Before reading the below article, I didn't know jack about Jim Bunting save for one thing: he is retiring and his resignation has paved the way for the very real possibility that Ron Paul's son Rand Paul is elected to the U.S. Senate as Bunning's replacement.
That fact alone makes Bunning a hero in our eyes: even accidentally paving the way for potentially putting a Paul in the Senate is deserving of hero's praise.
But now we've learned one additional piecce of information about Senator Jim Bunning: he is single handedly holding up the extension (yet again!) of socialized unemployment and healthcare benefits. Workers already have had them extended from 26 weeks of state provided benefits to 26 weeks of state benefits plus 73 weeks from the Federal government! WTF!
Now without this extension, everyone is getting cut off once their current tier of benefits expires. While obviously it sucks tremendously for needy unemployed people, it is principled. All Bunting is saying is, (paraphrasing) "we need to cut an equal amount from somewhere else in the budget. I'm not going to be responsible for increasing the deficit any further given we already can't pay for what we have."
It's literally 99 to 1 in the Senate but it takes unanimity to extend an existing law without going through the traditional legislative process of actually passing a new law. As The Great Jim Bunning said on the Senate floor:
"If we can't find $10 billion to pay for something that we all support, we will never pay for anything on the floor of the U.S. Senate."Amen Saint Bunning. Amen.
Oh, and because he's retiring and is basically untouchable as a result, he's literally flouting his opposition, including flicking off the media. Further, he actually told the Honorable Gentleman from Oregon, "Tough shit" when Senator Jeff Merkley criticized Bunning's stance.
I don't want to know anything else about the guy. Don't ruin this image of perfection.
I'm sure learning additional information would sully him in my eyes. But for now, he's perfect. On the one hand, he's going Mantan Moreland on them and putting his dick in the Senate's proverbial mashed potatoes while providing space for Rand Paul on the other.
Genius.
Stay strong, Jim. Stay strong.
Here's the Yahoo! article.
[HT: TD]
