Bunning Gives Middle Finger Fastball To Jobless Americans As Bluegrass-Gate Prepares To Explode
The filibuster saga in which retiring Republican Sen. Jim Bunning of Kentucky refuses to lift a block on a bill extending unemployment benefits and funding infrastructure projects reached an entirely new level on Monday.
The controversy threatens to spill over from a legislative spat involving a bitter lawmaker nearing the end of his political life to a scandal that may yet engulf the entire Republican party only months before midterm election that they are supposed to dominate. While Bunning raises the stakes and refuses to back down, Democrats are beginning to attack - and the GOP is oddly silent.
Bunning Gives Middle Finger Fastball To Jobless Americans As Bluegrass-Gate Prepares To ExplodeBunning’s filibuster of a relatively small and bipartisan bill meant to extend expiring (since expired) unemployment benefits for jobless Americans and fund highway construction projects was already a brewing Capitol Hill story. With voters disgusted with governmental gridlock from President Obama down to Congress (especially Congress) and the White House and congressional Democrats seeking to paint GOP obstructionism as a big reason for the mess, the Bunning filibuster was lined up to make a splash unless the outgoing Kentucky conservative lifted his block. Bunning has angrily refused to do so, causing unemployment aid to lapse and 2,000 federal workers to be furloughed for at least a week.
Public ad political pressure has been growing for Bunning to break the filibuster and allow the bill to be voted on some time this week. The story has become a media sensation, and Bunning is feeling the heat - and giving the press hell.
ABC News congressional reporter Jonathan Karl and his producer approached Bunning on Monday for comments on the situation. That’s when the fireworks began…
After initially walking away from the crew and then flashing his middle finger above his head,the senator got into a confrontation with Karl and angrily shouted at the reporter not to follow him onto an elevator.“Excuse me! This is a Senators only elevator!,” snarled the lawmaker responsible for shutting off aid to unemployed Americans and their families in the middle of economic stagnation as well as giving thousands of workers an unwelcome week off without pay.
An angry Senator Jim Bunning refused to answer questions from ABC News about his decision to block a bill extending unemployment benefits.
The exchange took place as Senator Bunning was getting into an elevator in the Hart Senate Office Building.
“Excuse me! This is a Senators only elevator!” Bunning thundered.
I tried again to ask his reasons for blocking the bill, Bunning said he already explained his reasons last Thursday, when he said he wanted the $10 billion cost of the bill to be paid for, rather than simply adding to the national debt.
“Excuse me!” he yelled. “I’ve got to go to the floor!”
As the doors closed, I asked Bunning if he is concerned about those losing their benefits.
He did not answer. This is all on-camera.
Senator Bunning was even more expressive before the cameras arrived, using a little sign language.
When Senate producer Z. Byron Wolf spotted Bunning exiting his office, Bunning said, “I’m not talking to anybody.” When Wolf asked him to stay and talk to our cameras, Bunning walked toward the elevator and shot the middle finger over his head.
Tea Party Boost For McCain?
After weeks in which it looked like John McCain could be in serious trouble in his Republican primary battle with former Congressman J.D. Hayworth, the Washington veteran and 2008 GOP presidential nominee may have received a significant break from the very group that appeared poised to sink his reelection bid.
Arizona Tea Party organizations joined together on Monday and released a statement in which they said they would not be endorsing a specific candidate in the primary fight between McCain and Hayworth and scolded both candidates for lacking ironclad conservative credentials, noting that their “records during their many years in Washington leave much to be desired…”
“The Tea Party is a non-partisan, grassroots movement that stands for limited government, free markets, and fiscal responsibility. Both McCain and Hayworth’s records during their many years in Washington leave much to be desired on these issues,” said Robert Mayer, co-founder of the Tucson Tea Party. “It is their job to hold themselves up to these values and fight for our votes.”
Other tea party organizers across the state agreed that the local organizations should not endorse so early if at all.
“It is not appropriate to make an endorsement in this race at the drop of a hat, as some other groups are doing,” said Kelly Townsend, organizer of the Greater Phoenix Tea Party. “The movement must stand for ideas, and do everything possible to provide information to people so that they can make the best personal decisions.”
Roger Boone, organizer of the Flagstaff Tea Party, added, “The Tea Party should not endorse individual politicians, as their future actions may reflect poorly on our organization. We encourage our members to endorse and vote for whomever they choose, but as a group we will not endorse officially.”
“We stand for principles and ideas, not for politicians or parties,” said Patrick Beck, organizer of the Mohave County Tea Party. “Our mission is to promote constitutional government and fiscal responsibility, and to inform people so that they can make their own decisions.”
This news is a potentially devastating blow to Hayworth, a Tea Party favorite who had been gaining significant momentum in the race and seemed on the verge of catching McCain in the polls as he consolidated support from a huge chunk of a conservative Republican base energized by the Tea Party movement and the possibility of gains in Congress. The potential for the highly organized and powerful grass roots Tea Party machine throwing its full weight against McCain could have sealed the fate of the one-time “maverick” lawmaker.
But as McCain shifted considerably to the right in his rhetoric opposing President Obama’s legislative agenda and Democrats in Congress, conservatives became more reluctant to abandon the highly electable Senate veteran. Also important in the Tea Party’s wariness were several hits scored on Hayworth’s record by the McCain campaign, forcing the challenger to back away from previous comments favorable to Tea Party ideals, such as the suggestion that President Obama was not born in Hawaii and is an illegitimate president.
