If you're smoking pot right now, you're probably choking on some marijuana smoke after taking a huge bong rip and wondering how good of weed you're smoking now to see the title of this diary. Even if you're baked right now, the title is real:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Thursday came out in support of developing industrial hemp in Kentucky, becoming the most powerful voice to back the state's contentious effort.
"I am convinced that allowing its production will be a positive development for Kentucky’s farm families and economy," McConnell said in a statement. "The utilization of hemp to produce everything from clothing to paper is real and if there is a capacity to center a new domestic industry in Kentucky that will create jobs in these difficult economic times that sounds like a good thing to me."
McConnell joins fellow Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul (R), half of the state's six-member congressional delegation and the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce in supporting the push. - Huffington Post, 1/31/13
That's right, the same turtle man who once proclaimed that marijuana leads to death:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
WASHINGTON -- Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told a constituent in favor of legalizing marijuana that he doesn't support the idea because drugs like pot lead to death.
In a Feb. 14 letter to his constituent, McConnell said he has "serious concerns" about legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes, a topic that the constituent had written to him about. He pointed out that the main ingredient in marijuana, tetrahydrocannabinol, is already available in pill form for the treatment of certain illnesses.
He is also "troubled" by the fact that many legalization proposals would make marijuana available to the public "without following the scientific processes" of the Food and Drug Administration, McConnell said. - Huffington Post, 3/14/12
I would like to applaud McConnell for coming to his senses on this issue but I just can't. This is just his way to get in good with Senator Rand Paul's (R. KY) lunatic, libertarian base so they can save him from both the Kentucky Tea Party, Democrats and Progressives in 2014:
http://www.politico.com/...
Big Democratic donors, local liberal activists and a left-leaning super PAC in Kentucky are telling tea partiers that they are poised to throw financial and organizational support behind a right-wing candidate should one try to defeat the powerful GOP leader in a 2014 primary fight.
The idea: Soften up McConnell and make him vulnerable in a general election in Kentucky, where Democrats still maintain a voter registration advantage. Or better yet, in their eyes: Watch Kentucky GOP primary voters nominate the 2014 version of Todd Akin or Richard Mourdock, weak candidates who may actually lose.
“We are doing a lot of reaching out to some of the tea party folks across the state,” said Keith Rouda, a field organizer with the liberal group MoveOn and the Democratic super PAC, Progress Kentucky. “What we’re finding — at least in this stage of the race — we’re finding that our interests align. It’s unusual.” - Politico, 1/28/13
And right now, McConnell is desperate to get back on Kentucky voters good sides:
http://www.courier-journal.com/...
With his re-election bid just a year away, those opposed to U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell outnumber his supporters 2-1 among Kentucky voters, according to the latest Courier-Journal Bluegrass Poll.
In the poll of 609 registered voters, 34 percent said they plan to vote against McConnell — while just 17 percent say they will vote to give him six more years. Forty-four percent said they will wait to see who is running against him before deciding, and 6 percent said they are not sure.
The poll, conducted by SurveyUSA, has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.1 percentage points. It comes as groups on both McConnell’s right and left seek candidates to challenge him in the primary and general elections in 2014. McConnell, the most powerful Republican in the Senate as minority leader, is seeking his sixth term. - Louisville Courier-Journal, 1/23/13
Who knows if McConnell's new found support for growing hemp will help him in 2014. But hey, if he loses, he can always grow some hemp and roll it up into a huge doobie and smoke away his loss.