Republican Senator Jim Bunning of Kentucky already has a reputation in the chamber, even among his fellow Republicans, of being a “problem”, an embarrassment, and as one of the absolutely worst senators in the history of the United States!
He has used foul language, been totally uncooperative even with the Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell, a fellow Kentuckian, and people have wondered about his mental alertness and sanity.
The fact that he finally chose not to run for reelection is a blessing for his party, but now even in his last months, he has chosen to use “senatorial privilege” to block an extension of unemployment beliefs and COBRA health care for the most desperate among us, the long term unemployed. He is another one of those senators who loves to quote religious themes, and yet he is willing to promote a direct assault on those in our society who are the most unfortunate!
The basis of him, all alone, stopping extension, is that the cost of the extension must be paid for, which certainly makes sense, but the fact that he voted to support two wars that have destroyed our budgetary balance, plus voted for both Bush tax cuts to the rich, makes him a total hypocrite now, when the most downcast in our society are in need!
Jim Bunning may have been a great baseball player with the Detroit Tigers and Philadelphia Phillies in the 1950s and 1960s, who ended up in the Hall of Fame, the only baseball player to have done that and been in the Senate. But in his nastiness and mean spiritedness now demonstrated, yet again, he is certainly no Hall of Famer in politics! 