The Jim Bunning episode seems to have been a bridge too far even for Republicans. Harry Reid essentially left the situation to Mitch McConnell, the man who’d forced Bunning into retirement. Awkward!
Faced with bad press, even ridicule — from inside the Beltway! — McConnell had no choice but to lean on Bunning with whatever leverage he might have, months after essentially firing the guy.
So what did Bunning do? Put a blanket hold on Obama’s nominees. The Bunning breakdown continues: if he cannot run for re-election, he will do all the damage he can possibly do on the way out. He’s throwing wild pitches and there’s little McConnell can do to control him.
Who said Republicans were smart?
Time’s Joe Klein suggests that Bunning will attract more attention to the obstructionist tactics fostered by some in the Republican party, forcing Republicans to either openly embrace or finally abandon the procedural blocks. “Let’s call the roll. Let’s see how many allies Jim Bunning and Jon Kyl have. Let’s find out their names and remember them. This is so important that we should stop all other business: Let them filibuster…and spend hours telling us exactly what else they would abolish.”
Bunning has become a loose cannon on deck — and obstructionism has jumped the shark, even for the village. Pass. The. Popcorn.
Furthermore, let the record indicate that Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader, has turned down his last life preserver on health care reform. The party of no is sinking into reconciliation. They can try calling it “the nuclear option,” but if reconciliation bills square with the Senate rules (and given the history of Republicans using reconciliation, they will) then there’s no room to complain. After all, there’s nothing in the Constitution about filibusters, is there?
I think we’ll look back on the Bunning breakdown as the beginning of the end for Mitch McConnell as minority leader. He’s engineered an epic fail. If he’s still in the job come January 2011, it will be a sign the GOP really has lost its mind.
