McConnell: 'Democratic agenda is to turn us into France'

U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell: Getty Images PhotoU.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Louisville) recognizes that in this election year, Americans want change, but, according to an interview with The Washington Times, the Senate Minority Leader is afraid of the change promised by the Democratic presidential frontrunner, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.).

This is how the Times began its story:

The Senate's top Republican says Democrats' sights are set on European-style socialism, and derided likely Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama's claims of being a unifier - one of the major selling points the Illinois Democrat makes on the campaign trail.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, in a likely preview of the Republican line of attack in the general election, said Democratic leaders and Mr. Obama "get up every morning with three things on their minds: more taxes, more regulation and more litigation."

"It's pretty clear to me that the Democratic agenda is to turn us into France," the Kentucky Republican told The Washington Times in an unusually blunt interview at his office in the Capitol. "Americans may want change, but the question is, what kind of change?"

At a Lincoln-Reagan Day dinner in Hebron last month, McConnell's wife, Labor Secretary Elaine Chao used similar language attacking Democrats, describing the “Europeanization” of American labor law:

“In my department alone, we are seeing many, many new additions that speak to a movement to turn America into Europe…If [Democrats] have the House, the Senate, and the Presidency as they expect and hope for in November of 2008, our country will be more like France."

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