BluegrassBulletin.com

Endorsement: United States Senate

Mitch McConnell is being challenged for the Republican Party nomination by Matt Bevin, at least on paper.  In reality this race and the one scheduled for November between what clearly looks like Mitch vs. Alison Lundergan Grimes have one thing in common.  Both contests have a single issue, that it's time for Mitch to go.  And a lot of people share that sentiment.

While Mitch McConnell is credited with being the architect of the Kentucky GOP, he really deserves a lot of credit for helping build the Kentucky TEA party.  Those folks recite over and over any number of votes, statements, cave ins and deals Mitch has made which do not fit their narrow view of "principled politics". Their criticisms of Mitch are vigorous, vociferous and sometimes downright vicious.  It is Mitch who represents in their eyes all that is wrong with Washington, and politics in general and opposition to Mitch is the single biggest rallying point for many republicans who now call the TEA party home.

Agreeing with them that it is time for Mitch to go are a number of steadfast Jim Bunning supporters in Northern Kentucky who will never forgive Mitch for what he did to get Jim to step down.  Nor will they ever get over the disrespect they got when many close Mitch supporters claimed that it was he who saved Bunning's butt in one close race after another giving little if any credit to the hardworking Bunning folks who toiled in the sun while Mitch stole the credit.

And around the Commonwealth plenty of people who don't know the whole story, still can't get over what Mitch did to Ernie Fletcher and Ann Northup both at the same time.  The word "traitor" comes easily to many as their seething dislike for Mitch fills the air.

And how many candidates out there can count the number of times Mitch has thrown one of them under the bus, including good solid republicans who gave their life to the party, gave money to Mitch, stood up and spoke for him time and time again only to be treated like lepers when they needed his help and hoped their support would have earned his in return?

Yes, the number of people who would dance and sing and cheer the day Mitch got his comeuppance is not an insignificant number.  And so both Bevin and Grimes have tried to capture that momentum and use it to oust McConnell in what they hope would be tar and feathers.  But that isn't what an election is really all about.

Elections are about choices.  And if you happen to be one of the people who can't stand Mitch McConnell, the question you should be asking yourself isn't whether you can play a part in seeing him lose, but rather what do you get if the other guy wins?

For all the criticism against McConnell from both republicans with hurt feelings and democrats who hope to help Barack Obama by removing the biggest obstacle to the success of his progressive agenda and replace it instead with a firmly reliable vote in his column, take time to remember history.

Today conservatives want something very different from Washington than what they wanted just a few years ago.  Today they want a leaner budget, not long ago we wanted our Senators to bring home the bacon.  We wanted prosperity to be fueled by government grants, special tax treatment and celebrated with ribbon cuttings, not budget cuts.

Today conservatives are impatient and demanding and insist upon symbolic sacrifice for principles most of them really don't even understand.  Not long ago we seemed to have a more tolerant approach, understood how laws were made and how majorities controlled and how winners made policy while losers go home.

Conservatives today rail against bailouts and the national debt, spurred on by self proclaimed rodeo clowns like Glenn Beck and well reasoned loud mouths like Mark Levin who make plenty of money feeding the masses what they want to hear.  But it all reminds me of a skit on the late night show of Jimmy Kimmel.

Kimmel went out on the street and asked people if they were in favor of food that was gluten free.  Of course it is very popular to say yes to that question.  Then he asked them "what is gluten".  The dumb looks, dumb answers and dumb people illustrated how easy it is to get people on board with pop culture even if they don't know what they are doing.

How many people who buy into Glenn Beck's doomsday predictions over the national debt even know what it is?  Who owes what to whom?  How many people know what the bailouts were, what they did and who got what?  Not long ago we were less gullible, less inclined to be led like lemmings into a mindset without thinking, and more inclined to trust our elected officials than today.

And who can really look back over McConnell's record and say that in context, at the time he was performing, that he wasn't really doing what the people of Kentucky asked him to do, expected him to do and rewarded him for doing?

So if you are critical of McConnell for being a political brute, fine.  But if your reasons are based upon pop culture and current trends and somebody has convinced you that his record of performance in the Senate didn't really represent what the majority of Kentuckians wanted, you are delusional.  They returned him to office over and over and will do so again this year.

And since elections are not about punishing people for your hurt feelings but doing what is best for the Commonwealth (no, my TEA party friends, it's not about "the nation" it's about Kentucky) then ask yourself who has been proven better able to get things done in Washington DC, oppose the march of Obama's agenda, lend prestige to Kentucky and will become the majority leader in January?  And who is an afterthought candidate who had to be pulled and pushed into running just so Mitch would have opposition, who if he could survive May and win in November (not a chance on either count) would end up a back bencher at best or more likely just another voice in the dwindling crowd of malcontents vying for fame and claiming principles but getting nothing done?

And considering the race in November who is better able to raise the money, fight the fight, stand up and make the case why a vote for Obama would be a mistake for Kentucky?

Hold your nose if you have to, look for the opportunity for this to be a teachable moment for Mitch, see the chance to tell him this is your last term buddy, do any of those things you want, but when it comes to seeing this race for what it really is, a choice between two candidates, that choice is clear.  The choice, YOUR choice must be Mitch McConnell.

 (sorry, there is a commercial first)

ABC US News | ABC Entertainment News

Endorsement: United States Senate

This one requires a thoughtful, well written explanation.

Stay tuned.

It will come tomorrow.

Matt Bevin And Friends

Without comment:

 

 

Could McConnell Lose In November?

Mitch McConnell seems poised to defeat Matt Bevin pretty handily in the May primary, but the growing question around the coffee cups is whether he can survive November.

Alison Lundergan Grimes is out raising some pretty serious cash, and she isn't spending much of it foolishly.  She has gathered a star studded group of supporters to add Hollywood pizazz to her campaign and, sorry ladies, her gender is a bit of an advantage in today's political climate.

Add to that the fact that those with seething hate for McConnell among the Bevin crowd will not mend fences and vote for Mitch.  And among the GOP in general there is none of the old guard party loyalty that at one time kept guys like Mitch in power.

Mitch may very well have a November strategy in mind and if history is any kind of teacher at all it will likely be a combination of touting his accomplishments and slamming Alison pretty hard.  But what he needs after May is something he needs to be working on now.

Mitch needs more than a few allies out there forming an echo chamber for him.  He needs his ground game in place early this time, reminding folks why keeping Mitch is better for Kentucky.

So many of today's political observers want to couch every discussion in terms of what is good for the nation.  They see the huge political picture but not the local one.

Mitch needs to be working his network and have them out working for him, talking him up, using the local angle as the key to winning in November.

As many national observers are now beginning to admit, it looks like the GOP is going to capture the Senate majority.  Wouldn't it be a shame if we made that happen and Kentucky lost Mitch as the majority leader, instead replacing him with an Obama loyalist, back bencher and rookie public servant?

It could happen if Mitch forgets to warm up his engine before the race gets up to full speed.

1200 Fools Gather In Louisville

1200 people gathered in Louisville yesterday to be fooled into believing that a man who sexually violated his 20 year old intern and disgraced the Oval office was worthy of their time.  And what is worse, it appears that they were conned into giving money to Obama's next "reliable vote" by the cad.

Bill Clinton helped Alison Grimes rake together what in the final analysis could be just short of a million dollars, according to one democratic insider.  In addition, Clinton convinced the assembled "marks" that Alison has all the momentum in this race.

As time goes on the entire campaign of both Grimes and Matt Bevin boils down to a hatred of Mitch McConnell.  And for what?

He was hired to do a job, a specific job, and that was to serve as a check on the runaway liberal agenda, see that Kentucky was front and center when it came time for federal budget consideration and to enhance the image of a state which everywhere else in the nation is considered to be home to a bunch of corrupt backwoods politicians, barefoot hillbillies and black faced coal miners living in shacks on stilts in muddy snake infested mountains.

And McConnell has achieved everything we sent him to Washington to do, and more.

He is now the most prominent and powerful republican in our Commonwealth's history.  He has continued to see that Kentucky is a receiving state, that is we get back from Washington more money than we send there in taxes.

He has studied and mastered the rules of political engagement using them to advance the interests of Kentucky and stem the bleeding which would occur at the hands of an unchecked liberal president.

He voted the way Kentucky wanted him to vote until in the most recent days people started saying "No more spending."  In all the years he has been in office voters clearly wanted money for roads, bridges, factories, schools, universities and other government programs that helped the people of Kentucky.  The pop culture trend to despise those who spend federal money is a sea change from the world of just a few years ago.  To hate Mitch now for doing what we asked him to do then is just plain ignorant.

And clearly his class and calm demeanor has helped the image of Kentucky around the world.  The kind of snake handling, back slapping, tobacco spitting hick that most of the people of this country envision when they hear of Kentucky politicians dissolves when the success of Mitch McConnell is mentioned as a real life example in contrast to the fictional images they carry in their heads.

So, for all you who were fooled in Louisville to follow the lead of man who dishonored our country, cheated on his wife in public office, was impeached by Congress, disbarred as an attorney and has been accused of rape like conduct by many women, admit to your debauchery.

And to you republicans out there who still think that Mitch has to go because ......well......he voted for spending, put down the bong and back away.  We sent him there and told him what we wanted.  He delivered what we wanted.  The fact that you now want something else doesn't support your argument that he has to go.

In fact, if you were honest about it, looking for example at his support for the hemp initiative and other measures supported by Rand Paul, it looks like Mitch is more than willing to listen to what you want and to use his superior skills to deliver it to you, something Bevin could never offer.

And to the rest of you conservatives who think that somehow not supporting Mitch shows how truly conservative you are, consider this, once again.

Michelle Obama took the stage at 12:42 p.m. inside a softly lit ballroom at the Sheraton Hotel in Midtown Manhattan for a women-themed fund-raiser benefitting the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

The ballroom had about 25 tables, with several female senators and three Senate candidates in attendance. Candidates included Michelle Nunn in Georgia, Alison Lundergan Grimes in Kentucky and Natalie Tennant in West Virginia.

Obama spoke about the importance of electing a Congress to support her husband, alluded to the government shutdown, and invoked the narrow margin in the Senate to encourage the crowd to "max out."

"And let's not forget about that common-sense gun legislation, that so many of us feel so strongly about. Sadly as you know, that bill failed. Anyone know by how many votes? It failed by just six votes in the Senate. Six. So make no mistake about it: the midterm elections, they matter. They matter."

Obama said there was something the crowd could do to make a "huge difference."

"And it's simple, you can write a big ol' fat check," she said. [Capitol New York]

Read that over and over to everyone who will listen. 

Michelle Obama has singled out Alison Lundergan Grimes as a reliable vote for Barack Obama's agenda, including gun legislation.

It's just what our former adulterer in chief told people in Louisville.  "Follow me.  Write a check so Alison can help Obama."

Don't be fooled by disgusting Bill Clinton who left semen on a young female employees dress.  And don't be fooled by his "Scarlet Letter Tour". 

What he is up to is helping Obama get more votes in Congress and removing the most effective check on that runaway power Kentucky has ever sent to Washington DC.

I ain't fooled, are you?

Making The Case For Mitch

The American Spectator has an interesting angle on why our votes should be for Mitch McConnell, and it's just what I've been saying.  McConnell is effective, experienced and shows a significant interest in pursuing a more conservative agenda.  Bevin would be, at best, a back bencher in the fight.

All I’m trying to remind my comrades is that making the Republican Party a true small-government party requires two things: replacing big-government Republicans, which candidates like Bevin are striving to do, and changing other Republicans’ minds (or behavior in office).

McConnell is the member of the Republican leadership team who has been most swayed by Paul’s rise.

Reid suggests that the moves McConnell has made in recognition of this new political reality are unprincipled. I’d remind him of an observation by Milton Friedman. “People have a great misconception in this way, they think the way you solve things is by electing the right people,” Friedman once said. “It’s nice to elect the right people, but that isn’t the way you solve things. The way you solve things is by making it politically profitable for the wrong people to do the right things.”

It’s nice to envision a Senate filled with Rand Pauls. But the way you solve things is to have the Mitch McConnells and John Cornyns think it’s a “no-brainer” politically to stand with Rand on various issues.

[L]ibertarians and small-government conservatives should at least be willing to entertain the following question: Is there any benefit we can derive from a Senate majority leader who takes Paul seriously, even if only out of political calculation, that we can’t get from a freshman trouble-maker?

Good question.

Anniversary Of Stimulus Smells Like A Bust

From the Wall Street Journal:

Five years ago today, President Barack Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law. The $830 billion spending blowout was sold by the White House as a way to keep unemployment from rising above 8%. But the stimulus would fail on its own terms. 2009 marked the first of four straight years when unemployment averaged more than 8%. And of course the unemployment rate would have been even worse in those years and still today if so many people had not quit the labor force, driving labor-participation rates to 1970s levels.

It might seem like old news since everybody knows the recovery act was a terrible failure, but what needs to be remembered is that the money actually went somewhere, it's just that it went to well connected cronies and into the pockets of the wealthy.

 

But what is perhaps worse than all of that is the reality that no one, and I mean no one seems to have a plan or an idea that will save us from catastrophe.  I have a plan, and a good one, but damned if anybody ever wants to listen to reason.

Right now we are an economy of consumers with most of our products being made overseas.  That means the money you spend on foreign made goods is going out of this country and not coming back.

Our economy is a "circulatory system".  When a manufacturer sells a product he pays his workers, distributes his profits to his shareholders and sets aside a certain amount to be spent on improvements or business expansion.  The workers then take their paychecks and spend them in our economy.  That in turn pools money into the local grocery store, the local car dealership or that money pays the local carpenter to add a deck onto the worker's house.  In turn the grocer has money to spend on new flooring, on advertising, on parking lot expansion.  The car dealer makes money which he in turn spends on a new house.  The carpenter buys lumber from the local lumber yard improving the bottom line of the lumber dealer and on and on and on the money in circulation in our nation passes through any number of hands and improves the life and the prosperity of us all.

But when the money made by a foreign manufacturer comes in, it gets spent in that country, not ours.  The workers may be subjected to near slave labor conditions in that country and thereby unable to improve their own economy, but regardless, the money leaves America and does not come back, except as a loan to us, a debt we are required to pay.

The solution to our economic problems may lie in a very simple policy change, one that doesn't increase taxes at first but will in the end increase revenues thus alleviating our dependence on borrowed money.

Not all foreign manufacturing is being done by foreign owned companies.  Many of the jobs which have gone "off shore" are jobs in foreign plants working under contract to supply goods to American importers.  And in some cases, the companies that used to make goods in America are now making them elsewhere.

If the Federal Government would give a tax credit to any company equal to 100% of the wages paid to workers for every job now being done overseas if that job was brought home to America, think what that would do.

First, the foreign companies are not paying taxes here anyway, so giving them a tax credit is a net zero impact on revenue.

Second, the tax credit could be phased in over a five year period and tied to the requirement that the jobs be maintained for five years in order to get the credit.

For every job brought into the USA a worker would get a paycheck that is now going to somebody in another country.  That paycheck would be taxed as always and thus the government would be receiving revenue from a source that currently does not exist.

In addition the earnings would be put into circulation in our country.  Those earnings would not only improve the prosperity of the workers, but as they spent that money in our own economy, they would lift all boats along the way.  And as things currently exist, as that money circulated and became income to more and more people as it traveled around in our economy, it would generate revenue at many stages along the way.

Over a short period of time a large number of people could return to work.  This would lessen the economic burden on the government at the same time as revenues were increasing from the growing prosperity.  Because manufacturers would be free from heavy corporate taxes this would provide an incentive for companies to find America a friendly environment in which to do business.  In addition, free from heavy taxes due to the tax credits, companies could keep prices competitive with foreign produced goods particularly adding to our nation's awareness of how despite our current racial tensions, we are still supporting slavery around the world.

With more and more jobs being created, with prices more competitive due to the favorable tax environment, with more revenue pouring in at the same time as entitlement costs are going down, an aggressive Congress might see enough light at the end of the tunnel to begin a serious plan to balance the budget.

Over time as the notion of tax cut incentives improving the overall economy caught on the opportunity for more people from other countries to come here and participate in our prosperity could add many more people to our consuming public all living here rather than in some other nation, spending money there.

The plans for fixing our nation's bleak outlook isn't as hard as some might like you to think.  But it is very difficult when you have Barack Obama, Harry Reid and their democrat friends in power who are pulling us in the opposite direction, increasing the cost of government, increasing unemployment and incorrigible when it comes to talking about any form of tax cut or credit.

Is my idea workable?  Might it succeed?  Others can make that decision on their own.  But one thing is clear.

We are not going to get out of this rut until we remove Barack Obama, Harry Reid and the progressive liberal democrats from power and the start of that juggernaut begins this year.

God help us.

Beshear Throws Kentucky Under The Bus?

That's the headline at Hot Air.  Here's their reasoning:

There are some interesting goings on to watch in Kentucky this year, mostly centering on the “centrist” Democrat Governor, Steve Beshear. Some little birds in local politics have whispered in our ears, indicating that Beshear is looking for a place to land after [his term is up] and is hoping for an appointment in Washington from Barack Obama. Of course, that’s a bit different face than the Governor showed after winning his last election, when he promised a lean government, an ability to work with Republicans and distanced himself from Obama as much as possible.

But that was then and this is now. With an eye to the future, one would think that Beshear and Barack Obama are BFFs after the State of the Union address where he was singled out for his excellent work on Obamacare.

Not only that, with the threat of election defeat behind him, Beshear has also been reaching out to the EPA, with policies on the table which are very dangerous to the coal economy of Kentucky.

This all certainly seems very convenient for Governor Beshear in terms of cozying up to the White House and getting a high profile shout out at the SOTU. And it may just land him a job further down the line. But what happens to the people of his state who are left behind? They get stuck with the wreckage of Obamacare and more jobs leaving the state as the EPA decimates the energy industry there.

The leopard seems to be changing his spots rather quickly here. Keep this name in your Google search drawer and remember this if he shows up with a plush new job in the Obama administration.

Oh, and add to the pot the political capital Beshear is struggling to capture for himself by helping Obama defeat the strongest opponent of his runaway socialist agenda, Mitch McConnell.

Beshear has to be calculating into his future what he could score for himself if Alison Lundergan Grimes becomes the reliable vote for Obama that Michelle said she would be.

Don't for one minute think that these parasites aren't in it for themselves.

I May Switch Parties

I am a fourth generation Kentucky Republican.  My wife's family have been republicans since the Civil war.  I've devoted myself to the cause of the Republican party over my entire life.  But I'm about to tell them, enough is enough.

Congress is celebrating the upcoming vote in favor of the likely passage of the Farm Bill.  Once again the GOP is bought and paid for by big business.  Here's just one little straw they added to my back.

Congress‘ mammoth farm bill restores the imposition of an extra fee on home heating oil, hitting consumers in cold-weather states just as utility costs are spiking.

The fee — two-tenths of a cent on every gallon sold — was tacked on to the end of the 959-page bill, which is winding its way through Capitol Hill. The fee would last for nearly 20 years and would siphon the money to develop equipment that is cheaper, more efficient and safer, and to encourage consumers to update their equipment.

It’s just one of dozens of provisions tucked into the farm bill, which cleared the House on a bipartisan 251-166 vote last week and faces a key filibuster test in the Senate on Monday. It is expected to survive and face final passage Tuesday before heading to President Obama’s desk.

Taxpayer groups say the bill could increase spending over the previous version and that it’s crammed with favors for individual lawmakers, such as rules legalizing industrial hemp.

The heating oil fee was backed by Northeast lawmakers who said it would fund important research to benefit consumers. [Washington Times]

Forget the fancy hemp provisions that somehow have blinded the rest of my fellow Kentuckians into falling in line behind the farm bill.  And put aside the slam to those of us who use heating oil.  Do you know what the farm bill really is?

[T]he bill’s main budget attribute is that it ratifies the huge recent increase in food stamp spending. The House bill had proposed trimming a modest $39 billion (5 percent) from food stamps, but Republican leaders caved in and agreed to just a token 1 percent trim in the final bill.

The farm bill is far too costly. George W. Bush vetoed the 2008 farm bill because it “would needlessly expand the size and scope of government.” Unfortunately, Congress overrode his veto and enacted that bill, costing $640 billion over 10 years. Today, the House is considering a farm bill that would cost taxpayers $940 billion over 10 years — 47 percent more than the one that even big-spending President Bush couldn’t stomach.

Food stamp costs have exploded. About four-fifths of the cost of the farm bill is for food stamps.

Farm subsidies are reverse Robin Hood.Farm subsidies even go to millionaire farmland owners such as Mark Rockefeller and Ted Turner.

Subsidies are very concentrated. Although politicians love to discuss the plight of small farmers, the vast majority of farm subsidies go to the largest farms. In recent years, the biggest 10 percent of farm businesses have received three-quarters of farm subsidies, according to the Environmental Working Group.

Farm programs harm free trade.

Farm subsidies are scandal-prone. As in all federal subsidy programs, a substantial share of farm subsidies are wasted on fraudulent and improper payments. Subsidies also go to farmers who haven’t suffered substantial losses. [CATO]

Now back to the heating oil tax.  I don't think that many of my republican elected officials have any sense whatsoever of the plight of millions of their countrymen.  I know many people trying to live on less than $700 per month.  That's TOTAL INCOME!

Out of that they have to pay rent, or a mortgage payment, utilities, taxes, insurance if they can afford it, food, gasoline, car repairs, medical expenses, pharmacy expenses, clothing and all of the other things needed to survive in this world today.  They do it on less than $700 per month. 

Do you Republicans have any sense whatsoever of how hard it is for those people to survive?  They are your grandmothers, your disabled brother, your neighbor.  They are human beings and they are struggling while the big businesses, like big agriculture, are getting billions in support.

Yes, the farm bill does indeed fund food stamps.  And that is a help to some, but the next time you have a minute, go to Walmart, watch a family of illegals push two or three shopping carts piled to spilling over up to the checkout and pay for it with their food stamp card.

And then watch as the hard working guy with a paycheck struggles to pay for a few items in a nearly empty cart out of his earnings.  Why is this wrong?

Because the money for food stamps isn't really helping all the poor.  Not all of them qualify for food stamps.  I know many people who own their homes who don't qualify but are trying to pay for everything else on a pittance.  And now you want to tax their heating oil, in the middle of this cold winter, to fund research?

Bullship!  That research money is going to go to some of the well connected who will spend it to conclude that we need to give the government control over thermostats, or that we need tighter emission controls on furnaces in order to force people to buy new furnaces, a ploy by the furnace makers, or some other cockamamie pop culture idea that will either result in fewer freedoms or be swept into a dust pan with all the other wasted money we spent researching how the government can make life better.

If any one of our Kentucky republicans votes for the farm bill with this level of spending and with this heating oil tax in it, you will disgrace our Commonwealth and our party.

Get over yourselves.  What you do hurts real people.  Forget the rich donors for once and be human again.

Ungrateful TEA Party Should Thank Mitch McConnell For Their Very Existence

The next time you hear a TEA party person complain that Mitch McConnell isn't doing enough in Washington to protect their rights, show them this article.  It is a good reminder of how the fight Mitch has been waging and the victories he has scored are responsible for their very existence.

And the next time one of you in the "anti-Mitch" crowd raises money, forms a group or watches as a Super PAC comes in with a ton of dough and helps get one of your own elected, you ought to get over your ungrateful self and realize how real battles, not junkyard wars, are fought on Capitol Hill.

McConnell Fights To Give Life To The Very Groups Who Oppose Him

(click here)