MITCH McCONNELL IN TROUBLE BACK HOME-- AND THERE ISN'T EVEN A DEMOCRAT OPPONENT YET!

All these Inside the Beltway prognosticators are always putting up their predictions about which Senate and House are vulnerable and which are "safe." These folks are so conservative and out of touch that they are virtually always wrong. Normally they trail reality by several months. It drives me nuts when big DC organizations quote them when allocating funds to candidates. A few days ago I was reading one of the lists of safe Senate seats complied by one of these Einsteins. Mitch McConnell was rated as a sure hold for the Republicans. And McConnell may win his seat again in 2008-- but I wouldn't bet on it; and "safe" is far from what that race should be rated by anyone whose been awake in the last year.

Even today's Moonie Times recognizes that McConnell's base of support has all but eroded away as he played the role of Bush's chief obstructionist in the Senate. McConnell has managed to lead filibusters against every piece of progressive legislation passed in the House-- and then call the Congress a "Do Nothing Congress." The man has no shame. But the reasons he has less and less backing in Kentucky are for other things.

He and his wife, Bush's anti-labor Labor Secretary are practically lobbyists for China and are huge boosters for shipping American jobs-- even Kentucky jobs, like in the case of the Fruit of the Loom factory in Campbellsville-- and for the free importation of poisonous and deadly Chinese products into America. McConnell and his wife-of-convenience have become extremely wealthy since entering government service. Like so many Republican members of Congress, public service has been an absolute gold mine. Some, like Randy "Duke" Cunningham and Bob Ney are already in prison. It is likely that they will be followed by the entire Alaska congressional delegation, the former Republican House Majority Leader (Tom DeLay), John Doolittle (R-CA), Rick Renzi (R-AZ), Jerry Lewis (R-CA), and as many as a dozen other egregiously crooks GOP lawmakers.

But McConnell has plenty to worry about before his corruption comes to the fore. Everyone is always asking for proof he was thrown out of the military for fondling a private's privates. Looks like that will be available soon, something that is bound to be uncomfortable for a homophobic hypocrite like McConnell. You can rest assured the Washington Times doesn't bring that up. Instead they talk about the growing unpopularity of Bush's Iraq occupation, which is largely associated, as it should be, with McConnell (see video below). In fact, many Kentucky Republicans are urging Larry Forgy to challenge McConnell in the primary.
Forgy knows that McConnell's weakest point isn't so much that he's in bed with other men or with Bush, but that he's in bed with China.

"The average Kentuckian feels we are giving away this country with both hands-- jobs are going, essentially the primacy of the people who made this country great is going, and Mitch McConnell is lumped with the Washington types on this," Mr. Forgy said.

"And the war in Iraq is less troublesome in Kentucky than in many other places, but it is not popular here, and Republican voters see Mitch's views as too close to the president's on the war," said Mr. Forgy, a Lexington lawyer.

... McConnell registered a 48 percent approval rating last month in a SurveyUSA poll.

Not a single Republican Senator was re-elected last year with a SUSA approval below 50% a year before the election. Jim Talent (R-MO), Mike DeWine (R-OH), Rick Santorum (R-PA), Conrad Burns (R-MT), George Macacawitz Allen (R-VA) and Lincoln Chafee (R-RI) were all defeated, some with approval rating higher than McConnell's. And McConnell has been the ultimate Bush Regime rubber stamp, not just on Iraq and Bush's devastating trade policies, but also on immigration, a very unpopular stand among Republicans in Kentucky.

A county party chairman who supports Mr. McConnell but asked not to be identified said Mr. McConnell's re-election next year is uncertain -- despite the Capitol Hill clout he brings Kentucky -- unless he shows the folks back home he understands their distrust of Washington on enforcing immigration laws.

The chairman said he has tried to tell Mr. McConnell that he needs to assure the party's base that he opposes Mr. Bush's immigration bill.

The Kentucky Republican Party, torn by the immigration issue, was further fractured when critics claimed Mr. McConnell had acted behind the scenes to back an ultimately unsuccessful primary challenge by former Rep. Anne Northup against Gov. Ernie Fletcher earlier this year. The Fletcher faction of the state Republican Party is backing the "draft Forgy" campaign.