Bunning, Pissed At McConnell And Cornyn, Announces His Retirement

Bunning's retirement likely to help Jack Conway

Bunning's angry-- angry enough to denounce NRSC Chair John Cornyn and Miss McConnell for systematically drying up his fundraising sources-- but not angry enough to follow through on his threat to resign and let Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear, a Democrat, appoint a replacement. Instead, Bunning, one of the Senate's most reactionary members-- right up there with Jim DeMint (R-SC), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Richard Burr (R-NC), and Jeff Sessions (R-AL) the half dozen neo-Confederate obstructionist fanatics who have decided to sacrifice the safety, security and well-being of the U.S. in a racially-tinged jihad against President Obama-- just announed he won't run for re-election. The most recent Senate approval polling (June 24) shows that neither Bunning nor Miss McConnell has persuaded Kentucky voters they're doing good jobs. Bunning's latest approval rating is a deadly 41% and McConnell's is 47%.

McConnell, who considers Kentucky his feudal domain, had decided that the 78 year old Bunning is too crazy, unpopular, eratic, and senile to be re-elected. Instead he has decreed that he wants a Republican hack he can easily control, Trey Grayson, KY's Secretary of State (who McConnell is rumored to have a long standing crush on). Grayson is more popular than Bunning but is by no means guaranteed the nomination, let alone the Senate seat. Some conservatives consider Grayson an untested squish who isn't far enough to the right and isn't as tough as Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway, the Democratic front-runner. (Grayson was once a Democrat and voted for Bill Clinton, something that could hurt him with the lunatic fringe-- the Republican base-- in a primary.)

Ron Paul's son, Bowling Green eye surgeon Rand Paul, who has the same kind of whacky, devoted following as Papa Paul, says he plans to run as the non-Insider candidate. Paul is expected to announce at the annual Fancy Farm picnic on Aug. 1 in western Kentucky. There is also an off-chance that Tim Couch, former University of Kentucky football star, may run, probably feeling baseball has had enough time in the spotlight and that it's football's turn. He's marrie dto a former Playboy bunny, Heather Kozar.

Had Bunning resigned it is likely that Governor Beshear would have appointed declared Democratic candidate, Daniel Mongiardo, the extremely conservative Lt. Governor, best known for a lack of backbone and unwillingness to stand up to right-wingers, Senator. That would have gone along way towards guaranteeing him the Democratic nomination. Now he will be evenly matched with the state's moderate and much-admired Attorney General Jack Conway.


An April poll shows that moderate Conway would beat Grayson next year but that the reactionary Mongiardo would be edged by Grayson. Inside-the-Beltway hack Chris Cillizza was quick to show he can be as twisted and insidious as Head Villager David Broder, declaring within minutes of Bunning's retirement announcement that the move "drastically increases Republicans' chances of holding the seat next fall."

Bunning, who is being praised to high Heaven by the hypocritical McConnell and Cornyn, will still be in the Senate long enough to vote against health care for Kentucky's needy residents and, of course, against President Obama's nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court.