Does The Ditch-Mitch Team Have Any Starter?

Like UK quarterback Andre Woodson in the fourth overtime against LSU, the liberal Kentucky bloggers "had the ball knocked loose" last week. But it was worse for the Ditch-Mitch team, which started fumbling even before they took to the playing field.

The left-wing blogosphere can't agree on who their starting quarterback should be, and the bench is brawling with name-calling that is usually hurled at Republican office holders.

Liberal bloggers known more for personal fouls than yardage gains can be downright nasty when they turn on each other. Nasty, as in Louisville-fans-booing-Steve-Kragthorpe-at-the-Syracuse-game nasty.

The Yale Man, Matt Gunterman, perhaps stung by his school's walloping by Harvard, laments "that some people with power and influence in Democratic circles in the state and national party and the state and national blogosphere are lining up behind State Auditor Crit Luallen (D) in an attempt to muscle out other potential candidates from a Democratic primary, namely Attorney General Greg Stumbo (D) and Lt. Col. Andrew Horne (D)."

He proceeds to call a few Luallen supporters "a**holes" and complain that "national bloggers Kos of Daily Kos and Jonathan Singer of MyDD, simultaneously chose to highlight the draft movement for Crit Luallen while entirely ignoring the far more official candidacy of Greg Stumbo and the strong grassroots movement to draft Andrew Horne."

Then the Yale Man lambastes a Georgetown student, Liz Fossett, who created a website to encourage Luallen to run. Fossett allegedly "participat[ed] in a trolling operation that targeted the comments sections of neutral or non-Crit aligned blogs using the handles Kim, Katie, and Kati." The Yale Man writes that "[t]he principle [sic] targets of" Fossett's "trash talking were Andrew Horne and Joe Sonka of BlueGrassRoots and DitchMitchKY, who was accused of being a 'bought' blogger."

According to the Yale Man, "[w]hen confronted with the evidence of the trolling efforts, Ms. Fossett wrote a mea culpa of sorts in a diary at BlueGrassRoots. While Ms. Fossett admits that the various inflammatory comments did come from a single IP address that is a computer in her family’s home in northern Kentucky, she denies that she wrote the comments. Instead, it is her contention that other people in this household participated in the digital flogging." The Yale Man finds "this scenario difficult to believe."

For her part, Fossett acknowledges "[t]he campaign for Senate has yet to begin and already we have fumbled a bit." Her "technique," as she describes it, "got a little messy a few days ago."

Fossett concedes that "[i]mplying that Bluegrass Roots, or any other blog that is so open to the people, might be 'bought' is a silly complaint and untrue." Then she calls on the Left-Wing bloggers to move "beyond the hurtful words . . . [so] we can all focus on the goal to Ditch Mitch in 2008!"

More power to the Georgetown undergraduate if she can get the Yale Man to clean his mouth, but don't count on it. When these so-called "progressives" lack good arguments or game plans, all they have left to rely upon are simply expletives.

Please note: The postings of "G. Morris", written by John K. Bush and which end in 2016, stated his views as of the dates of posting and should not be understood as current assertions of his views. The postings, which have not been altered since they came to an end, remain on this blog to preserve the historical record. In 2017, Mr. Bush took a position that precludes further public political comments or endorsements. He will no longer be contributing to this blog.

McConnell Remains More Popular Than Democrats

The Yale Man, Matt Gunterman, is clicking his heels about the latest Survey USA poll showing Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell's approval rating at 44%. But before he becomes too frenzied, here are some other numbers for perspective.

Democratic Leader Harry Reid's latest approval rating in his home state of Nevada: 39%.

Approval rating for Democratic-"led" Congress, according to the average of recent nationwide polls: 22.5% -- half of McConnell's approval rating.

Forget Ft. Lauderdale: Kentucky Is Where The Boys Are

Talk about a cultural experience. "I saw naked people who'd been having sex but got up to answer the door," reported back a Columbia College coed who canvassed on behalf of Governor-elect Steve Beshear last weekend. "Wow, your sex must really suck if you get up halfway through it to answer the door."

Where's a privacy penumbra when you need it? Yet another group of Ivy League students is out to drum up Kentucky Democrats to vote. Move on over DitchMitch.com blogger Matt Gunterman.

According to the student newspaper Columbia Daily Spectator, these "rowdy Columbia Democrats" used their fall break "in the way intended by its 1968 architects" -- "to engage in the electoral process." Groooovy.

(For those too young to remember the 1960s and thus perhaps do not understand the title above, click here.)

Why are Columbia College Democrats so concerned about Kentucky politics? Columbia College senior J.D. Porter, a writer for the Columbia Daily Spectator, summed it up nicely yesterday: "Here at Columbia, as at most top universities, we enjoy belittling conservative beliefs. Even the professors are in on it, and conservatives often find their beliefs directly challenged by academic trickery, like thinking about things, and facts." Might he be auditioning for a job at the Courier-Journal?

"I'm not sure we've had a group together like Columbia University," said Lieutenant Governor-elect Dan Mongiardo, who apparently either doesn't mind or doesn't recognize their condescension. "They've been incredible."

So this is what the Beshear-Mongiardo ticket meant when they pledged to promote "adventure tourism."

The Columbia Daily Spectator is so proud of the Columbia College Democrats that it has devoted an entire blogging section to their travels, slide show and all.
The Columbians reportedly may return in '08 to campaign against Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell. It's time to tighten border security.

Please note: The postings of "G. Morris", written by John K. Bush and which end in 2016, stated his views as of the dates of posting and should not be understood as current assertions of his views. The postings, which have not been altered since they came to an end, remain on this blog to preserve the historical record. In 2017, Mr. Bush took a position that precludes further public political comments or endorsements. He will no longer be contributing to this blog.

When You Go to Vote, Don't Forget to Wear Shoes

"Kentucky Republicans tend not to be the brightest bulbs or outside-the-box thinkers. " So pontificates DitchMitchKy.com blogger Matt Gunterman. In the words of Thurston Howell III, "he must be a Yale man, Lovie."

Gunterman, who says he is "a doctoral student in the history of medicine and teaching fellow" at Bill and Hillary's Alma mater, can hardly restrain himself from singing "Boola, Boola" given the Democrats' prospects in tomorrow's election. (Speaking of restraint, or the lack thereof, Gunterman today wrote a bizarre piece about Governor Fletcher and Robbie Rudolph that takes political, or should we say Freudian, projecting to a new level.)

Gunterman also reports that "Soon-To-Be Gov. Steve Beshear can transform how the world sees Kentucky and how Kentuckians see themselves." Gunterman should do his part first by scrubbing his blog, where expletives and name-calling substitute for facts and logic. (You may need to disable your parental control settings to access the link, given the profanity.)

Yesterday Gunterman's colleague, Shawn Dixon, criticized singer Pat Boone's phone message endorsing Governor Fletcher, complaining that we don't need "California friends calling us to talk about Kentucky values." Note that Dixon claims he "will matriculate this fall in the JD program at New York University School of Law, where he has been awarded the prestigious AnBryce Scholarship." (Congrats!)

Thank goodness these philosopher kings have deigned to enlighten us Kentucky rubes from their perches in Greenwich Village and New Haven.

For local flavor, their comrade Jim Pence's offering boils down to "Liar, liar, pants on fire," and various You Tube videos, one of which features a hillbilly with a shotgun offering dim-witted sexual innuendo about Republicans. (Is this a hate crime?)

If this level of argument is the best that Kentucky liberals -- a/k/a "progressives" -- can muster, then conservatives should take heart, even though elephants may seem to be endangered species in the Bluegrass tomorrow.