Inside Washington, Mitch McConnell isn't good for much of anything aside from dysfunction and gridlock. But at this weekend's traditional Fancy Farm in Kentucky, he proved he can get the tea party and Democrats to finally agree on something: He's been in office for way, way too long and
it's time to go.
Democratic candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes fired off a pretty good line mocking McConnell's willful ineffectiveness:
“If Mitch McConnell’s doctor told him he had a kidney stone, he’d refuse to pass it,” said Grimes, drawing a big laugh from the crowd.
And McConnell's Republican challenger, tea party favorite Matt Bevin, had a good line of his own:
“I don’t intend to run to the right of Mitch McConnell. I don’t intend to run to the left of Mitch McConnell. I intend to run straight over the top of Mitch McConnell and right into the U.S. Senate,“ Bevin said in his speech.
McConnell, for his part, spent no time talking about his accomplishments, instead
pitching himself as the best guy to take on President Obama as majority leader:
He reminded the audience that Obama had only won four out of 120 counties and said it was “safe to say Kentucky does not support Barack Obama’s agenda.” McConnell acknowledged he was in for a long and expensive race as Democrats sought to unseat him.
“You stand up to Barack Obama all of his friends come after you, every left winger you’ve ever read about— those who want the San Francisco type agenda for America. Those east coast liberals that dominate the Democratic party who crack the whip every day on the Senate floor want to see Kentucky defeat the Republican Leader of the senate … let’s send them a message,” he said.
Also over the weekend, in yet another example of just how intense—and in some respects silly—the campaign has already gotten, Kentucky's Republican Party launched
a strange attack on Alison Grimes, saying she hadn't taken questions from Kentucky reporters ... even though she'd done two press availabilities over the weekend while McConnell hadn't taken a single question. Undaunted, the Kentucky GOP blasted out a press release claiming Grimes "refuses to talk with the press." If we're already getting this level of stupidity with nearly 18 months to go before the election, just wait until next year—especially the spring, when Bevin is going to start making his inevitable climb towards McConnell in primary polling ahead of May's primary.
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