Milbank on Bunning

It's amazing that the WaPo's Dana Milbank could write an entire article about the admittedly bizarre antics of Senator Jim Bunning (R, Kentucky) without mentioning the word "PAYGO". After all, Obama just praised it:

After a “decade of profligacy,” the president says, “the American people are tired of politicians who talk the talk but don’t walk the walk when it comes to fiscal responsibility.”

This was right after signing an increase to the debt limit, by the way. Milbank actually came close to explaining it with this:

The ornery Kentuckian said he was merely insisting that Congress find a way to pay for the $10 billion, 30-day extension, but that was difficult to square with his recent votes against attempts to rein in debt and spending.

Hmm, what recent votes have there been against reining in debt and spending? Can anyone name them? Can Milbank? If so, why didn't he? Or is he perhaps talking about PAYGO itself? Ahh, so Bunning voted no on PAYGO because he knew it was a stunt then when it's proven a stunt he calls them on it and the press and Kos call him a hypocrite? Hey, they really are smarter!

Bunning might be fed up crazy, or just crazy, or just fed up, but he's doing a service by giving everyone another glimpse into what it means to be a liberal and a conservative. The libs passed PAYGO to force programs to be paid as they are passed and they did it for political reasons as Bunning has now so quickly exposed. Milbank has no interest in pursuing that angle because like everyone else in DC he probably never truly believes what the Dems say (which explains Clinton's tough talk on Saddam and AQ through the 90s). When someone actually calls them on it, it's news and the person is called crazy, so crazy some even want him removed from the Baseball Hall of Fame, which somehow isn't crazy.

Crazy yeah--conservatives have this crazy notion that laws are made to be upheld. It's the same with illegal immigration, which Bunning has been equally outspoken about, as in upholding our immigration laws. Liberals see that kind of stark law and justice thinking as cold-hearted, mean-spirited, and unworldly and not politically expedient, and they usually have more than a few Milbanks in the press to reinforce their message. Opposition usually gets lumped with Rush Limbaugh or lately, with teabaggers (whatever/whomever the Alinskyite target of the day might be).

Funny how all those liberal nuances and shades of gray seem to fade into sharp black and white contrast when the discussion turns to Bush or Cheney or 'torture', though. Crazy, that.

MORE 3/2/10

A bomb threat at Bunning's Kentucky office. Probably just an anti-government teabagger.

AGAIN 3/2/10


Yet another article from the WaPo telling us that Senator Meanie has blocked the bill again without mentioning the paygo thing. But they continue flirting:

As the Senate stalemate continued, Bunning said he objected in part because the measures were not paid for; Reid insisted that they were.

The rest of the article was a teeth-gnasher on how many programs had been stopped, dogs and cats living together, mass chaos. Well, until the last two paragraphs where the state of Virginia said it wasn't a big deal.