KY's Congressmen on the Pumpkin Traitor: Two Turncoats, Three Cowards and Congressman Awesome

Yeah, AynRand Paul and the soul-less Thomas Massie decided that just shitting on the poors isn't enough; they're ready to join the Tangerine Twat in pledging allegiance to the Russian Thug.

Meanwhile, Candy Barr lied about being in "meetings" - c'mon, there isn't a meeting on the planet that wasn't interrupted yesterday so everyone could watch the dotard lick Putin's taint live on TV.  I bet Amy McGrath's "where's he hiding" commercial is already in production.

John Yarmuth, of course, demonstrated true American patriotism by denouncing the mangy cocksucker in no uncertain terms.

Thomas Novelly at the Courier:

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and several other Kentucky representatives said they agree that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election, breaking with Donald Trump's comments after his friendly meeting with Vladimir Putin. 

“As I’ve said repeatedly, the Russians are not our friends and I entirely agree with the assessment of our intelligence community," McConnell said in a statement to the Courier Journal on Monday. 

Trump received immediate backlash from politicians on both sides of the aisle when he met with Russian President Putin. During the meeting, he accepted Putin's claim that the Russians did not interfere, contradicting the U.S. intelligence community's research. 

SNIP

Kentucky's delegation in the House of Representatives, which consists of five Republicans and one Democrat, was split on the matter.

Rep. John Yarmuth, the lone Democrat from Louisville, said he believes Russia unequivocally meddled with the 2016 election, according to spokesman Chris Schuler. 

"President Trump showed the free world today that they cannot rely on the U.S. as an ally because Vladimir Putin now calls the shots," Yarmuth said in a statement. "This is a disgraceful chapter in American history and proof that U.S. interests are not even a factor in the decision making of this president."

Rep. Andy Barr, from Kentucky's 6th District, had "been in meetings all day" and did not have a chance to respond, according to spokeswoman Jodi Whitaker. Rep. Brett Guthrie and Rep. James Comer did not return a request for comment. 

But Rep. Thomas Massie, of Kentucky's 4th District, and Sen. Rand Paul, the two self-proclaimed libertarians of Kentucky's delegation, were less critical of Trump's meeting and welcomed the chance for discussion. 

"I believe that dialogue with other countries is important and President Trump was right to meet with Russia to promote peace and commerce, just like President Obama was right to meet with Cuba," Massie said in a statement. 

Rep. Hal Rogers, from Kentucky's 5th District, stood by Paul's comments, according to spokeswoman Danielle Smoot. 

(Hal Rogers is 163 years old, wins by double-digits and doesn't give a shit.)

SNIP

Yarmuth added that he was disgraced at the state of the United States presidency after the summit.  

“The President of the United States made his choices clear today in Helsinki," Yarmuth added. "He chose a murderous dictator over his own intelligence community, propaganda and bullying over a Constitutional free press, his own political aspiration over U.S. election security, and frankly, Russia over America."

It's OK, AynRandy: Nobody Else Can Figure It Out Either

From the Courier:

Rand Paul Won't Publicly Say Why He Supports Mitch McConnell

Supposedly there's video, but it won't work for the Dog right now.

Rand Paul Needs to Shut Up About Who's a Real Kentuckian

After wondering why the repugs are so scared of Ashley Judd that they're attacking the non-candidate 20 months before the election, Steve Benen skewers Rand Paul concern-trolling Judd's authenticity:

Soon after, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) added, "When I heard Ashley Judd might run for office I thought maybe it was Parliament since she lives in Scotland half the year." The Republican senator added, "Ashley Judd's a famous actress. She's an attractive woman, presents herself well and from what I understand is articulate. But the thing is, she doesn't really represent Kentucky."

At this point, I have no idea if Judd intends to seek elected office or whether she'd fare well as a candidate if she ran. But when was the last time Republicans freaked out at this level about an inexperienced candidate Democrat in a "red" state more than 20 months before an election cycle?
Post script: I'd be remiss if I didn't laugh a bit at Rand Paul's concerns about Senate candidates who "represent Kentucky." I remember writing a piece in August 2010 about Paul, a self-accredited ophthalmologist who seemed to have almost no familiarity with the basics of the state he was running in.

But in the same interview, Paul said something else of interest. A reporter asked that summer about the significance of Harlan County, Kentucky, which seemed like a fairly easy question for anyone, even those with only passing familiarity with the state. "I don't know," the then-candidate replied. Noting that the town of Hazard is nearby, Paul added, "It's famous for, like, The Dukes of Hazzard." When an aide tries to steer him towards the truth -- Harlan County was home to generations of deadly labor disputes -- Paul ignores him, and says, "Maybe the feuding."

The Lexington Herald-Leader's Larry Dale Keeling noted at the time that Rand Paul "seems to know dangerously little" about Kentucky.

People who "live" somewhere for 17 years will pick up a little knowledge through osmosis even if they don't bother to get out and learn about their surroundings. A person who merely "resides" somewhere is more like the little knickknack that "resides" in the bric-a-brac case hanging on the wall.

A person who has "lived" in Kentucky for 17 years might know how "Bloody Harlan" got its name and that The Dukes of Hazzard was set in the fictional Hazzard (two Z's) County, Georgia, not the Kentucky city of Hazard (one Z).

A person who has "lived" in Kentucky for 17 years might know the community of Fancy Farm is in a dry county and the picnic put on annually by the old folks of St. Jerome Parish is a family affair where no one has to worry about having beer or anything else thrown at them.

Those are just a few items someone who has lived here for several years might know. But there are some things a person who has lived in this state for any amount of time can't help but know.

Adding insult to injury, Paul also said Eastern Kentucky's drug problem is not "a real pressing issue," despite the fact that it's been ravaged by an epidemic. Keeling explained, "Only someone who is totally clueless would say that."

And now Rand Paul feels confident talking about who is and is not capable of "representing Kentucky"? Seriously?

Here's my question: Can Mitch McConnell make the Tribble-Toupeed One shut the fuck up before he guarantees Judd'e victory? Or does Mitchie-poo really think this kind of thing is helpful?

Rand Paul Exposes His TIny Member

Back during the Watergate hearings in Congress, questioning was conducted by congressional staff members: experienced lawyers who knew how to draw out witnesses and conduct fruitful cross-examination.

The reason congressional hearings are such farces today is because the elected members insist on doing the questioning themselves.  Even the few who know how to question witnesses are handicapped because accommodating every egomaniac member of a committee means that each member gets about a minute and
a half to showboat for the cameras, instead of the hours of direct questioning and cross-examination by staff attorneys.

Returning the questioning to staff professionals would not only make hearings more effective and efficient, but would also save members from making asses of themselves on national TV. 

What Happens When Democratic Voters Stay Home

We get crazy morons like this representing us in the U.S. Senate.

Not registered yet? Thinking of skipping out on Nov. 6? Still disappointed Barack hasn't delivered your magic unicorn?

Watch this.

The Daily Show
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Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul Deny Veterans Thousands of Jobs

We've known for a decade now that repugs don't really give a flying fuck about the troops, except for how they can be used as cannon fodder to enrich oil companies and fiscal excuses to enrich contractors like Halliburton and Blackwater.

But yesterday repugs finally abandoned the last shreds of faux patriotism to sacrifice veterans on the altar of denying President Obama the tiniest victory.

Steve M. at No More Mister Nice Blog:

But because there are also Democrats in Congress, Republicans must sometimes confine themselves -- particularly in the Senate -- to blocking legislation written by grown-ups:

Senate Republicans stopped the veterans jobs bill Wednesday by forcing a budget point of order vote.

... Democrats needed 60 votes, but got only 58.

... The Veterans Jobs Corp Act would have created new job-training programs to help veterans find work in targeted fields such as national park conservation, historic preservation projects, police work and firefighting, among others.

Sens. Scott Brown (Mass.), Susan Collins (Maine), Dean Heller (Nev.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Olympia Snowe (Maine) were the only Republicans who voted for the waiver, in a 58-40 vote....

But it's Obama and his fellow Democrats who are insufficiently patriotic, right?

Federal Budget Cuts to Hit Pikeville

Via Firedoglake:

Six federal courthouses are to be shut down, if no budget emerges from Congress, resulting in an estimated savings of $1 million/year in rent. Those courthouses are in Gads[d]en AL, Pikeville KY, Meridian MS, Wilkesboro NC, Beaufort SC and Amarillo TX.

Everybody who thinks Kentucky's teabagging Senators Sad Turtle McConnell and the Tribble-Toupeed One give a flying fuck, stand on your head.

The Tribble-Headed Darling of the Mouth-Breathers

Yes, AynRandPaul and his fellow teabaggers are definitely this ignorant, and yes, repugs absolutely deny any fact or aspect of reality they find inconvenient,  but what I see in this is the Great Libertarian Hope publicly abandoning any pretense of political philosophy to throw himself into the arms of the Fox-worshipping morons who actually voted for him:

Steve Benen at Maddowblog:

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), meanwhile, didn't just say something outrageous in the heat of the moment, as some kind of emotional outburst -- he put his nonsense in writing.

"Just because a couple people on the Supreme Court declare something to be 'constitutional' does not make it so. The whole thing remains unconstitutional," the freshman lawmaker said in a statement.

First, a five-member majority is not "a couple people." Second, as many members of the United States Senate should probably realize, it's the Supreme Court's job to determine a law's constitutionality.
And third, a strange, self-accredited ophthalmologist may like to believe "the whole thing remains unconstitutional," but fortunately, it's not up to the junior senator from Kentucky to make such a declaration.

AnyRandPaul Jumps on Hemp Bandwagon

The Tribble-Headed One figures better late than never.

From the Herald:

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Bowling Green, is joining a Democratic senator from Oregon in supporting a proposal to allow farmers to grow industrial hemp.

Vote Hemp, a non-profit organization pushing the issue, said Friday that Paul has signed on as a co-sponsor of U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden's proposed amendment to the omnibus farm bill.

The amendment would exclude industrial hemp from the definition of marijuana, allowing American farmers to grow industrial hemp.

Under the amendment, the cultivation of industrial hemp would be regulated by state permitting programs, like North Dakota's, and would not impact the federal government's long-standing prohibition of marijuana.

Hemp could be Kentucky's and the nation's economic and energy silver bullet. Hemp can replace wood, corn and petroleum in thousands of products from paper to plastic to clothing to food to fuel. In Kentucky, it's a perennial weed that grows wild and needs minimal cultivation. Unlike corn or soybeans, hemp does not need massive pesticides or herbicides to thrive.

A century ago, hemp was Kentucky's number one cash crop and its major economic driver. Legalizing industrial hemp could be the final stake in Big Coal's heart, freeing the Commonwealth from fossil fuel's feudal grip.

UPDATE: Paul endorses RMoney. In other news, it's hot outside in June.

Do Mitchie-poo and AynRand Support KY Farmers?

Then why aren't they co-sponsoring a bill that would bring hundreds of millions of dollars into the Commonwealth?

Raw Story:

In a last minute addition to the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2012, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) has submitted an amendment that would legalize the production of industrial hemp, a potential new bumper crop for U.S. farmers.

“Industrial hemp is used in many healthy and sustainable consumer products. However, the federal prohibition on growing industrial hemp has forced companies to needlessly import raw materials from other countries,” Wyden said in prepared text. “My amendment to the Farm Bill will change federal policy to allow U.S. farmers to produce hemp for these safe and legitimate products right here, helping both producers and suppliers to grow and improve Oregon’s economy in the process.”

Allowing American farmers to produce industrial hemp, which is different from its more notorious cousin marijuana, would yield significant and immediate profits the first year, according to an analysis conducted in 1998 (PDF) by the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Kentucky.

Researchers found that farmers in the state of Kentucky alone could see between $220 to $605 in net profits per acre of hemp. Adjusted for inflation using the consumer price index, those 1998 dollars would actually be worth $310 and $854 today, although the study’s authors note that variables in supply and demand for hemp could change that valuation.

Via Zandar.

Dear ExxonMobil

We are not worthy.

Erik Loomis at Lawyers, Guns and Money:

I love Rand Paul. He’s like his father, but with even fewer principles. This Paul speech about oil companies on the Senate floor is classic:

Instead of punishing them, you should want to encourage them. I would think you would want to say to the oil companies, “What obstacles are there to you making more money?” And hiring more people. Instead they say, “No, we must punish them. We must tax them more to make things fair.” This whole thing about fairness is so misguided and gotten out of hand.

Dear Big Oil Executives,

My name is Erik Loomis. I like to drive and heat my home and eat. Because of that, I really want you to profit off of me. I was thinking about eating three meals a day this year, but it’s really more important that your shareholders kick some more indigenous people in Ecuador off their land so you can maximize profits. I’d like to support your in your task, as it is as destined by God as 19th century Manifest Destiny or the Christian Holy War against Iraq in 2003. Is my unwillingness to only eat twice a day an obstacle to you making money? I apologize for my selfishness. As my social betters, you deserve anything you would like from me. Do you own any coal mines in China? I would love to support your mission by dying in a Chinese coal mine. My sacrifices are easily worth if it you can add another 10,000 square feet to your mansion. Please tell me how you can better profit off of my life.

Yours in the exploitation of me.

Erik

The Paul Rules

Ron Paul's supposed libertarianism is not what you think it is. But the question for Kentuckians is: with with our own Senator Rand Paul in Des Moines working his father's presidential campaign, how much of Ron's un-libertarian true politics does Rand share?

Digby calls it "Devolution for some of the people."

As always, Adele Stan nails the story when it comes to the connections among the far right fringies. In today's piece she draws together the strands that bring Ron Paul and the lunatic Christian Reconstructionists together. I urge you to read the whole thing -- it's quite illuminating. Here's the conclusion:

Ron Paul seeks to shrink the federal government to minimal size not because it intrudes in the lives of individuals, but because it stands in the way of allowing the states and localities to enact laws as they see fit -- even laws that govern people's behavior in their bedrooms.

Here's what Paul published on the Web site of Lew Rockwell -- allegedly one of the authors of his racist, homophobic newsletters -- about the Supreme Court decision in Lawrence v. Texas that struck down the state's anti-sodomy laws, which prohibited sex between men:

The Court determined that Texas had no right to establish its own standards for private sexual conduct, because gay sodomy is somehow protected under the 14th amendment "right to privacy." Ridiculous as sodomy laws may be, there clearly is no right to privacy nor sodomy found anywhere in the Constitution. There are, however, states' rights — rights plainly affirmed in the Ninth and Tenth amendments. Under those amendments, the State of Texas has the right to decide for itself how to regulate social matters like sex, using its own local standards. But rather than applying the real Constitution and declining jurisdiction over a properly state matter, the Court decided to apply the imaginary Constitution and impose its vision on the people of Texas.

This plays neatly into the hands of Paul's Christian Reconstructionist friends, who seek the destruction of the federal government for the opportunity to implement "God's law" on earth. Via Warren Throckmorton's invaluable Web site, comes this quote from the Christian Reconstructionist Bojidar Marinov, who writes of why "theonomists," as Reconstructionists define themselves, should root for Ron Paul:

The theonomic solution to the problems of sodomy and abortion can not be achieved at the Federal level because at that level liberals outnumber conservatives 20 to 1. And theonomic Christians are almost non-existent at that level. It is only when the socialist state is dismantled and power returned back to the states and the counties that we will be able to successfully deal with the other social and moral issues. As long as sin is protected at the Federal level, our political job as Christians is to dismantle the Federal bureaucracy and return all power to the local communities. Therefore, the great battle is against the socialist state.

Given that, Ron Paul is the man with the best position to work for that goal on the national level.

I continue to wonder why Ron Paul is considered a libertarian. He's an isolationist Tenther. If that's your philosophy, then fine. But I think an awful lot of libertarians are missing the bait and switch.

Update: There's a lot of talk about how all this libertarian white supremacy was just a political pact with the devil 30 years ago, along the lines of the Southern Strategy. That may be true. But it seems that Ron Paul has bought his own hype, if that's the case.

He could be crusading to end the drug war, for instance, on a moral or philosophical level. But as with his defense of Lawrence as a states' rights issue, he isn't. He crusading for it to be devolved to a state by state issue. That is not the same thing.

Libertarianism has a real position on this and it's universal:

Individuals should be free to make choices for themselves and to accept responsibility for the consequences of the choices they make. No individual, group, or government may initiate force against any other individual, group, or government.

Nothing in that says force is ok as long as its used by the state of Texas instead of the FBI. And yet, that's Ron Paul's position on sodomy laws and drug laws and choice and a whole host of issues pertaining to individual liberties and human rights. So all of you who believe that Ron Paul would release the millions incarcerated for the victimless crime of using drugs should realize that he would only release those held in federal prisons. If you're locked up in the State Penitentiary, he sympathizes, but thinks that States have a perfect right to do it.

In case you were wondering, the total federal prison population in 2010 was around 200,000 people while the state and local prison population was about 1.5 million. Paul says there's nothing he can do about the latter and wouldn't dream of telling those states what they should and shouldn't do. That's his principle, not freeing the victims of the drug war.

Since the Civil War, the federal government has been the sole - albeit inconsistent - protector of individual liberties against reactionary state and local governments.

If your goal is to expand individual rights - on sex, on drug use, on religion, on war - your best bet is to reform and strengthen the federal government, rather than eliminate it.

And put not your faith in Pauls.

Shamelessly Lying About Regulation

In case anyone forgot, it was the DE-regulation of Wall Street in 1999 that caused the Great Recession and destroyed 10 million American jobs. Since 1935, the Glass-Steagall Act had protected bankers from their own greed and stupidity by keeping commercial banks out of the stock gambling business. Repealing Glass-Steagall handed the keys of the economy to the drunk, stoned teenagers of the finance industry and let them take off.

Regulations protect not just consumers (clean air, clean water, safe food, safe drugs) but also businesses - especially small businesses who need protection from the corporate behemoths who would otherwise crush them.

Steve Benen:

There’s been a fair amount of work done lately to help demonstrate just how wrong Republicans are about regulations holding the economy back — this paper from the Economic Policy Institute’s Lawrence Mishel is terrific — but folks should definitely take the time to review this piece from Bruce Bartlett.

As Bartlett, an economist and a veteran of the Reagan and H.W. Bush administrations, explained, Republicans have been told to argue that freeing the private sector of consumer safeguards and worker protections will reduce “uncertainty.” Unfortunately for the GOP, from a policy perspective, they’re living in fantasy land.

Evidence supporting Mr. Cantor’s contention that deregulation would increase unemployment is very weak. For some years, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has had a program that tracks mass layoffs. In 2007, the program was expanded, and businesses were asked their reasons for laying off workers. Among the reasons offered was “government regulations/intervention.” There is only partial data for 2007, but we have data since then through the second quarter of this year. […]

As one can see, the number of layoffs nationwide caused by government regulation is minuscule and shows no evidence of getting worse during the Obama administration. Lack of demand for business products and services is vastly more important.

These results are supported by surveys. During June and July, Small Business Majority asked 1,257 small-business owners to name the two biggest problems they face. Only 13 percent listed government regulation as one of them. Almost half said their biggest problem was uncertainty about the future course of the economy — another way of saying a lack of customers and sales.

Surveys from major news outlets, including conservative institutions like the Wall Street Journal, and the National Federation of Independent Business found the same thing: the private sector is concerned about customers and demand, not regulations.

Bruce concluded, “In my opinion, regulatory uncertainty is a canard invented by Republicans that allows them to use current economic problems to pursue an agenda supported by the business community year in and year out. In other words, it is a simple case of political opportunism, not a serious effort to deal with high unemployment.”

An Associated Press analysis published this week reached the identical conclusion: the private sector isn’t being held back by regulations; companies “aren’t hiring because there isn’t enough consumer demand.” Republican economic policies, of course, intend to weaken demand, on purpose, because they simply don’t believe this is the problem behind weak growth.

This is Big Government regulation:

From AP:

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Federal regulators are seeking comments as they target a hazard in underground coal mines blamed for dozens of deaths.

A proposed rule from the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration addresses systems meant to warn miners when they get too close to continuous mining machines.
The agency is holding a Thursday public hearing for the proposal in Charleston.

Officials say run-ins with these machines killed 30 miners and injured another 220 between 1984 and last year. Most of those killed were operating these huge machines via remote control.

Note that none of Kentucky's Big Coal Apologists, those Brave Defenders of Our Miners Against Job Killing Regulation, Senators Mitch Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul, not to mention Governor Steve Beshear and his challenger David Williams, have anything to say about this blatant horrific Murder of Our FreeDumbs by the commiemuslinkenyanterrist Usurper and his socialist minions in the bureaucracy.

AnyRand Paul Lies Nonstop at First Town Hall

AynRand Paul represents four million Kentuckians, most of them clustered in six major metropolitan areas. But little randie wants nothing to do with the Commonwealth's urban - and somewhat dusky - majority.

For his first town hall since being elected to the U.S. Senate, he chose the tiny - and pale - western Kentucky hamlet of Hartford, where even the Democrats are too well-bred and polite to call him out for the lying motherfucker he is.

Jack Brammer at The Herald:

A tough question from the audience came from Krystal Cox, 31, of Jefferson County, who has family in Ohio County.

She said she had surgery in May for kidney cancer and finally would get insurance in 2014 under the federal health care changes critics have dubbed “Obamacare.”

“Why should it be repealed?” she asked Paul, who had said it is too costly.

Paul said pre-existing health conditions and insurance portability have been problems that could be retained in health care changes.

But Paul doesn't want to "change" the ACA - he and the rest of the repugs want it repealed, leaving Krystal Cox bankrupt, homeless and cancer-ridden.

But he said the plan backed by Obama “went too far” by creating a new entitlement program when there is not enough money to take care of programs already in effect.

Wrong. The ACA did not go far enough in that it failed to expand Medicare to everyone.

Paul is lying about there not being enough money - there is more than enough money for all entitlements and much more in the mountains of cash stolen by obscenely wealthy individuals and corporations.

Paul also said he thinks every person on Medicare should be placed on the health care plan members of Congress enjoy. That would mean similar out-of-pocket expenses for the patients but less cost for taxpayers.

More lies. Medicare has lower costs than any health care plan in the nation, including the Congressional plan. Paul's idea would vastly increase costs for both recipients and the taxpayers.

Read the whole ridiculous thing.

Rand Paul Wants Himself Deported

I have neglected the Rand Paul beat, partly because it's too embarrassing and depressing, and partly because he's just another repug attention whore, willing to say or do anything for publicity.

Fortunately, Media Czech keeps a close watch on Mr. Tribble Head:

Rand Paul, fearless defender of Liberty from having its door bashed in by government thugs and drug away, told Sean Hannity on Friday that if you attend a speech by a "radical" promoting the violent overthrow of the government you should be put in jail or deported:

SNIP

That's certainly an interesting point of view by Rand.

Made all the more interesting by the fact that Rand Paul attended, even spoke at, a rally where militia members holding assault rifles advocated the violent overthrow of the government and execution of liberal journalists. You know, the same militia that is good buddies with the Hutaree out of Michigan that where arrested for plotting just that.

Hear the tape, watch the video and read the whole thing.

Rand Paul: Anti-PATRIOT Act Hero?

I've been sure for more than a year now that Rand Paul is a sniveling little coward trading on his father's fame.

But if he puts his money where his mouth is and actually filibusters the bill he claims to hate, I may have to reconsider.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) wrote to colleagues Tuesday voicing objections to the PATRIOT Act as it heads to the Senate for reauthorization, warning that it could turn America into a "police state."

Paul, a tea party favorite who was first elected last November, expressed opposition to warrantless searches and surveillance, questioning their constitutionality and their necessity to protect the United States from terrorist acts.

"I object to these warrantless searches being performed on United States citizens," he wrote. "I object to the 200,000 NSL searches that have been performed without a judge’s warrant. I object to over 2 million searches of bank records, called Suspicious Activity Reports, performed on U.S. citizens without a judge's warrant."

"It is not acceptable to willfully ignore the most basic provisions of our Constitution—in this case—the Fourth and First Amendments—in the name of 'security,'" Paul added.

Colleague letters are easy, aynrandpaul: Let's see you actually stand up and fight this abomination with a real, old-fashioned, non-stop filibuster.

After that, you can apply your newly-discovered love for civil liberties to defending U.S. citizens' right to medical privacy. Even female citizens.

Conway Conquers Fancy Farm

UPDATES Below

Mid-morning Saturday, the drive along Highway 80 to Fancy Farm foreshadowed the afternoon's speeches. Along the eight-mile stretch of two-lane between drought-stressed fields of brown corn and stunted soybeans, Jack Conway for Senate signs dominated. I counted more than 100 Conway signs to zero Ron Paul signs between I-24 and St. Jerome's Catholic Church.

Conway's speech was strong, on target, passionate and real. It came as a relief after his passive and false-sounding performances at the Marshall County Bean Supper Friday night and the Graves County Democratic Breakfast that morning. I'd crossed my fingers that he was saving the fire for Fancy Farm, and I was right.

The Herald has video of both Conway's and Paul's speeches here.

Favorite moments:

• Ky Young Democrats RULE. They owned the crowd, drowned out the paulbots, and even shamed the olds out of their lawn chairs in the shade and onto their feet cheering for Conway.
  
  
• Paul spent the first half of his speech detailing the physical measurements of various government documents, including the tax code: 4 billion, 609 thousand pages, weight 89 pounds 13 oz, height 104 inches ... or something like that. I couldn't hear clearly over the Young Dems chanting "borrring, borrrring, borrrrring ...."
  
  
• Mitch McConnell publicly admitted his burning desire for a sexual threesome with Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi. Why else would he mention at least a dozen times in a six-minute speech the names of two people who aren't running for office in Kentucky?
  
  
• Jim Pence of Hillbilly Report showed Democrats How. It's. Done. He took on a teabagger in full faux-colonial regalia by demanding the idiot sign the "Socialist-Free Purity Pledge." The bagger refused of course, and you could hear Pence clear across the crowd yelling for the old codger to "tear up your social security check! Tear up your Medicare check!" WKYT filmed it, but offers just a minute of the hilarity here.
  
  
• More Young Dems shenanigans: passing out "Dr.Paul's Old-Time Liberty Elixir" - "Made with 75 percent out-of-state ingredients," "Mixes Well with Tea!" "Cure for Such Ailments As: The ADA, The Civil Rights Act, and That Pesky Social Security!" "Not Recommended for Foot-in-Mouth Disease, Unemployment, a Thriving Economy, Strong National Defense or Common Sense."
  
  
• The Kentucky Democratic Party is an irredeemable bottomless shithole of incompetence. It paid to print the hilarious "Rand Paul's Waffle House Menu," but still does not have the content posted on line. As of 1:28 p.m. Eastern time, almost 24 hours later, it still does not have a single mention of Fancy Farm on the website, much less pictures, video, or a facsimile of Rand Paul's Waffle House Menu. Here's a taste:
  
  No regulations or board certification on Rand's recipes ... get prepared for a delicious disaster. Ask about our Veteran's discount! Discount has been cut. Smothered, covered, diced positions, until you can't recognize them. **Rand reserves the right to refuse service to anyone due to reace, gender, disability, or really anything else Rand wants.**
  
  
• Best campaign gimmick (after Rand Paul's Waffle House): Carpenter Ed Marksberry, Democratic challenger for the Second Congressional District, literally cutting tax cuts for the rich, and for his T-shirt slogan "If you can read this, you are close enough to make a donation."
  

More Herald coverage here and here.

UPDATE, 6:00 a.m. Kentuckians for the Commonwealth were there.

Media Czech's unique take, with pix and videos.

Cross-posted at They Gave Us A Republic ....

Conway's Run-to-the-Right Strategy Working Like a Charm

Paul's broken 50 percent. It's over. From the Courier:

A week before the traditional start of the fall campaign in Kentucky, Republican Rand Paul leads Democrat Jack Conway by eight percentage points in the U.S. Senate race, according to the latest Courier-Journal/WHAS11 Bluegrass Poll.

The poll, conducted last Tuesday through Thursday by SurveyUSA, found that 51 percent of likely voters would support Paul if the election were held today, while 43 percent said they would vote for Conway.

Congratulations, Jack. You had the best opportunity in 30 years to rally non-voting Democrats back to the polls, and you blew it.

But now the U.S. Senate race in Kentucky is just a republican primary, and you've already lost.

Aynrandpaul Pledges to Write Own Balanced Budget

Oh, this we gotta see.

From the Herald:

Republican U.S. Senate nominee Rand Paul vowed Monday to introduce his own balanced budget for the nation if he is elected.

Why wait six months? Let's see it now, Randy boy. Let's see you eliminate FEMA and OSHA and EPA, because the commercial fishermen on the Gulf Coast will be fine sleeping on the streets and watching their children die of respiratory failure and working at Walmart.

Let's see you eliminate all the subsidies for Big Agriculture and Big Oil and Big Coal and Big Pharma and Big Insurance and Big Finance until those criminals abandon your campaign.

Let's see you eliminate all federal taxes and fees and royalties until the nation's treasury is so empty that even your paycheck bounces.

Paul’s opponent in the Nov. 2 general election, Democratic Attorney General Jack Conway, could not be immediately reached for comment.

That's because Jack's laughing so hard he can't talk.

Paul is to speak at a Tea Party movement statewide rally July 5 at the Capitol, said his campaign chairman, David Adams.

The rally is called “FreedomFest 2010! It is to begin at 5 p.m. that day and run through 8 p.m.

Come to Frankfort and demand Paul submit his balance federal budget before the election, so we can all judge him not by what dirty fucking hippie bloggers say about him, but what he actually proposes himself.

Local Rand Paul Coverage Day One: Media Lap Dogs Give Repugs a Pass

Okay, y'all, when I said "up your game," I didn't mean "get your panting lap dog on."

Both the Lexington Herald and the Courier-Journal let Kentucky repugs get away with refusing to answer questions from the press.

Really, Jack Brammer and Stephanie Steitzer? How hard did you try? Or were you under editorial orders to lay off the teabagger's almighty god?

Both Brammer and Steitzer are seasoned political reporters. They know how to do this correctly: merciless, relentless badgering, resulting in story ledes like this:

Senator Mitch McConnell, Rep. Hal Rogers and other Kentucky republican elected officials refused multiple times yesterday to address GOP Senate nominee Rand Paul's opposition to the Civil Rights Act, Fair Housing Law, Mine Safety laws and forcing BP to clean up its massive oil gusher in the Gulf of Mexico.

At least eight separate times, this reporter specifically demanded that McConnell, Rogers and the others state whether they agreed with Paul's public positions.

Instead, we get kumbaya headlines like this: "Rand Paul feels the love from GOP at Unity Rally" and "Rand Paul steers clear of controversy at Unity Rally."

Rand Paul's antediluvian positions are no longer the story; how Kentucky's repug officials can support him without explicitly agreeing with those positions is the story.

The fact is that Kentucky repugs and conservadems are going to vote for Paul in November even if he advocated outlawing the horse industry. And bourbon distilleries. They always - always - vote for the republican, no matter what.

The question is whether Paul will get enough overt support from McConnell and the others to overcome legitimate fears about his Bircherism.

Right now, the Kentucky MSM is not making Kentucky's GOP officials pay any price for that support. They have to pin every single republican candidate in the state up against the wall and force them to say yeah or nay on every single racist, misogynist, anti-disabled, anti-veteran, unconstitutional, anti-american word out of Aynrandpaul's mouth, then plaster the answers in 48-point, banner headlines.

Anything less is journalistic malpractice.

Cross-posted at They Gave Us A Republic ....