Posted by
Young Democrat on Wednesday, May 06, 2009 5:57:01 PM
In Kentucky, there is a brawl a brewing and it's between the state's two Republican Senators, Mitch McConnell and Jim Bunning. A lot of it stems with Bunning, who is considered slightly unhinged and is angry over the fact that McConnell has not been as supportive to Bunning's 2010 re-election race instead trying to recruit other GOP candidates to beat him in the 2010 GOP Primary. In McConnell's defense, it's because Bunning barely won a squeaker in 2004 when Bush won the state in a landslide. In other words it's not a Republican thing it's a Bunning issue.
Still loyalty is a trait foreign to Washington but what's so much fun about this story now is the fact that Bunning is trying now out in the open to get McConnell removed as majority leader. It's a move I would favor; McConnell's has been a failure as minority leader and no where near as good as Former Senator Bill Frist. John Ensign of Nevada would be the best of a whole lot of rotten apples. He seems to have a good head on his shoulders and could be the "newer" face of the Republican Party. Sorry we don't have any new ones.
As the old saying goes "Even a broken clock tells the time for two minutes a day" such is the case with Jim Bunning. He said "Mitch McConnell has not shown leadership. In 2004 we had 55 Senate seats today we have 40, having lost 15 Senate seats under McConnell’s leadership. In 2010 we're most likely to lose 4 (that's true) and be down to 36. That's not any kind of leadership I want". I'm paraphrasing here but that is what he said. I'm going to say it again; the Republican Party leadership does not exist to make sure the party is pure conservative. It exists to get its members elected until the get the majority of seats. Being down to 40 and most likely down to 36 (that will be the bottom) is not leadership. The strategy being used by the Republican Party leadership is to wait and pounce on failure. That's terrible. We should be trying to come about with solutions that work to the problems Americans are faced with. Not only that but many in the GOP leadership only given conservative ideas lip service but continue to support the high spending in Washington. No one in GOP leadership has talked, proposed, or even thrown the idea out there of how to cut entitlement spending. Bunning is right on this one; McConnell needs to step down as minority leader giving the spot to Senator John Ensign.