this debate until it was clear military action wasn’t immanent, and then declaring, unbelievably, that he opposed a Syria strike. Everyone knows McConnell would be gung-ho behind a strike against Syria but for two problems: a Tea Party primary challenger named Matt Bevin and a president named Barack Obama.

"The worst," what's the problem? what does Jesse Benton do? He holds his nose and sends out a letter.

At the Races reports:

 Not long after President Barack Obama finished his Syria speech Tuesday evening, people on Mitch McConnell’s campaign mailing list received a fundraising pitch touting the Kentucky Republican’s decision earlier in the day to oppose a military strike in the war-torn country.

The email featured a letter to supporters from McConnell campaign manager Jesse Benton, who included the full text of McConnell’s floor speech on Tuesday morning. During the speech, McConnell announced his opposition to a resolution authorizing military intervention.

“Mitch made it very clear to me from the beginning that he does not politicize issues of national security. He believes that America’s strength in the world should not be subject to the political theatre that so often takes hold of Washington these days,” Benton wrote.

Benton's letter stated that McConnell's late move was leadership:

True to his word, today he showed the kind of leadership and statesmanship that is so often lacking in politics by listening to experts, constituents, and advocates on both sides of the issue, and in the end did what was right.

Benton is going to have to trade this:

  For this, before the campaign is over: