255. McConnell, Hawpe, and the General Assembly

Lately when I open the Op-Ed page of the local paper, on Sundays in its own section called Forum, it seems I have been seeing certain Letters to the Editor from a particular Senior Senator from Kentucky with greater frequency. There is a certain group of people who regularly contribute on the Letters page and have been for years. Regular readers know who they (and we) are. I used to be one of those, dating back to when I was 11 years old and had my first letter printed. I haven't contributed as much in the last four years for a number of reasons, but I always enjoyed the quiet notoriety it brought when I did, seeing people at church or at the Kroger who'd say "I saw your letter in the Courier," and then would often add, "I'm not sure I agree with you." I remember many years ago the first time I met the late Henry Wallace of Prospect, Kentucky, one of the Courier's very frequent contributors and one who was reliably well to the left of anyone else on the page. Upon being introduced to Mr. Wallace, he commented, "I've read your letters," to which I responsed "And I yours." It was and is a mutual appreciation society. Mr. Wallace and I agreed on much, but he was a much bolder man than I and didn't mind saying so. Of course he had the luxury of being one of Kentucky's wealthiest individuals whereas I've always had a boss to answer to on Monday morning after having written some liberal, socialist-sounding diatribe the day before in the Sunday Forum. But, I digress.

My original comment is in response to yet another letter today from Senator McConnell in response to something David Hawpe has written. Mr. Hawpe draws ire from a number of people for the things he writes, this writer included. Recently he was taken to task by the former Congresswoman from Kentucky's Third, blaming him in some part for her loss to John Yarmuth, who made his own news this weekend by contributing his congressional salary to charity, but that is another story. To Congresswoman Northup's blaming of Hawpe, I will add that George Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld played just as large a role as Mr. Hawpe, but that is neither here nor there. Now, Mr. McConnell is falling into the same trap which Hawpe is setting. Frankly, I am a bit surprised. Despite ideological differences on a number of issues (and here I must admit there are a limited few where the Senator and I march to the same drummer), I consider Addison Mitchell McConnell, Jr. one of the great political minds in Kentucky's history, and it is usually he setting the traps for others to be felled by, not the other way around. Anyone who has listened to McConnell at the annual Fancy Farm picnic in August knows of what I speak, although at last summer's event, he was well off his normal stride.

So what do you make of politicians making their arguments in the local "Letters" section? Is it a sign of weakness, or just a "I'm mad as Hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!" response to Hawpe's continuous pounding of McConnell and his record, especially his record as the Republican Party leader in the United States Senate. I think McConnell protests too much Hawpe's essays. In those protests he betrays a sense of concern, although we Democrats have yet to agree as to a consensus candidate against him. But he is giving credence to the idea that the time may have arrived in 2008 for the Republican leader to be Daschled back to Kentucky come 2009.



What else is happening as we enter this first full week of the New Year? Kentucky's General Assembly begins its session which will no doubt be filled with proposals on any number of issues, all obsfucating the real issue of Kentucky's pocketbook being empty. No doubt the wedge issues of what to do about the gays and domestic-partner insurance will get many more column inches of news than will the budget deficit. Another issue sure to make the headlines will be how Kentucky will handle the overflow of illegal immigrants here, mostly working farms of soybean, corn, and tobacco, hotwalking horses, or in the urban areas, hammering away at nails on some (usually) Republican-owned building project. Imagine what Kentucky would be like without all those illegal immigrants? Many of those yelling the loudest publicly are wondering privately how they would fill those jobs, and how much more they'd have to pay from their own budgets if the illegals went away. Despite the knowledge that this is a federal issue, so ordained by the courts, it will be the center-piece issue for 2008. At our luncheon over the New Year's holiday, my congressman cited an interesting comparison, one I haven't substantiated, but also one I find most interesting. If you take the total cost of the Bush/Cheney/Rice/McConnell war, you will find the price tag so far is about $600,000,000,000.00. That's Six Hundred Billion with a B. Now, take the amount of money paid by illegal immigrants using illegal Social Security Numbers into the Social Security system, the one both Democrats and Republicans regularly steal from [no one ever mentions the Lock-Box anymore - seems everyone has a key], that figures is roughly $600,000,000,000.00. That's Six Hundred Billion with a B. So, its the illegals funding the senseless war, something I am sure the anti-immigrant lobby will sooner or later get around to accusing them of. Again, immigration will probably be dealt with long before the General Assembly ever gets around to funding the government, arguably the only piece of legislation they must do while assembled together for the purposes of passing legislation for the Commonwealth.

It is going to be a long Winter.