Polls have Beshear leading Republican David Williams, his closest competitor, by 25 to 30 percentage points. Hoping to capitalize on that popularity, fellow Democrats running for agriculture commissioner, attorney general, auditor, secretary of state and treasurer seized at the chance to join Beshear on the bus tour.
Beshear, who has already raised far more money that Williams, had already begun making more joint appearances with fellow Democratic candidates, including headlining fundraisers for them.
Other big-name Democrats have been offering their support, too, including U.S. Rep. Ben Chandler who said he believes the polls have drained the GOP’s enthusiasm.
“We’ve got our foot on their necks, and we’ve got to keep it there,” Chandler said.
So much to say about that sentiment, who knows where to start?
It’s embarrassing to listen to people defend Steve Beshear.
Poor Democrats who ask you to put a sign in your yard for the Governor. Poor Democrats who insist you have to vote for him. Poor Democrats.
So it must hurt those same Poor Democrats to read facts about Steve Beshear that fly in the face of their imaginary leader — like these words in the Herald-Leader:
Beshear calls for President Barack Obama to “implement fair and reasonable policies for the coal-permitting process” because Kentucky “has experienced tremendous frustration over uncertainty and overreaching policies of the EPA.”
I don’t know how the governor and King Coal could have much of a gripe, considering the more than 60,000 Clean Water Act violations from just three coal companies.
I’ve got a gripe, and it’s for the people who suffer each day with poisoned orange or black water running from their faucets. Or their drinking-water wells that burn with methane.
The people of our area have had enough, and the so-called “War on Coal” is only propaganda. King Coal’s not under attack. It’s the good folks who are trying to survive in the surface-mining areas who are being attacked.
There’s more. Read it all. It’s written by a retired coal miner and a federal mine inspector.
Go Steve, go! Blow up the mountains. Poison the water. Vote Beshear!
Coal operators with a reputation of using their money to influence elections have been keeping their wallets closed this year in Kentucky, even though mining has been an overriding issue in the governor’s race.
Pro-mining Republican David Williams has received about $24,000 from employees of the state’s largest coal companies, according to reports filed Wednesday with the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance. Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear, a coal advocate who is seeking re-election to a second term, picked up about $14,000.
….Phil Osborne, executive director of the mining advocacy group Faces of Coal, said Kentucky miners and coal operators haven’t been as financially engaged this year because they consider both of the major candidates friendly to their industry…. Osborne said most coalfield voters see Beshear as “a staunch advocate for the industry” because he has stood against federal regulations that he says are costing jobs in the coal industry, which now employs about 18,000 Kentuckians.
Steve’s such a great friend of the coal industry, he’s saving them money in campaign contributions!
So the next time someone tells you Steve Beshear’s bought and paid for by King Coal, you can tell them that’s not true at all… he’s just pointlessly sold out to King Coal because he doesn’t care about the environment or the whiny Democrats who keep voting for him.
Apparently the three dudes running for governor debated each other this week. Steve finally showed up, Gatewood and David tried their best. It was fun. (Was it? I was reading a book.)
In their closing remarks, Galbraith said Beshear, if re-elected, would leave office in two years and turn over the reins of government to his running mate, former Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson.
Beshear’s campaign said that assertion was preposterous and that Abramson was chosen because of his record.
Williams noted that Beshear did not deny that scenario during the debate.
That actually does sound fun.
A few weeks ago, Al Cross pondered why Steve’s running up the score and while he didn’t touch explicitly on a Beshear two-year plan, he did write of the Abramson-succession:
A re-elected Beshear could not run again in 2015, but he clearly wants his running mate for lieutenant governor, former Louisville mayor Jerry Abramson, to succeed him. That’s probably why he’s had Abramson spend so much time in Western Kentucky, so the urbanite and that politically pivotal region can get better acquainted — and Abramson can learn to like, or at least tolerate, talking about roads and coal.
David Williams, hopeless romantic, spent an hour on WFPL yesterday taking questions from people on telephones. Give it a listen here.
As you listen, you may want to check out Sonka’s review of the episode and the ensuing dust-up between Williams and knives-out Tea Party marauder David Adams who all of a sudden seems dead set on driving even more votes away from little bullied David Williams. Here’s a Sonka preview but read it all for all its glory:
The first half of the show was rather cordial, as he detailed why it’s necessary to end busing in Jefferson County, for the kiddies’ own good.
Then, a caller said that Williams — when it came to his policies on education and taxes — was “full of crap.” That’s the point where Williams started to turn a little green.
The next caller criticized him as a shill for the coal industry. Williams rebutted him, saying “sir, if you’ll look at the contribution records, Steve Beshear is the one that’s received more money from the coal industries and the coal operators. You have selective memory.”
David Williams is 100 percent correct, the caller does have selective memory, and Beshear is the preferred candidate of King Coal to continue polluting Kentucky’s air and water with fewer restrictions, at the cost of the health of Kentuckians.
LEO’s Sonka reports Kentucky Tea Party guru and mastermind behind Rand Paul’s primary victory, David Adams, has directed the Tea Party forces against the state’s Republican Party in an exercies in reality:
Last Chance to Save November
There are several reasons David Williams won’t be elected Governor of Kentucky in November. Voting nine times with Steve Beshear to “balance” the state budget with debt and federal stimulus funds rank high on the list. Dramatically increasing his own pension and then playing dumb when he was called on it didn’t help matters either.
We can waste time arguing about how we got into such a mess, but the fact is we are here. Republican establishment types like to talk about party loyalty at times like this, but how loyal is it to the party and its principles to lose all the down-ticket races trying to prop up a gubernatorial candidate whose fate is so clearly sealed?
Please contact Republican Party of Kentucky leadership and ask them to face reality before it is too late.
Trailing badly in the polls, Republican David Williams said Monday that a decade of bad press has hurt his campaign for the state’s top office.
In an interview with the Herald-Leader’s editorial board, the Republican nominee for governor said he has been portrayed unfairly as a bully by the media.
Yes… the media has bullied David Williams into submission and, soon, a really embarrassing loss at the polls.
What? You don’t believe him? Here’s proof — Goodies bullying poor David Williams nearly to tears:
The new poll puts Beshear at 57% and Williams at 26% which some quick math show leaves 17% for neither one of them — is that 17% in the Gatwood camp? Will he surge past Williams? No… no, probably not as according to the poll, Gatewood’s pulling less than half that 17%. So it goes:
Kentucky Democrats are really responding positively to their environment-poisoning governor. Much respect to you all.
As Joe reported earlier, Steve Beshear put out a press release yesterday after meeting the President of the United States and giving POTUS a piece of his mind.
Let’s consider some highlights:
The Governor asked the President to work with Congress to immediately authorize federal emergency funds to repair the Sherman Minton Bridge….
“I called on the President to expedite funding for repairs to keep our families working, and reminded him that deteriorating infrastructure is just one more example of what happens when Washington keeps playing partisan games and ignores the real needs of citizens. We cannot afford to keep delaying repairs that stymie economic growth.”
Again, as Joe points out, the very notion of Steve Beshear “calling” on President Obama to “expedite” anything is ridiculous, and the fact that Steve Beshear then goes on to claim that he “reminded” the President about the danger of “partisan games” is just Steve’s latest embarrassment to all Kentucky Democrats.
And if you’re one of those Democrats who reads this blog and, on posts like this, shakes your head and wishes we’d shut up and get off the Governor’s back… well, tough luck. Make your excuses for this:
The Governor also reminded the President that the EPA’s continued and unexplained shifting of regulations regarding coal mining jeopardizes thousands of Kentucky jobs and causes detrimental ripple effects in other state job sectors – especially manufacturing.
“Coal is not only a vital national resource, but coal mining also supports thousands of Kentucky families,” said Gov. Beshear. “These arbitrary changes in EPA guidelines cause unnecessary and costly delays in permitting, which compromise jobs and investments. It’s time for the EPA to end these unpredictable policy swings and work with us on a reasonable policy that protects our families.”
Riiight.
So Governor Beshear “reminded” the President about the EPA’s “unexplained” regulations (“They’re not unexplained, you idiot,” you can almost hear the President responding) and the thousands of Kentucky lives… oh what’s the point?
Why keep up this charade?
Why is Steve Beshear even trying to lie about this?
How much time did it take you to read all that? How much time would it take you to tell the President he needs to take infrastructure investments seriously and that he needs to do something about the economy and, oh yeah, “why are you trying to destroy Kentucky? GET OFF OUR BACKS?”
According to the White House Press pool reports:
Air Force One touched down in Cincinnati at 2:11PM
The President left the plane 10 minutes later (2:21PM)
Waiting at the base of steps, the President was greeted by three men — Steve Beshear, Covington Mayor Denny Bowman and Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory
The President “shook hands and chatted briefly with each before heading off to work the rope line.”
The President took the stage in downtown Cincinnati at 2:55PM
Let’s say the drive from the airport to the event took 15-20 minutes… the Pool reports the motorcade slowed considerably as they crossed the bridge into Cincinnati. Let’s say, also, that the President had maybe five minutes between actually arriving at the site and then taking the stage.
That means, roughly speaking, there was 9 minutes between President Obama walking down the steps from Air Force One and departing the airport.
In that 9 minutes, the President of the United States has to work a rope line and have three full blown conversations… giving Beshear, hmm… about 1:30 to maybe two minutes to cram all this information in:
1) Insult the President’s intelligence;
2) Tell him how important infrastructure is even though he’s been talking about it for weeks;
3) Insinuate he’s not taking it seriously;
4) Accuse him of playing partisan politics;
5) Get in POTUS’s face and yell about the EPA;
6) Call regultaions “unexplained” and “arbitrary”
7) Finally, drone on about a bunch of stuff that doesn’t address the environmental, health or true economic impacts of Coal.
Maybe it happened.
Maybe Steve Beshear actually said all that.
Maybe.
Maybe he’s been taking speech lessons:
Or… maybe he’s, how can we put this… stretching the truth.
Should we just give him a break? Should we just take his word for it?
Sure… some might suggest we just shut up and support the governor.
SHE WON'T GO!
KentuckyElection.org
BONNIE PRINCE BILLY
