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GOP Abandoning Another Conservative?

By: Brian Darling (Diary)  |  January 22nd, 2009 at 05:16 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

According to Politico, “some Republicans are privately urging Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) to step down at the end of his term amid growing concerns that he can’t win reelection in 2010.”  Are you f–ing kidding me?  This story can’t be true.  

The resurgence of Jim Bunning is one of the best things that has happened to the Republican Party over the past two years and he has a better chance of winning in the next election cycle than Senator Mitch McConnell had going into the 2008 elections.  Yes, McConnell had more money, but he hurt himself by voting for the Bailout of Wall Street and was targeted by the left for defeat because of his leadership position.   This story must be false.

Senator Bunning has had a resurgence over the past two years.  Bunning dug in and fought against the Bush Administration, Secretary of the Treasury Hank Paulson, and member of the Republican Party who wanted to support the Bailout of Wall Street.  Bunning’s staunch opposition to the so called Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) has earned him the respect and loyalty of fiscal conservatives. 

Who can forget Bunning’s heroic cross examination of Secretary Hank Paulson:  Bunning Grills Paulson

One would think that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky is fully supporting his colleague and friend Jim Bunning, yet the Politico story attempts to imply that McConnell is not supporting Bunning.

In another signal that the state GOP political establishment isn’t lining up behind Bunning, not a single member of McConnell’s 2008 reelection team has signed on to assist Bunning’s bid for a third term.

There is no way that Senator Mitch McConnell would abandon a friend in need.  I refuse to believe that Leader McConnell would throw his good friend Jim Bunning under the bus so he could get a younger and more moderate Senator to Represent Kentucky. 

One line of criticism for Bunning is the fact that he missed a few votes at the beginning of the new Congress.  Seems like he has a good excuse and he told the Lousville Courier-Journal that

I have another life besides the U.S. Senate.  My family is more important than the U.S. Senate. It always has been and always will be.

That answer should earn him votes in family friendly Kentucky. 

Bunning didn’t get into the Hall of Fame by backing down and I don’t expect him to do so this time.  Senator Jim Bunning stood up against President Bush when Bush was wrong.  Bunning is exactly the type of Senator that Senate Repubican Leader Mitch McConnell and Senator John Cornyn of Texas need to defend.  Any abandoning of the conservatives in cycle would be political treason.

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COMMENTS

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  • http://conservative-and-proud.blogspot.com/ eschristian

    for those in the GOP who ask conservatives to resign (you RINO’s) those people should leave the conservative alone, stay out of the conservatives way, take their own advice and pack it up and go home. RINO’s are killing the GOP. I personally am getting fed up with the McCains and Lindsey Grahams and other spineless, pansy, clueless group of people that thanks to their cluelessness gave us President Obama.

    I heard McCain’s daughter on Fox the other morning say she did not want to comment on Sarah Palin because she wanted to focus on the future of the GOP and not the past. Are you kidding me – Sarah Palin and Conservatives are the future of the GOP or I will not be a part of it. I guess McCain’s daughter was just listening to her daddy.

    • Praveen

      but did you see John advocating for Hillary’s confirmation. http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2009/01/21/mccain-lends-hillary-clinton-a-helping-hand/

      With friends(leaders) like these who needs enemies?

      And are we seeing a dynasty emerge here?

  • newred

    The accusations of Darling and some other commenters here that this is some RINO conspiracy is TOTAL B.S. No one is saying that we shouldn’t run another conservative in his place, so stop acting like a bunch of paranoid lunatics! That fact is that Bunning’s time has passed. His reputation as an effective legislator is almost nonexistent and there is not one single poll that shows his approvals anywhere but in the toilet. Find someone conservative, energized, intelligent, ambitious and run him/her instead so we can prevent a takeover of the rising KY Dems. And stop the ridiculous paranoid accusations. You make us all look like fools!

    • Brian Darling

      Sombody clearly planted the Politico story in an effort to force Bunning out of the race. Who is behind this effort? I hope Mitch McConnell is not throwing Bunning under the bus so he can get somebody who will beter take orders.
      The story states, “According to two GOP sources, leading Republican fundraisers in Kentucky are hesitant to raise money for Bunning and have told him he should not seek a third term” and quotes “one leading Kentucky Republican operative who requested anonymity to speak candidly.”
      These stories don’t come out of thin air. It was planted by some R who doesn’t want Bunning to run. This story has McConnell fingerprints all over it and I hope that I am merely being paranoid.
      Bunning is old, but so was Reagan. Age is not a disquafier. Bunning has been very effective in the questioning just last week of Tim Geithner on his tax evasion. Bunning has lead the effort to fight steroids in baseball and help arm our nations pilots against terrorism. Please provide some evidence on how Bunning is not an “effective legislator” because I call BS on that statement.
      Newred – please explain the qualificaitons that would lead to these other candidates in KY for the senate walk into the Senate seat with little opposition. They don’t seem to be of the caliber of Hall of Famer and free market warrior JIm Bunning.

  • lawson

    Trey Grayson is the candidate.
    He is young, energetic, has an accomplished record, and is a proven statewide vote getter.

  • dld1717

    For whatever reason Bunning has never been able to crack above 51% of the vote and with the Senate so close to 60 seats for Democrats we have to be so careful.

    I like Bunning he showed a lot strength and vigor in questioning new Treasury Secretary but he is poor campaigner and is showing no life or forming a campaign yet or even raising funds.

    You know you are a target for the Dems then u better be raising funds

  • Lelouch

    They are gambling their political future if they decide to abandon a conservative like that. Let them eat dust.

  • The_Rebel

    might just be. Since he has been fighting against “established” republicans and the Bush Administration, they would have to be those RINO’s, people like Collins, Snowe, Specter, Graham, etc.

  • phxg

    of the growing power of the “moderate” Republicans within the party. It’s time to use Operation Leper and get the word out on every single one of these non-conservative Republicans.

  • Brian Darling

    Agreed. If a Republican Senator throws a conservative Senator under the bus — that member should be chucked under a bigger bus.

  • LawSchoolRed

    has been one straw short of a slurpee for a long time. He may be good on some red meat issues that others are weak, but he is inarticulate and by no means a shining example of what I would want in a republican senator (see Coburn and to a lesser extent,Thune). If we want to become the dems and let people keep their seats regardless of ability, senility, or competence so be it, but I for one think its better to get a younger, more energetic senator in there then have him stick around until he is Bobby Byrd or Tim Johnson.

  • Martin Knight
  • SteveLA

    Good job, good points. I’m not sure the new keepers of the spirit of Tom?s de Torquemada on this side of the ditch will like them, but well said.

  • Leon H. Wolf

    I really disagree with the basic thrust of this post. When Bunning gets in front of the press, he says stupid stuff. 2004 was the best GOP election in a long, long time and he nearly lost to a guy who nobody had ever heard of and who spent less than half a mil. Now that the Dems know how gaffe-prone he is, how much money do you think they’ll pour into this one in 2010?

    Furthermore, if they could find someone who irritated George Allen into making a remark that doomed his campaign, how do you think Bunning is going to respond to whichever annoying netrooter(s) they assign to harass him?

    I don’t know that we have a better option than Bunning out there, but I certainly get being scared about his electoral chances.

  • AceInTX

    2006, now 2008 and these fools still don’t get it!

  • lawson

    I am from Kentucky and voted for Jim Bunning before. I like him. I have met him multiple times on the campaign trail. I think he is fine, and the stories about his competence are completely overblown. But the only problem is that isnt what the perception is in KY. Even GOP friends of mine sometimes make comments comparing him to a bumbling old ucle. Fair, of course not, but since when is politics fair. I think some in the state GOP want him to retire, not because he is too conservative; but because they honestly see him as vulnerable, If Sec of State Trey Grayson would run I concur that he might be the better cabdidate.

  • Neil1030

    Bunning is a good conservative but if he is going to be vulnerable we can hardly afford to lose another seat. Is there someone younger with good fundraising ability who could win? As someone else said, Bunning nearly lost in ’04 even as GWB was carrying KY by a large margin. I suspect they will target him very strongly, especially since ’06 and ’07 were good Demo years in KY.

  • The_Rebel

    We had a very articulate, conservative Senator by the name of Rick Santorum who lost by the largest margin for an incumbent since 1980, by 59% to 41%. Santorum made some controversial statements during his campaign in 2006, but he generally made the conservative case very effectively.

    His death knell in the Senate was sealed in 2004 when he supported Arlen Specter in the primary over a very principled conservative, Pat Toomey. And you know all the Republican establishment was behind Specter.

    Also in 2006 Lincoln Chafee of RI was supported by the Republican establishment in the primary against conservative Stephen Laffey, who was supported by The Club for Growth, among others. Chafee beat Laffey by 6% and went on to lose in the general by 8%. The turnout in the RI Republican primary was the largest in history, indicating the groundswell of support for Laffey. Once he lost, the air was out of that balloon for the general election.

    Given the recent track record of established (read moderate) Republican support or non-support of Senate candidates, I would tread very carefully before throwing (no pun intended) Bunning under the bus.

  • Praveen

    get preference over others. Once we have the “right” candidate the party should get behind him and make an all out effort. That’s how bit by bit moderates(democrats in disguise) can be pushed out and good conservative people retained in leadership positions. Electability should not be the only deciding factor.

    I don’t think there should be a concern about “afford to lose another seat”. We have enough republicans in the Senate to help democrats. There is nothing to lose.

    PS: I am not saying you are only for electability. Just that I think being a good conservative should be the primary criterion for selecting candidates.

  • lawson

    I agree age is not a disqualifier,but the Reagan comparison is slightly off base.
    Bunning will be two years older on election day than Reagan wa when he left the Oval Office.

    And as I’ve said the candidate is Trey Grayson. He has won statewide twice now, the second time with 57 percent while the top of the ticket was getting trounced.

  • Martin Knight