Dispatches from the Ron Paul Revolution
Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., acknowledged Tuesday that during a meeting in December, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told him that “I was too old and I couldn’t win” a re-election battle in 2010.
Bunning, 77, went on to call McConnell, also a Kentucky Republican, a “control freak.” He also said he’ll fare well in Kentucky without McConnell’s endorsement in the Republican primary, since during the senior senator’s tenure as a member of the GOP leadership the Republicans have lost several seats and could lose more in 2010.
“If Mitch McConnell doesn’t endorse me that may be the best thing that could happen to me in Kentucky,” he told reporters during a conference call Tuesday.
Actually the problem isn’t that he’s too old. It’s that he’s too senile. But waiting in the wings:
Take a look at the Facebook group “Rand Paul For Senate 2010.”
You will see more than 2,000 members and messages from people all over the country, not just Kentucky, begging Paul to take the leap into politics.
Over the past few months when asked if he was going to run, Paul has said he would only if incumbent Senator Jim Bunning didn’t.
Well, Bunning is poised to run.
So where does this leave Paul’s political aspirations?
“We are forming an exploratory committee to run for the US Senate,” answers Paul.
That’s all that Paul would confirm when it comes to whether he’s decided to run for the Senate.
And I ask again: Ron Paul, you named your boy “Rand” — really?Â
Monday, unhealed wounds were on display again as an Ada County magistrate sentenced Elmore County’s Republican vice chairman for making a pest of himself in state offices, particularly the office of Gov. Butch Otter. Although the judge gave Christopher Pentico the lightest possible sentence for trespassing, 30 days of probation with a cleared record once they are completed, Pentico’s supporters marched directly from the courthouse to Otter’s office.
“Idahoans for Liberty,” including organizers of recent Tea Party demonstrations and supporters of former presidential candidate Ron Paul, wanted Otter to pardon Pentico and stop enforcing the state trespass law against him.
There might be a question of the propriety of applying a law aimed at protecting private property to buildings owned by the public, but there is apparently little question Pentico, 42, has been a nuisance, and not just in Otter’s office. Still smoldering over a five-year-old dispute with Boise State University officials, he has also taken his complaint to Attorney General Lawrence Wasden, state school Superintendent Tom Luna, dozens of legislators and staff members of Sens. Mike Crapo and Jim Risch.
“He seems to think that if he comes 12 times, the answer will be different than the 11th time,” Otter spokesman Jon Hanian said Monday. […]
Last month, a majority of members of the Ada County Republican Central Committee forced a vote on a resolution charging Otter with violating Pentico’s rights, but failed to get the needed two-thirds margin for passage.
In addition, nine legislators signed a letter saying Pentico had acted responsibly and respectfully, and another, Rep. Pete Nielsen, R-Mountain Home, testified in his behalf in court. […]
Today’s Idaho Republicans are another matter. There appears no way to reconcile those who want to serve in government and those who want to disown it.
Gawd, Idaho is weird.
A fired-up Lindsey Graham, speaking to the South Carolina Republican Convention on Saturday, took a jab at Ron Paul and Libertarians, drawing some noisy protests from the crowd, as can be seen above and in an audience video here.
“We are not going to build a party around libertarian ideas,” he said. “Ron Paul is not the leader of this party.”
Graham described himself as “a Ronald Reagan, Strom Thurmond, Lindsey Graham, Caroll Campbell Republican, and winning matters to me. If it doesn’t matter to you, there’s the exit sign.”
It’s worth noting that in the 2008 Senate race, South Carolina Democratic primary voters managed to nominate a Paul-ite, so maybe Lindsey Graham’s suggestion to walk out the exit doors isn’t too ridiculous.