SCOTUS to Hear Obamacare Challenge! Jack Conway Yawns!

The U.S. Supreme Court has granted certiorari to hear a challenge to the mandate to purchase healthcare, the heart and soul of Obamacare.  This just happened eight minutes ago, so I do not yet know any details.

This is the same challenge that our newly-reelected Attorney General, Jack Conway called too legally frivolous for Kentucky to join.  So much for his legal acumen.

Conway is said to have held a big meeting the morning after Election Night last week.  The meeting lasted a full two hours.  Kentuckians might like to think he was setting goals for his second term as AG, but no:  Conway was laying the groundwork for his plan to run for governor.

He spent his first term as AG running for senator, and he will spend his second term running for governor.  What a disgrace:  the office of Attorney General is too important for a mere seat-warmer.  Voters will get exactly what they deserve; Conway  made no pretense of even campaigning for the job, and he will perform the job the same way he campaigned, with indifference.

Jack is Running

Ryan Alessi reports that Jack Conway has filed his papers to run for another term as Kentucky Attorney General.

This good news for Republican Todd P'Pool comes just hours before his Louisville fundraiser.

The challenge for P'Pool -- and his campaign chairman, Larry Cox -- is to figure out a way to remind Kentuckians of Jack Conway's Aqua Buddha ad. That ad, which Conway ran against Rand Paul, now regarded as one of the worst political ads ever, though it was unintentionally hilarious. The Aqua Buddha ad showed Kentuckians that Jack Conway was too dim and lacking in humor to recognize a college prank.

Then again, given Conway's media buy for the Aqua Buddha ad -- he saturated the air waves for weeks -- maybe Kentuckians won't need any reminder that Conway is all hair and no substance.

Time for Jack Conway to Go

Attorney General Jack Conway faces two choices: (1) he can run again and lose or (2) he can take a pass and spend some time with his family as his second child is born.

Conway told a certain Republican who looked at running for Attorney General, but then declined, that it's not such a great job; he wouldn't recommend it.

Indeed, a growing chorus of attorneys on both sides of the aisle have noticed Conway's apparent disinterest in his duties.

He has shown the inability or unwillingness to master the nuances of the complex class actions to which Kentucky, like many states, is a party.

He refused to join the 24 states that brought suit against the Obamacare mandate to purchase health insurance. Conway maintained that the suit was legally frivolous, but that is belied by the very number of states that challenged it. Plainly, Conway's political aspirations colored his legal judgment. He put Democratic talking points above the interests of Kentucky citizens on an issue that Kentuckians have followed closely.

Kentucky judges, moreover, have taken the extraordinary step of dismissing cases due to the failure of Conway's staff to disclose exculpatory (Brady) material to the defense. This has caused even Democratic lawyers to state that they will vote for anyone but Conway.

Conway's heart is not in the job of Attorney General. Perhaps he could ignore that reality the last two years, as he ran for U.S. Senate, but no longer. He doesn't want the job of Kentucky Attorney General. And he doesn't deserve it.

Aqua Buddha: The Prequel

The Courier-Journal has two columns today that explain Jack Conway's decision-making process for ending his political career with the Aqua Buddha ad.

From Al Cross, we learn that Conway never showed the ad to his political mentor, Crit Luallen. (She also chaired Conway's campaign.) According to Cross, Conway described the ad to Luallen and told her he was very uncomfortable with it. Luallen advised Conway that if he had doubts about the ad, he should listen to his instincts. Instead, Conway listened to his consultants.

The C-J also includes a reprise from David Hawpe (remember him?). Hawpe retired from the C-J and has been volunteering on the Conway campaign. No surprise there.

But get this: Hawpe got to preview the Aqua Buddha ad before it was aired. Conway did not show this ad -- about which he had doubts -- with his political mentor and campaign chair, but he did show it to one of his volunteers, David Hawpe.

Hawpe wrote about Kentucky politics for 40 years. He of all people should have foreseen the reaction the ad was sure to evoke. But apparently he did not, and now he is trying to justify the ad for posterity.

Hawpe said he thought the ad was "rough but OK. Still do." He then offers a post hoc rationalization of why the ad was less "odious" than other things done or said by various politicians.

Hawpe states that he is "not prepared to say whether using it was a good tactical decision."

Please. It was obvious the instant it aired that the Conway campaign was done. Conway must have served some strong Kool-Aid to his volunteers.

Jack Conway's Union Buddies

Big Labor likes Jack Conway. The government worker's union, AFSCME (American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees), gave Conway $5,000 bucks.

AFSCME can well afford a large donation like it gave to Conway. According to Rich Lowery, AFSCME is spending $90 million on this election. It makes the efforts of Karl Rove, and likewise the Chamber of Commerce, look like chump-change.

Government workers have a big stake in this election: at issue, as Lowry notes, is whether the government workers work for we the people, or whether we work for them -- to pay their bloated salaries, benefits and pensions.

These local bureaucrats, moreover, have been the recipients of millions of dollars in stimulus money to save their jobs, while workers in the private sector confront layoffs and 10 percent unemployment.

AFSCME gave to Jack Conway because he would be a reliable vote not just for big labor, but for big government.

Jack Conway's Truthiness Problem

Ouch: this new ad from the NRSC punctures holes in Jack Conway's much-touted accomplishment of suing 47 pharmaceutical companies. Check it out.

While Jack Conway was at Duke

All that talk about Rand Paul's Aqua Buddha escapade has finally turned attention on whether Jack Conway ever did anything wild or crazy at Duke. He did not.

Daily Caller reports that Conway's fraternity, SAE, was for pretty boys with family money and Polo shirts. Again, this is what we have come to expect from Jack Conway.

The only tid-bit: SAE's 1988 pledge class included Jack Conway -- and a bogus French Baron.The dude claimed to be a Rothschild, as in the premier cru wine Rothschilds. In fact, he wasn't even French, or college-aged: he was a 37-year old from Houston, named Maruo Cortez.

Conway in particular was close to Cortez, classmates said. One went as far as to say Conway “kissed up” to the Baron because of his nobility.

In that sense, Conway was the opposite of Paul in college. The NoZe Brotherhood were outsiders, mocking their own campus culture with bizarre, incomprehensible antics. The SAEs were the ultimate insiders — southern, wealthy, almost entirely white. They had the best location on campus and looked down on others as “not SAE material."

Jack Conway and his SAE brother failed to use their vaunted Duke intellects. No one wondered why the supposed French Baron knew so little French that he had to take French 101.

RedState on Jack Conway

No comment on this other than to link it: RedState speculates that Jack Conway may be involved in an investigation regarding his brother.

About That $2K Deductible

Sometimes political ads come with unintended consequences. That may be the case with Jack Conway's Medi-scare ads. Conway keeps pounding Rand Paul with ads containing sound-bites, in which Paul suggests that a $2,000 deductible for Medicare might be a good idea.

Notwithstanding Conway's attempt to scare seniors, Paul has made clear that his comments would not apply to current Medicare recipients. Rather, Paul has endeavored to start an adult conversation about how to reform entitlements going forward. Most seniors who are paying attention will grasp that distinction. So the ad will not convince seniors to vote for Conway unless they were already predisposed

Here's the unintended consequence: seniors are not the only people listening to the ad, and it is back-firing young voters.

It turns out that some -- maybe many -- young people think the $2,000 deductible is good idea. I sat with an 18-year old, first-time voter as Conway's Medi-scare ad came on for the billionth time. And the 18-year old commented that he thought a $2,000 deductible made sense.

He gets that the only way that he and his generation will ever see a penny of Medicare benefits is if the entire system is overhauled. And he looks at the hypothetical amount of $2,000 and notices that it is fraction of the $5,000 deductible his family pays for healthcare. So that $2,000 amount with which Conway tries to frighten voters, it actually sounds reasonable to many.

What is That On Bill Clinton's Lip?

I just saw WHAS 11's coverage of Bill Clinton stumping for Jack Conway in Lexington. I expected Slick Willie to bite his trembling lower lip. I did not expect him to have what appears to be a cold sore on his upper lip.

I don't even want to think how he got whatever that thing is. I hope Jack Conway had the good sense to not let Clinton kiss his baby daughter.

Does Jack Conway Believe This Stuff?

It's one thing to put on a happy face, to hope for the best, to remain optimistic when confronted with adversity. Jack Conway has crossed the line from cock-eyed optimistic to delusional.

From the Conway campaign:

The "experts" said this race wasn't supposed to be competitive.

But here we are in late September, and the polls show a statistical tie between Rand Paul and me because people are realizing that he's too risky.

That's why national Republicans are going all-out, right now, to beat me: arguably the nation's highest-spending corporate lobbying group, the Chamber of Commerce; the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee; and even a group headed by former George Bush strategist Karl Rove have all run nasty ads attacking me.

And just last week, Sarah Palin came to Louisville to help Rand Paul shore up his fundraising.

Rand's campaign isn't saying how much she brought in, but we've heard it could be as high as $100,000.

A statistical dead heat? Who is the pollster, Jack's hairdresser?

And about that Sarah Palin fundraiser: the entry fee had to be reduced to attract more people.

Jack's Bogus Bomb

The whole point of a money bomb is the excitement of raising a big wave of donations simultaneously.

Jack Conway's bomb, however, has what Joe Arnold called a "long fuse." That is, Conway is soliciting donations now even though the "money bomb" is not scheduled for detonation until September 7th. Conway's campaign sent an email to announce that he's received $45,000 toward the goal of $260,000 for the bomb.

As Joe observes, "Not that there are any necessarily any rules to follow when any campaign is using such a gimmick, but this appears to be less money "bomb" than a traditional deadline with a set goal."

By calling it a "money bomb," Conway just reinforces the impression that he's a big phony

Conway, Copy Cat

Jack Conway has announced that he, too, will launch a moneybomb -- just like Rand Paul. This is the point at which Ethel Merman sings "Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better."

Conway notes that Paul's latest money bomb fell short of its mark, raising $258,000 instead of his goal of $500,000. Note that Conway waited to replicate Paul's moneybomb until Paul launched one that was, relative to the others, a bust. In so doing, Conway lowered expectations and perhaps avoids unflattering comparisons.

Oddly, Conway felt constrained to explain the whole moneybomb concept to his supporters: "a single day where supporters from all over the state and the country make contributions in the same 24 hours." If Conway's supporters don't know what a moneybomb is at this point, they probably don't have a computer with which to contribute to his moneybomb.

And why couldn't Conway think of a different name other than "moneybomb"? Is he that unoriginal? Then again, Conway has not shown much originality on the issues, now that he supports extending the Bush tax cuts, loves coal and has never heard of Barack Obama.

With all the material Rand Paul has given Conway lately -- think Aqua Buddha -- the Conway campaign could have had some fun with this. Those folks take themselves so deadly seriously that they have no sense of humor.

Let's face it. Conservatives have cornered the rhetoric on anything related to war-making and military might. It's uncomfortable to watch a Democrat implore people to chip in for his own little bomb and try to explain the concept. Instead, Conway should have used the language with which progressives are most comfortable and simply asked for a bailout.

Perhaps the strangest thing about Conway's moneybomb is that he is asking for $5 contributions. It's not so much a moneybomb as amo for a bb gun. Plainly, he's looking for broad support, so a modest number makes sense in that regard. But $5? That's not enough to pay for a daily dose of styling gel for Jack's hair.

Jack Talks Pretty!

From Jack Conway's website: "Request a interview with Jack".

Dude, no wonder you're losing.

George Soros Backs Conway

It's not quite as bad as being spawned by the Devil, but pretty close: Jack Conway has taken a big fat check from George Soros, $2,400 to be precise.

And as befitting of one with more hair product than most any woman in the state of Kentucky, Jack has some B-list celebrity donors. Nick Clooney gave $240 and Maury Povich gave $4,800.

h/t: Jake at Page One who read all the FEC docs to unearth these gems.

Trey to Conway: Sue to Stop Health Care Bill

Florida filed suit today to invalidate the mandates in the Obama health care bill; a dozen states are expected to do likewise. But not Kentucky.

Trey Grayson called on U.S. Senate candidate Jack Conway to do his day-job as Attorney General and file suit on behalf of Kentucky. From Grayson's release:

Today, Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson called on Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway to join other Attorneys General around the country in filing suit against the federal government over passage of the health care bill.

“Washington is broken, and nothing demonstrates that truth more than the government takeover of health care, which the President signed into law today. Despite overwhelming and bipartisan opposition, Democrats in Congress have forced massive new bureaucracy and unsustainable spending on American families already burdened from decades of bad decisions in Washington. Fortunately, there is still an opportunity to prevent this intrusion into our lives as more than a dozen states have declared their intent to challenge this law in court. Today I call on Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway to join in this effort and file suit against the federal government for the unconstitutional overreach of its authority with the passage of this health care legislation. Jack Conway should stand up to Washington and fight for the Commonwealth of Kentucky against this massive new unfunded and unconstitutional federal mandate on states like ours,” Grayson said.

Jack Conway Lauds Useless "Message" Amendment

Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate Jack Conway issued a press release to demonstrate his heart-felt support for an amendment to the the health care bill. (H/t: Page One.) The amendment was pushed by Colorado Democrat Sen. Michael Bennet, who was appointed to his seat and faces a tough election to keep it.

Bennet's amendment was intended to address the public furor over the Democrats' proposal to pay for their health care take over by cutting Medicare. Jack Conway wants us to know that he agrees with Bennet:

It is of the utmost importance to me to protect Kentucky’s seniors. Senator Michael Bennett’s (D-CO) measure will preserve guaranteed benefits for the 720,000 Medicare beneficiaries in the Commonwealth. (Emphasis added.)

The only problem is that Bennet's amendment was all atmospherics, so substance. A leaked email from Bennet's office made this clear, according to the AP:

"This is a message amendment," his office informed fellow Democrats in an e-mail unintended for publication, indicating its purpose was political. "The Senate bill already does these things and this amendment makes these facts absolutely clear and succinct." It passed 100-0.

Unfortunately for Conway, he was not on the email list from Bennet's office. Consequently, Conway was duped into thinking that the Senate's non-binding posturing would "preserve guaranteed benefits."

It does not. The vote was pure symbolism; that's why it passed 100-0.

But Conway's release revealed more than just his naivete about Senate procedure. He misspelled the name of the Democrat he applauded.

The U.S. Senator from Colorado who pushed the "message amendment" is not, as Conway twice referred to him "Senator Michael Bennett’s (D-CO)." It's Bennet with one "T": Michael Bennet.

Daily Kos: Jack Conway's "Macaca Moment"

The left-wing Daily Kos has a diary post that describes Democrat Jack Conway's Fancy Farm speech as his "Macaca moment." The Daily Kos has helpfully christened Conway as "Captain Jack" for his "salty language."

Over the weekend at the Fancy Farm church picnic, Kentucky Attorney General Conway, in a bizarre attempt to bolster his street cred for the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, described himself as "one tough" S.O.B.. Except he didn't use the acronym.

Conway's rival for the nomination, Lieut. Gov. Dan Mongiardo, demanded that Conway apologize and Conway caved.

Now watch the left eat its own. Quoting the Rural Kentucky Democrat's Diary, the Daily Kos reads:

This is officially Jack Conway's macaca moment. For those of you who may have forgotten, former Senator George Allen of Virginia used the phrase "macaca", which is a racial slur, in a speech during his reelection campaign of 2006. He was the clear favorite and eventually lost the race due to the slip up.

Conway's outburst has also led to the revamping of the rules set by St. Jerome's Parish. They will issue a "no profanity" rule for future Fancy Farm events. And many in Western Kentucky who were supporting Conway are now dumping him like a bad ham sandwich, and that is a fact.

Jack Conway's campaign stood defiant last night and said "there will be no apology" after the Mongiardo campaign asked for Conway to apologize. Well he is eating crow with a silver spoon, pun intended. This is clearly a disaster for the Conway campaign and there is really no way to recover, in politics at this level you only get one chance. Reports from sources in Washington D.C tell me that the DSCC is not happy, of course the big boyz in D.C were pimping the Conway campaign. I expect they pushed for the apology.

On the big stage you have to keep your cool and for those hitting Mongiardo for his speech need to remember ITS FANCY FARM. But a viable candidate can not react and blow the most important speech of his or her political career and Conway blew it. He may have access to the easy millions but now that is all null and void because his macaca moment will be used against him to the end of time.

At this point he is damaged goods for the Democratic Party. He may be able to recover with time, he is young, but there is no recovering in this race, it will not happen.

Plainly, Conway is not so tough as he so colorfully boasted. Captain Jack capitulated to his rival Mongiardo after watching Mongiardo try to raise a few bucks for his campaign by watching his very pregnant wife dance a strip tease with his tie. (Memo to Dr. Dan: the name of the reality show is Pimp My Ride, not Pimp My Bride.)

Oblivious to his own sanctimonious hypocrisy, Mongiardo appoints himself the Miss Manners who will keep Fancy Farm pure and tasteful. Captain Jack obediantly apologized, proving that he is not one tough S.O.B. after all.

Jack Conway, Macho Man (This Is Jack Tough!)

This YouTube of Jack Conway boasting about what a tough S.O.B he is will go viral. I love the iterations of all his hair color -- I never noticed the resemblance to a preening John Edwards in his "I Feel Pretty" days.