Kentucky is starting to get a lot out of their elected officials. No, really. Some of you may remember when I refered to Gov. Steve Beshear as a " sack of shit ". Ahem... Well...what was I angry about? Let's review, shall we? First: Context. From my point of view America is in the mood for two things - Competence and Change. Hopefully this will translate down to Kentucky. Some things do...who knows. From my own travels, Ohio, seems to be the winner of " the mullet " war. Anyhow, Kentucky had an opportunity to get behind what was a rising star within the KDP - Lt. Col. Andrew Horne . Horne represents a lot of forgotten voices within the Commonwealth. Veterans, people deeply effected by fuel prices, people without medical insurance...you know....most of us. Is he a great fundraiser? No. Is he great on camera? Not always. Is he competent? Absolutely. Has he served his nation for the majority of his own life? Undoubtedly. I was obviously a passionate supporter of Col. Horne, and I still have some less-than-positive feelings from the whole ordeal. Horne was basically promised strong support from the KDP (necessary for any legit candidacy) and fundraising assistance. Once Bruce Lunsford announced for office, his friends, our Governor and his cohorts, instructed Horne to drop out of the race. This was the "good old boys" club shit again. I am still not sorry for feeling the way I did the day I made that post. I still believe that Mitch McConnell will hand Lunsford his own ass in the general election. This isn't cheering for the oppisition, this is just an observation of the people involved. Unless he's indicted for something, McConnell is Kentucky's Ted Stevens. And trust me, this pork-peddler has more than his share of bridges to nowhere. Time will pan some of his secrets out, but until that time, or someone riding the wave of Democratic change comes along...we're stuck. That's where I get pissed off. Horne was our shot at a "change" campaign. Lunsford simply represents dollars. All of that being said: Lunsford will get my vote. Anyone remember Greg Fischer? I sure remember his big-purty-nano-mansion...way up over Cherokee park. Whew! Memo to Fischer: Democrats don't vote for anti-Choice candidates in Jefferson county. John Yarmuth has become an effective member of Congress. I am absolutely surprised. I was totally, completely, and utterly wrong about him. The whole time. I admit it. He's a great Rep, and I am proud to have him in Congress. There...I said it. Though, my issue was never with Yarmuth as a person. I just didn't think he could beat Northup. After that, I was concerned he wouldn't assert himself, as a freshman. Well, wrong again. Thanks John! I am looking like a real ass here! :) (Seriously...thanks. These are good things to be wrong about.) Northup's even poking her head up again, but I can't be concerned with that right now. Gov. Steve Beshear has even surprised me in some cases. He is encouraging a more aggressive push toward flexible work hours instead of the traditional eight-hour Monday-through-Friday shifts. How...progressive. He's even looking for ways to raise money for the state... other than tobacco and taxes . Finally! Attorney General Jack Conway has managed some pretty impressive initiates as well. Conway is taking on the gasoline wholesale issue that is costing people in Jefferson county hundreds of additional dollars for fuel per month than other counties. Price fixing. This sort of thing doesn't endear you to Big Oil. He's also taken on privacy issues, like the recent spate of elaborate phishing scams , you know...things that impact everyone. These are some good things that you can get from government. Kentucky is in trouble Specifically, the Kentucky Democratic Party...is in trouble. Kentucky has an historically laughable problem on its hands. Our brothers and sisters over at PageOne brought us this little gem about the Kentucky Democratic Party (KDP) and one, Jennifer Moore: Long story short, Jennifer Moore replaced three pledged male Clinton delegates with three females after being notified by the DNC that the gender balance of Kentucky’s delegation was imbalanced. Jennifer replaced one of the Clinton delegates (Todd Hollenbach) with a female Obama delegate, which doesn’t quite fly by the rules, as you might imagine. Jennifer’s own family is involved and named in the challenge."
As you may know, Hillary Clinton's name will be on the ballot at the Democratic National Convention, and a lot of people have questions about that. Well, I am in "no bullshit" mode, so let us try to cut through it. Keeping the #2's name on the ballot through the convention is absolutely nothing new. As a matter of fact, it would flatly be against tradition for Clinton's name to not be available for voting. Feel free to look it up. Hillary Clinton's name will be available for a symbolic vote. The existing Kentucky pledge delegates were largely for Clinton. We're trying to unify the party here. So...how do you explain that? Isn't this over-confidence? I've stated several times that anything other than an Obama/Clinton ticket is near suicide. I've also stated that the Clinton supporters need to come out in force for Sen. Obama. This is easy to square: Clinton got 18 million votes. Obama needs her supporters. They have to do their little "thing" at the convention, cast their votes, elect the nominee officially (Obama) and have a roll call vote for Clinton. Then they announce the choice for V.P. This is as old as politics. Once that's out of the way - ALL Clinton supporters need to come out in force for Obama. That's how it should work. That's what I am worried we are risking. A fracture in the party. An Obama/Clinton ticket would take care of that. How does Kentucky fit into all of this? The swap in delegates simply alters the vote. Hillary Clinton deserves the votes she got, and it shouldn't be taken away from the people or the party. Kentucky could alter the final outcome in a very UN-democratic fashion. Do we need this shit? I don't know if I agree with the call for Jennifer Moore to resign...but something has to happen. Right? -Chuck
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