Um, ok:
http://www.rawstory.com/...
The Tea Party-backed Matt Bevin was sent by God to unseat Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), claimed talk show host Glenn Beck during a campaign event for the Republican challenger.
Beck told conservative activists Saturday afternoon at FreePAC Kentucky that Bevin was the answer to their prayers.
“I will tell you I met the guys you had speaking. Some of them I’ve met several times,” Beck said. “Matt Bevin, I have not met. I’ve talked to him several times and I had a good feeling. But I am telling you, I believe that man was called of God.”
“Let me tell you something: Mitch McConnell is as big of a danger to this country as Barack Obama is,” Beck told the crowd. “The progressive disease is in both parties. Big government is a philosophy in both parties, period. It is antithetical to the American system, period.”
About 3,500 people attended the Louisville rally organized by FreedomWorks ahead of the May 20 primary election in Kentucky. - Raw Story, 4/7/14
Well, God sure does have a twisted sense of humor then:
http://www.salon.com/...
And in Kentucky, the News Journal reports, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s Tea party-backed challenger Matt Bevin appeared this past Saturday at a rally to legalize cockfighting. Bevin said he thought he was speaking at a “state’s rights” rally.
“I was the first person to speak and then I left,” Bevin said. “They knew I was here. They asked if I would be interested in speaking. I’m a politician running statewide, any chance I get to speak to a few hundred people I’m going to take it.”
Organizers, according to the News Journal, “say there was never any ambiguity about why they were meeting.” Cockfighting is currently illegal in Kentucky, and treated as a misdemeanor offense. Michael Devereaux, director of the Gamefowl Defense Network and the event’s organizer, said the entire rally focused on how to use the democratic process to change the law. - Salon, 4/2/14
So yeah. But Bevin isn't the only one getting some bad press. Check this out:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/...
The latest New Yorker cover features an illustration of President Obama spoon-feeding medicine to a child-sized Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).
The cover alludes to the Obama administration's recent announcement that insurance sign-ups under Obamacare exceeded projected enrollment.
Obamacare was particularly successful in McConnell's home state. The law cut Kentucky's uninsured rate by about 40 percent. - TPM, 4/7/14
The latest news has caused McConnell to be getting some punches from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D. NV):
http://www.politicususa.com/...
During a speech on the Senate floor on Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) tore into Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) regarding the success story that the Affordable Care Act has been in McConnell’s home state of Kentucky. Days after it was revealed that the number of people who signed up for private insurance plans on the state and federal exchanges under Obamacare exceeded the administration’s goals, Reid pointed out some basic facts in regards to the health care law’s effect in Kentucky.
During his speech, Reid said the following:
“My counterpart, the senior senator from Kentucky, will address the Senate probably after I finish. In his home state of Kentucky, 360,000 people have signed up for coverage under the Affordable Care Act. Three hundred and sixty thousand. Over a quarter million Kentuckians who did not have insurance now have health care under the Affordable Care Act. Or, in other words, Obamacare has reduced the uninsured population in Kentucky by 40 percent. I wonder when my friend from Kentucky will explain to the 270,000 Kentuckians how he plans to repeal the law without stripping their new health benefits.”
Not only was Reid highlighting absolute facts of the law’s effectiveness in the state, he even understated the reduction of uninsured in Kentucky. Previously, there were 640,000 uninsured people in the state. After this first enrollment period, the state’s uninsured population has been reduced by 42%. In the nation as a whole, the uninsured population has been reduced by an estimated 20-25%, which is significant in its own right. However, Kentucky is one state where the law has been a rousing success. - Politicus USA, 4/3/14
And President Obama's been hitting McConnell on this:
http://www.politicususa.com/...
President Obama took aim at Senate Minority Leader McConnell today. During his speech on raising the minimum wage today, the president compared McConnell to an old man telling kids to get off of his lawn.
"You would think this would be a no brainer. Politically, you would think that people would be rushing to do this. Nearly three in four Americans support raising the minimum wage. Nearly three in four. Here’s the problem. Republicans in Congress, not Republicans in America, because some of them get paid the minimum wage, so they want to see it raised. Republicans in Congress don’t want to vote to raise it all.
In fact, some want to scrap the minimum wage. One House Republican said its outlived its usefulness. No, that’s what he said. No, no. Don’t boo, organize. That’s what you need to do. They may not hear the boos, but they can read a petition, and they can see votes.
You got some Republicans saying we shouldn’t raise the minimum wage because, they said this, because, well, it just helps young people.
Now, first of all, I think it is pretty good to help young people. I don’t know what’s wrong with helping young people. Folks who say that probably the thing you know, they’ll say get off my lawn!
I think it’s okay to help young people, but the fact is most people who would benefit from a higher minimum wage are not teenagers taking on their first job. The average age of people getting paid the minimum wage is 35. A majority of lower wage jobs are held by women. May of them work full time often to support a family, and by the way, what’s wrong with helping young people to get ahead?"
President Obama never mentioned his name, but on the January 26, 2014 edition of Fox News Sunday, Sen. Mitch McConnell said, “Yes. But, of course, the minimum wage is mostly an entry level wage for young people. We have a crisis in employment among young people right now, and generation 18 to 30, people that got out of college, are finding there are no jobs for them. The last thing we want to do is have even fewer jobs for younger people.”
Without naming names, the president basically called Sen. McConnell a grouchy old man who doesn’t want to help young people. That pretty much sums it up. The Republican members of Congress have no interest in helping people in general, unless they are wealthy. - Politicus USA, 4/2/14
By the way, a key member of McConnell's team is also in some hot water:
http://www.motherjones.com/...
An intriguing catfight has been brewing on the right—and it could possibly affect the reelection campaign of Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the Republican Senate leader. A former aide to Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) has asked the Federal Elections Commission to investigate whether Ron Paul's 2012 presidential campaign violated federal law by bribing an Iowa state senator to win his endorsement. The complaint letter, sent by ex-Bachmanner Peter Waldron, charges that senior members of Paul's campaign—including Jesse Benton, who is now McConnell's campaign manager—were party to the bribe or knew about it. The role of specific Ron Paul aides in the scheme is unclear, but a 2013 Iowa Senate Ethics Committee report cited by Waldron states that the Paul campaign exchanged money to purchase the endorsement.
The controversy concerns the curious actions of a prominent local politician during the 2012 Republican caucuses in the Hawkeye State. Then-GOP state Sen. Kent Sorenson was an influential figure in the social-conservative wing of the state Republican Party, and he had offered his support to Bachmann's presidential effort early in the 2012 campaign. Sorenson and Bachmann were natural allies; both were crusaders against abortion and same-sex marriage. Sorenson served as co-chairman of Bachmann's campaign in Iowa and was a frequent surrogate speaker for her. But less than a week before caucus day, Sorenson made a surprise appearance at a Ron Paul rally in Des Moines, where he shocked Iowa political observers by switching his endorsement to the libertarian candidate.
Advertise on MotherJones.com
Bachmann immediately cried foul. "Kent Sorenson personally told me he was offered a large sum of money to go to work for the Paul campaign," she said shortly after he flipped. At the time, Bachmann's claim was largely written off as an accusation leveled by a candidate in a political death spiral. But in recordings of phone calls leaked last year to the Iowa Republican, a conservative website covering Iowa politics, Sorenson said that he had received, by way of his wife, a check from Paul's deputy campaign manager, Dimitri Kesari. A subsequent investigation by the Iowa Senate Ethics Committee revealed that Kesari had paid Sorenson $25,000 for his endorsement. Sorenson also received $73,000 in subsequent payments of unknown origin, though the committee had a "strong suspicion" that money was also tied to the Paul campaign. Sorenson resigned from the state Senate as a result.
On Monday, the Iowa Republican published a complaint letter Waldron sent to the FEC at the end of February. In the letter, Waldron claimed that Benton, who had been the chairman of Ron Paul's presidential campaign, and other Paul campaign aides had known about or had been involved in the bribe. The FEC responded last week by noting that it would follow is usual procedure and request responses from those Waldron had accused. After receiving those responses, the FEC told Waldron, its analysts would examine the allegation and decide whether or not to recommend a full investigation. - Mother Jones, 4/2/14
With all this nonsense going on, it's no wonder this is going to be a tough race for McConnell:
http://kykernel.com/...
One Republican that could potentially lose his seat in the Senate is Kentucky’s very own Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader since 2007. McConnell was first elected as a Kentucky senator in 1984 and has won every election since by a fairly wide margin.
This will not be the case this time around if the early numbers are any indication, as recent public opinion polls have Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes narrowly ahead of McConnell. More specifically, RealClearPolitics has Grimes ahead of McConnell by half a percentage point.
This truly is the first time in a while that McConnell has had to worry about losing his job to a Democrat. Harvey Sloane gave him a moderately close race in 1990, only losing to McConnell by a slight margin.
McConnell then defeated Gov. Steve Beshear in 1996 with 55 percent of the vote, Lois Weinberg in 2002 with 65 percent of the vote and Bruce Lunsford in 2008 with 53 percent of the vote.
In America, representatives and senators typically have a job approval rating of around 10 to 15 percent, yet have a re-election rate of about 90 percent.
Regardless, there is something about Grimes that obviously has Kentucky voters interested. Grimes is young and is the daughter of Jerry Lundergan, former Kentucky Democratic chairman and state representative. To top it all off, she was recently given support from former President Bill Clinton. - Kentucky Kernel, 4/6/14
We have a serious shot at taking this seat so lets make sure Alison Lundergan Grimes' campaign is well funded and ready to win in November. Click here to donate and get involved with Grimes' campaign:
http://alisonforkentucky.com/