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Did Senate Obstructionist Bunning Flip Reporters The Bird This Afternoon? (VIDEO)
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Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) doesn't want to answer any questions about his continuing obstruction of legislation to extend unemployment and COBRA benefits to out of work Americans, and keep Medicare doctors fees from dropping significantly. But according to a producer for ABC News, he's so mad he's giving reporters the middle finger--literally.
Here's the video of the exchange that supposedly included the...unfriendly...gesture.
The middle finger isn't evident in the footage, but Byron Wolf insists it happened. Bunning is famous for being cranky with reporters, but doesn't typically flip them the bird when they pursue him anyhow.
DNC spokesman Hari Sevugan comments.
"Jim Bunning and Republicans have it backward," Sevugan said.
What Republicans don't understand is that they shouldn't be angry with the American people for questioning their obstructionist tactics, it's the American people who are angry with them for employing those tactics. And they have the right to be because they are paying the price for Republican obstructionism. After saying 'no' to a Recovery Act that independent observers say created millions of jobs, just today Republican obstruction went a step further and actually forced thousands of Americans out of their jobs. Adding insult to injury, Republican obstruction cut the safety net out from under Americans who lost their jobs, took away their health care and denied struggling small businesses who could create new jobs the loans to do so. Republicans would be better served if they were less interested in defending a Senators' only elevator and more interested in defending American jobs. Perhaps today's outburst is because Republicans are frustrated that at a time when the American people want their leaders to get things done the most, their strategy is to repeatedly demonstrate that's what they are interested in the least.
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BoogAlou
March 1, 2010 4:30 PM
Bunning is probably the worst example, but his behavior indicates a problem with all of our elected officials in Washington. They all think they are far better than the unwashed masses they supposedly represent.
I remember an example a few years ago when an undercover camera caught my own Senator Kit Bond and his wife arriving late at an airport only to bump another couple off the plane and then dine on steak in First Class.
None of these guys feel any responsibility or allegiance to the constituents. They are slaves to corporate money and lobbyists.
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Zell
March 1, 2010 5:01 PM in reply to BoogAlou
You think, for example, that Dennis Kucinich thinks he is far better than the unwashed masses he supposedly represents?
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mcc
March 1, 2010 5:15 PM in reply to Zell
He thinks his pet projects are more important than whether the rest of us have health insurance, so yeah
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jibal
March 1, 2010 5:20 PM in reply to mcc
@mcc You're clueless. You're also dishonest, as your response is not an answer to the actual question asked.
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FreeRider
March 1, 2010 6:20 PM in reply to jibal
Kucinich is a sanctimonious prick who cares more about ideology than he does about real people. He is the Mark Sanford of the left. Fuck him.
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i said GOOD DAY sir
March 1, 2010 5:23 PM in reply to mcc
I second this.
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jibal
March 1, 2010 5:18 PM in reply to BoogAlou
@Dick Nixon
There are none more foolish and useless than those who fail to make distinctions. The fact is that not all elected officials are equally arrogant, irresponsible, or corrupt. And you seem incapable of distinguishing "entitled" from "better than"; I would hope that our elected officials are better at governing than the average person -- that's why we vote for them rather than someone else. But people like you who fail to make distinctions abdicate your responsibility to vote for the best candidate, and thus we end up with garbage like Bunning.
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Brad Eleven
March 2, 2010 7:54 AM in reply to BoogAlou
We are not the customers, merely the consumers. The Congress learned this distinction from its masters.
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Tres
March 1, 2010 4:37 PM
I really hope (I know, the audacity of it!) that this marks a turning point in MSM coverage of GOP obstructionism. The MSM has been far too forgiving of the GOP's obvious disdain for all non-rich Americans while they (the GOP) make ad hominum appeals for their votes. At some point, the hipocrisy will reach a critical mass and it will become newsworthy unto itself. This is a start.
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Len_RI
March 1, 2010 4:59 PM
Dear Senator Bunning:
I have a "Senator Only" elevator I'd like you to step into. Right this way. Watch out for that first step...
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Resistance
March 1, 2010 5:03 PM in reply to Len_RI
I suppose they have a Senator only water fountain?
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Bob White
March 1, 2010 7:33 PM in reply to Len_RI
Are you suggesting that you want Senator Bunning to die?
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Resistance
March 1, 2010 5:01 PM
"According to Marxism-Leninism all capitalist nations follow a plutocratic government mixed with imperialism, and the only way to change this is through a mass revolution by the proletariat. The plutocratic state's lack of social mobility is a result of exploitation of the masses, preventing the workers from climbing out of poverty."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutocracy
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cinesimon
March 1, 2010 5:17 PM in reply to Resistance
Even though I disagree with a lot of his solutions, Marx's observations were so very spot on. This one included.
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Bob White
March 1, 2010 7:39 PM in reply to Resistance
The American workers are much wealthier today by any measure I can think of than they were 100 years ago. Healthier, too.
I would not hold my breath waiting for the communist revolution, comrade.
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Shortbus
March 1, 2010 8:06 PM in reply to Bob White
On the other hand,If the average American worker kept pace with the average CEO pay, the average American worker would be making around $127,000 a year.
Walmart is the largest private employer in America. Why don't you ask them how lucky they are.
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Bob White
March 11, 2010 8:54 PM in reply to Shortbus
Just because you do not wish to work at WalMart does not mean that others do not. A friend of mine just got through working a contract job for WalMart at their Arkansas hq. He said that it was like working in a religious cult. People there love the company. Not where I would like to work, but being a freedom loving guy, I let people make their own decisions.
As for CEO salaries going up faster than us little folks' salaries, I am sympathetic. Last year they cut out the company match on our retirement contributions, then the board gave the CEO and extra $1.2 million to make up for a shortfall in her retirement. And they also laid off hundreds of employees before giving her the bonus.
Ah, but that is their decision. She is making the company more profitable and deserves reward. I have no claim on that money. The board of directors does as it sees fit. If I were a large shareholder and not merely an employee, I might feel differently.
Here is the crux of our disagreement. I believe that capitalists deserve a return on their capital and deserve to control the profits that come from their investments. Workers do not risk capital and thus have no claim on the profits (unless, of course, they are shareholders, too).
Hence, it strikes me as unfair to lay claim to another's property (some would call it theft). But also, it leads only to bitterness and misery to compare oneself to a theoretical better life and miss out on the actuality of one's good life.
I repeat, by any measure, workers are better off now than in the past; and capitalistic societies benefit their people more than socialistic societies (in terms of per capita income and health).
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clearthinker
March 1, 2010 5:14 PM
Sorry. TPM now has succumbed to FNC and HuffPo techniques: spicy headline, no proof.
Frankly, it made the footage less newsworthy since it's not as bad as the headline.
Why not something realistic like: "Senator runs into elevator to avoid the news media" or "Senator refuses media, claims Senator privileges in elevator"
Josh, I thought you wanted to elevate journalism?
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Resistance
March 1, 2010 5:39 PM in reply to clearthinker
How about "COWARD runs to elevator to avoid peoples right to know."
"Coward runs to elevator to avoid answering charges of callous disregard, of the less fortunate."
Instead of reassuring the less fortunate, the Senator of priveldge Replies "Excuse me" as though to say "I am better than you, I am a SENATOR, REMOVE YOURSELF YOU COMMON plebeian,vulgus
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Bob White
March 1, 2010 7:37 PM in reply to Resistance
Bunning made his motives clear on the Senate floor. To repeatedly ask him the same question after he had answered it is a form of badgering. I suspect you would walk away from someone who was badgering you, wouldn't you?
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cinesimon
March 1, 2010 6:36 PM in reply to clearthinker
With ONE little article you change your mind about TPM's integrity?
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ottis
March 1, 2010 5:14 PM
The party of NO.
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Bob White
March 1, 2010 7:31 PM
So much whining over nothing. All of these things can be passed by majority vote (or by overriding a filibuster, if necessary).
What Bunning did was merely to prevent them passing by unanimous consent. He did so on the principle that the spending was not "paid for" (i.e. was not balanced by a tax hike or cut in other spending). What he did was keep the federal budget from expanding without getting a full floor vote on the matter.
Democrats came to power in 2006 by promising this kind of "pay as you go" responsibility. Since I know they were sincere, I imagine they are secretly happy that Bunning is taking the heat for this austerity and helping them keep their promise.
On Father's Day in 1964, Jim Bunning pitched a perfect game for the Phillies. 27 Mets came to bat. 27 Mets were sent back to the dugout. I'm sure they were frustrated, but none of them whined about how unfair the process was because one man kept them off the bases.
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gharlane
March 2, 2010 3:47 AM in reply to Bob White
He did so on the principle that the spending was not "paid for" (i.e. was not balanced by a tax hike or cut in other spending). What he did was keep the federal budget from expanding without getting a full floor vote on the matter.
Which is why he objected equally strenuously and tenaciously to two unfunded tax cuts focused on the wealthy, two unfunded and off-budget wars, and an unfunded Medicare expansion/giveaway to Big Pharma, all enacted while the Republicans held the House, Senate and White House. It's why he objected so strenuously when the Republican Senate killed pay-go under the Bush admin.
Oh, wait...
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Southern Man
March 1, 2010 7:41 PM
Not that this relates to Bunning's performance as a senator, but if those reporters were forcing my elevator open, I'd probably flip 'em the bird, too.
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mcc
March 1, 2010 8:13 PM in reply to Southern Man
There does seem to be something kind of funny about the idea of fleeing, trying to get into an elevator, and just as the doors are closing A BOOM MIC LOWERS IN BETWEEN THE DOORS
Like something out of a very boring horror movie
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