Bunning: Under "Dynamic Leader" McConnell We've Lost Seats
Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY), who has accused his party's leadership of sabotaging his fundraising in order to force him into retirement, has some further tough words for his co-Senator, Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, the Louisville Courier-Journal reports.
"Good God, he wants to run everybody," Bunning told reporters on a conference call. Bunning confirmed that he encouraged Sec. of State Trey Grayson to set up an exploratory committee to run just in case Bunning himself retires. But he doesn't see a good picture for the GOP going forward. And he blames McConnell for a lot of that.
"Do you realize that under our dynamic leadership of our leader, we have gone from 55 and probably to 40 (Senate seats) in two election cycles," said Bunning, "and if the tea leaves that I read are correct, we will wind up with about 36 after this election cycle. So if leadership means anything, it means you don't lose ... approximately 19 seats in three election cycles with good leadership."
Josh
Matt
Eric
Love that GOP circular firing squad.
Pass the popcorn, pop open another beer. This is getting fun!
May 5, 2009 1:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sen. Bunning is right, though. At least one cause of the GOP's meltdown, which will continue next year (my prediction for the GOP after November 2012 is 34 seats), has been the utter foolishness of Minority Leader McConnell.
At least when the pre-2006 Democrats were being obstructionist, there was good, sound reasoning behind it. The current Party of No is just saying no to be saying it, because it makes fixing the nation's problems more difficult, because if the country fails, we might decide to blame President Obama and give them back the Congress. Nothing else, just destroying the nation in order to "save" it. This strategy will fail, both in its implementation and its results.
May 5, 2009 1:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
The strategy of constantly saying no hasn't helped them in the past, and now, with the Supreme Court nomination coming up, will bite them in the ass.
They've paved the way for every Democrat on every cable show to say "Well, of course they're opposing this particular nominee. They've opposed everything Obama has done up to this point. This is more of the same."
Really stupid.
They could have given in on issues here and there, and unloaded on Obama on this issue, and it would have packed a wallop.
Really really stupid.
And deeply amusing that Jim-on-the-verge-of-crazy-Bunning is the one to accurately point out how truly bad the leadership has been.
May 5, 2009 3:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
What's that old saying? A broken watch is right two times a day? Or something to that end....
May 5, 2009 3:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
I just get all warm and fuzzy when the GOP are eating their own! This is a fantastic trend that will help ensure the new direction of this country...
May 5, 2009 1:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
How unAmerican of Bunning. Mitch McConnell is doing God's work by working so fervently to wipe the Republican Party from the political landscape.
May 5, 2009 2:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
GENTLEMEN!
This is not how Republicans are supposed to conduct themselves!
May 5, 2009 2:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Is this one of those Guinness Stout "Genius" commercials?
May 5, 2009 3:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Worth repeating.
And where are those tea leaves? 36 sounds pretty good about right now. And 36 may be a number that, since they would have a much smaller voice, causes a major Republican re-organization. If not 36, then 30? When do they start actually catering to the people?
May 5, 2009 3:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, Jimbo. We're gonna miss ya.
May 5, 2009 3:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
You lose 19 seats in 3 election cycles by being completely out of the mainstream. Bunning is one of the right-most right-wingers. Funny that he doesn't realize he's part of the problem.
May 5, 2009 3:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
He represents Kentucky; of course he's a right-wing idiot. Liberals can't win statewide in Kentucky any more than a right-wing idiot can win in New York State. From that perspective, he's doing his job - representing the people of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. If he suddenly decided to start acting like Charles Schumer, Kentuckians would replace him at the nearest opportunity.
I think Sen. Bunning was saying that the Republicans would be better off actually working with President Obama. If they can actually affect legislation in a positive way, they could then point to it as an example of what to expect from a Republican-led government, but that's not what's happening, and it even stinks in the Bluegrass State.
May 5, 2009 3:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
http://static.crooksandliars.com/files/uploads/2009/03/Specter-Bunning1_c49c5.jpg
May 5, 2009 3:40 PM | Reply | Permalink