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Sen. Scrooge, Republican from Kentucky
Feb 26th, 2010 | 28 responses
No matter how much evidence I see every single day of the Republican Party’s heartlessness and seeming lack of even a shred of compassion for millions of Americans who don’t have jobs, can’t find jobs, are being evicted from their apartments and foreclosed out of their houses, must rely on food stamps and food pantries for nourishment, and can’t afford to see a doctor when they get sick, I can still always feel that sense of total disbelief, anew, at yet one more example:
Senate Democrats spent Thursday night hammering away at Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) for single-handedly holding up action in the upper chamber – but he blurted out a message to one of them on the Senate floor: “Tough s—t.”
In an unusual display in the normally sleepy chamber, Bunning – without the support of GOP leadership – has blocked efforts to quickly approve a series of extensions to measures that would otherwise expire Sunday, including unemployment insurance and the Cobra program that allows people who lose their health benefits to continue getting coverage.
And that has led to a furious exchange on the floor, with Democrats attacking the senator, who has refused to relent on his objection, in unusually harsh terms.
In a colloquy with Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Sen. Jeff Merkley, a freshman Democrat from Oregon, was pleading for Bunning to drop his objection, when the Kentucky Republican got fed up.
“Tough s—t,” Bunning said as he was seated in the back row, overheard by the floor staff and others in attendance.
And speaking of the “s” word, I don’t buy that little word that begins with an “s” about Bunning’s fellow Republicans “not backing him up.” They may not be backing him up as enthusiastically and openly as they usually back up their colleagues’ attempts to block and stop all the other attempts by Democrats to vote on legislation that will help Americans who do not rake in hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars a year, but their refusal to vote for cloture is all the back-up that’s needed.
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28 Responses to “Sen. Scrooge, Republican from Kentucky”
I wonder if he talks to Jesus with that mouth?
I din't know about this travesty, Kathy. Thanks for letting us know.
Yet more evidence of how badly disconnected members of congress are from the man in the street – a mindset that is clearly more pronounced on the right side of the aisle. Is there no shame?
He is retiring I think. I always thought he was the nastiest senator. But, perhaps we don't know all the facts. Does he have a legitimate point or is he flat out wrong?
In other words, from one “Kentuckian” to his fellow Kentuckians: “Tough s–t.”
nice!!
Oh, I think he's one of the nicer GOP. At least he says what he thinks and he truly believes what he's saying.
Think about it. He speaks for the rest of them mark my words.. Only they, like the bunch of slick apathic used-car salesmen they are, smile toothy smiles and “reassure” that they have souls.
Think about it. He speaks for the rest of them mark my words.. Only they, like the bunch of slick apathic used-car salesmen they are, smile toothy smiles and “reassure” that they have “souls.”
What Bunning sai, to you.
Jin Bunning just adds to the speculation as to why we even have a U.S. Senate?Folks, the U.S. senate is not even close to being the democratic institution that it is portrayed as.The individuals in the senate are cunning ,manipulative,self serving assholes,and that's their good points.Jim Bunning is just the worst of the worst!!As far as whether he has a legitimate argument in opposing the extension of UC benefits,there is NO EXCUSE helping people that are up against it.What a disgusting human being he is.
Those 2 words summarize the GOP's domestic policy platform.:-)
Bunning is calling attention to the fact that we are spending money we don't have by 'unanimous consent' and not dealing with the fiscal problems facing the country. His way of doing this is unorthodox, and I'm not a big Bunning fan, but he has a very good point. Of course his point is being buried under an avalanche of “how awful those mean old Republicans are” rhetoric from the liberals who believe that more government spending is the answer to all the world's ills. No need for debate. Just vote by 'unanimous consent'. No pesky roll calls to tie you to the higher spending.
You think it is an accident that Reid is conducting business this way?
The real question is why more Senators aren't joining him in his protest.
The fiscal problems you speak of aren't going to be solved by traditional republican “solutions”, i.e. tax cuts for the rich, less regulation and oversight, more head in the sand approaches to serious issues – and that includes cutting loose what is left of the struggling middle class. Lots of naysaying, not so many ideas.
Was Bunning as quick to point out that spending 12 billion a month on a pointless war with no exit strategy was spending money we didn't have? Or did he object to multi-billion dollar tax breaks given to multinational oil companies that no longer needed them? The costly development of weapons systems that could not be used in our current conflicts?
At least this way some of our citizens get something tangible from their government-. This is not money flung at Middle Eastern countries to end “world tyranny” and “spread Democracy”. Can we liberate our own people from oppressive economic conditions before propping up foreign dictators, the multinationals and our defense industry?
[sigh] We see the more elaborate, thoughtful, introspective, sophisticated views of some libs on here.
What is a Republican? Add more to what we've heard before:
* Southerner — male, redneck, white. Banjos, KKK, and guns. A whole region and people libs get to hate!
* Bible-Thumper — expanding Red Nation to the region's edges, Virginia to Oklahoma, and the Colorado Front Range and eastern Oregon, for example (past years — Mabon), too. Utah gets “inclusion” here. Add guns.
* Hillbilly! Who says the more populated lower South (bigger cities, whites attacking blacks) should be seen as the whole region. What about the highlands? Banjos, guns, and moonshine, too! Dead feds…
Evil fundamentalist hillbilly dunces with guns. OK, now I understand.
“At least this way some of our citizens get something tangible from their government-.”
Actually, many can view Bunning critically, but what's lost in your statement, K, all too often with all too many people are: a) their government (do you mean the federal government?) may not be able to satisfy everyone's wants and desires; and b) why look first or only at the federal government rather than the state or most of all, local government, which the federalist and the American way? Out of style for many decades, I know, but it remains an issue.
OK, now I understand.”
Hey you left us Northern, Wall Street, MoneyGrubbing, screwers of poor and middle -class people.
The lackeys of the vampire mega corps (especially bankers and insurance executives) crushing the downtrodden and limp and lame.
You mean the one that is still going on, even though Dems have had control of Congress since '06? My question to you is where is anyone right now in calling attention to it? Where are all the protestors and anti-war groups?
I don't know much about Bunning, but I do know he's making a fool out of himself. But since we're calling it out, where was all of the outrage when Harry Reid decided to do the same thing, just in a different manner?
If having guns, liking banjos, being redneck and white was the accurate definition of a republican then I'd be spending a lot more time here singing the praises Tom Delay, Dick Cheney, and Grover Norquist. One of my younger brothers, who was born in West Virginia still gets banjo jokes from his sibs, even though he only lived there for his first year. Since he's a tenured prof he has a pretty good sense of humor about it. Anyway, stereotypes are of limited use.
where was all of the outrage when Harry Reid decided to do the same thing, just in a different manner?”
As usual, there is more to a story than the first impression. Shades of gray among the Ls and Rs version of reality. Thanks, Jchem
“Hey you left us Northern, Wall Street, MoneyGrubbing, screwers of poor and middle -class people.”
I will say that Don Q does swing back and forth from the Southerners (he neglects the Religious Right, or doesn't view them as worth his attention) to to the corporate plutocrats. (Others on here fixate on or zero in on the corpora-plutocrats — ignoring examples like would-be-eco-fascist-profiteer Al Gore.)
Don't forget, Duck, we're cast out of the Garden of Eden (PC-acceptable). The Devil is FOX.
[chuckle]
As for the city Republican-cons, to accompany the fundamentalist hillbilly militias,
here's the lib education site of the week:
http://www.hasbro.com/monopoly/en_US/
This whole episode would actually be pretty funny if it weren't so sad. On one hand you have the Dems hammering away at Bunning claiming that he “doesn't care about the unemployed”. They make all of these threats about how they are going to break him and come to the rescue. And then this happens:
Someone please explain who is at fault in this circus. The guy who's managed to be a one-man wrecking crew or the spineless cowards who are afraid to do anything about it?
the Garden of Eden”
Ah, the GOE, where no one has to worry because the big tree (TBT) provides for all our needs. Need apples, they're there, clothing? Nah, other goodies, natch. But wait, the nasty snake is ruining everything with his bad faith ramblings and soulless rants about taking too much from TBT and having it run out of all those nice things. Screw the snake we know what's right and he never says anything that's true anyway. -Second chapter in November.
http://www.freep.com/article/20100226/NEWS15/10…
Oh the horror! He would make them explain how they planned to pay for it! A regular Spanish Inquisition here!
I will again state that the GOP only remembered that they were supposed to be fiscally conservative when the Democrats regained power in '06. I seem to remember the expression at the time was “spending like drunken sailors”, and the situation was so dire that many in their own party refused to vote for them or changed affiliation in protest.
They have no abiding principals– its all a show.
No argument there, if it wasn't for their silliness in foreign policy and immigration I'd be a full fledged libertarian.
The senate should have been abolished many years ago.They are a self serving worthless institution,with egos that promote their own sense of importance.As I have stated before,the senate is a giant hoax perpetrated by individuals intending to enrich themselves at the publics expense!!There is something to be said about an institution where one individual can hold a governing body and an entire country hostage.
boycott kentucky!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!