"Bunning unaware of Iraq story "...from an email I received from Mongiardo

[in_cog_ni_to]

Bunning had never heard about the soldiers in Iraq who refused to deliver the fuel!! Good grief! HE GETS HIS NEWS FROM FAUX NEWS!!!!!


Make sure to read this morning's news stories below. Jim Bunning is on the ropes, and Daniel's grassroots campaign is gaining national attention. You can also catch Daniel's appearance on KET on C-SPAN2 at 11 pm EST tonight. Help us keep it going. Contribute today!

Bunning unaware of Iraq story
Soldiers balked at order, cited armor
By Tom Loftus
The Courier-Journal

U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning said yesterday that he was unaware of reports that a unit of Army Reserve soldiers in Iraq had refused an order to deliver fuel for reasons including that their trucks were lightly armored.

"I don't know anything about that," Bunning said during a news conference after a speech he gave to the Rotary Club of Louisville.

Bunning added that Congress had approved money to upgrade body and vehicle armor. "And I believe that has all been accomplished. And I don't know about your reservists," he said. "Unfortunately, we've had some reports, but I don't know the one you're specifically talking about."

When reporters told him that the unit's refusal was a national news story and involved a soldier from Louisville, Bunning said, "Let me explain something: I don't watch the national news, and I don't read the paper. I haven't done that for the last six weeks. I watch Fox News to get my information."

Told that Fox News broadcast the report, Bunning said, "Not the times I watched it. So the fact that somebody was from Louisville, I know about that."

Bunning's opponent in the Nov. 2 election, Democratic state Sen. Daniel Mongiardo, said Bunning's comment was "another indication of how he's just simply out of touch."

Asked what he knew about the reservist report, Mongiardo said, "I don't have all of the information, but I do know that that route was a very dangerous route, that that route was attacked 75 percent of the time and that they felt they were at risk of being attacked without the equipment they need."

At least 17 platoon members refused to transport supplies. Some of their families said commanders did not heed complaints that the unit was hauling contaminated fuel and that vehicles were in poor working order and not sufficiently armored, The Associated Press reported.

Bunning's remarks to reporters came after he spoke to the Rotary Club at the Galt House. He ended his speech trying to dispel rumors about his fitness for a second term and his intention to remain in office if elected.

"Well, take a look," he said. "I'm here. I'm functioning. I have no mental reservations about what I've said. My health is good. And I fully intend to run through the finish line on Nov. 2."

No second debate

In his speech, Bunning talked about Congress' accomplishments, including his support of the war and passage of the buyout for tobacco growers and Medicare prescription benefit.

Bunning said, "I have been to Iraq, and I can tell you first hand that our troops are doing a spectacular job over there under the harshest, harshest conditions you could imagine."

Three questions from the audience dealt with his decision to debate Mongiardo only once — a debate Bunning took part in via satellite because he was in Washington for Senate votes.

Bunning said that former U.S. Sen. Wendell Ford, a Democrat, declined to debate opponents in his re-election campaigns. "I don't have any time to debate Sen. Mongiardo. I have a campaign to run, and I'm trying to do that to the best of my ability."

Later yesterday at a news conference at Coleridge-Taylor Elementary School in Louisville, Mongiardo said both candidates were invited to debate on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday.

Mongiardo said he agreed, but Bunning refused. Betsy Fischer, executive producer of "Meet the Press," confirmed Bunning declined the invitation.

Mongiardo said Bunning's decision to not appear shows "he wants to hide from his record."

Mongiardo was in Louisville to release his plan to expand health care for children.

Late yesterday, Bunning's campaign manager, David Young, released a statement explaining Bunning's decision.

"The race is in Kentucky, not Washington, D.C. Instead, Sen. Bunning will be going to church with his family and he's also ramping up for his statewide victory 2004 bus tour next week of 25 counties," the statement said.

Dirty campaign alleged

Bunning told reporters after his speech that Mongiardo and Democrats are spreading inaccurate rumors about his health by using a "push poll."

In a push poll, voters are asked to take part in a poll, but the actual reason for the call is to plant an idea in their minds.

Bunning said 35 to 40 Kentuckians told his campaign they were contacted in the push poll, which he said asked, "Did you hear that Jim Bunning is mentally incompetent to run for the U.S. Senate?"

Bunning said this shows Mongiardo is running "about as dirty a campaign that I've ever been in. Unbelievably low."

Bunning's campaign did not return calls seeking further details about his allegation.

Mongiardo said his campaign is not doing such a poll, and he's unaware of any group that is.

"It very well may the dirtiest campaign he's been involved in," Mongiardo said. "But these allegations are yet another in a long list of false allegations."

Bunning was introduced to the Rotarians yesterday by U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell. He said he agreed to introduce his fellow Republican, a former major league pitcher, to testify to his fitness for another six-year term.

McConnell said not to believe suggestions "that the tall right-hander is somehow not up to a full nine innings or is losing his stuff."

McConnell said, "I'm here today to tell you that the last thing you want to do is to turn this job over to some lefty who's been playing over in the minor leagues over in Frankfort."

Ky. race turns as whispers grow louder

By Andrea Stone, USA TODAY

LOUISVILLE — Jim Bunning stepped up to a Rotary Club lectern here Thursday to notch a save in a campaign that was on no one's lineup card of competitive Senate races a few weeks ago. But thanks to growing speculation about his mental fitness, Kentucky now has one of the more interesting campaigns in the country.

"Reports of my demise are greatly exaggerated," the one-term Republican senator said. "I can still walk, talk and chew gum at the same time."

But can the Hall of Fame pitcher, who turns 73 Saturday, dispel talk in the state that he may not be up to the job? Such whispers have gotten louder in recent weeks as news media in Kentucky and beyond have pointed to a series of odd statements and actions by Bunning.

"Absurd," says Bunning's Kentucky colleague, Senate Majority Whip Mitch McConnell. "To suggest that the tall right-hander is somehow not up to a full nine innings or is losing his stuff, well, I'm here to tell you that the last thing you want to do would be to turn this job over to some lefty who's been playing in the minor leagues over in Frankfort."

That would be Democrat Daniel Mongiardo, 44, a two-term state legislator and surgeon from the state's coal mining region. The grandson of Italian immigrants who settled in Appalachia a century ago, he became the Democratic candidate after a scandal sidelined former governor Paul Patton.

Bunning caused a stir last spring when he told a GOP gathering that Mongiardo, who has dark hair and is olive-skinned, looked and dressed like one of Saddam Hussein's sons. He apologized last week, but the damage was already done. Mongiardo accuses Bunning of a "negative smear campaign to make me look like a foreigner. I was born on the Fourth of July in Hazard, Kentucky. You can't get more American."

This summer Bunning, whose prickly personality often puts him at odds with reporters, told a Paducah TV station that he needed a large police detail to protect him from a possible al-Qaeda attack. "There may be strangers among us," he said.

And two months after attending a popular political gathering, he accused Mongiardo's staff of roughing up his wife, Mary, there. He said she was jostled "black and blue." Mongiardo denied the charge.

Mongiardo's fortunes finally changed last week, when Bunning refused to debate him in Kentucky. In Washington for a tobacco-related vote, Bunning balked at rescheduling the debate and insisted on being beamed by satellite from a Republican National Committee TV studio. Bunning later admitted to using a teleprompter for his prepared statements. Mongiardo called that "cheating."

The controversy has forced Bunning to bring what some call his "stealth" campaign into the open. He has released letters from two doctors attesting to his physical health; they do not address his mental well-being. He begins a five-day bus trip across the state Monday.

The debate proved a turning point in the campaign. A new poll by Survey USA for Kentucky TV stations still finds Bunning ahead, 53% to 39%. But it was conducted before he skipped another televised debate Tuesday and declined to appear with Mongiardo on NBC's Meet the Press.

Doubts about Bunning have created a buzz around Mongiardo. Until now, his lonely campaign has been a 100,000-mile odyssey crisscrossing the state in his Chevy Suburban. The sport-utility vehicle is a jumble of empty Dr Pepper bottles with a clothes rack across the back. An avid hunter who practices goose calls between campaign stops, Mongiardo says he has conservative "Kentucky values" that appeal across party lines.

Mongiardo remains an underdog. As of Sept. 30, Bunning had raised more than $6.3 million to Mongiardo's $1.7 million. And President Bush leads by double digits here. Although there are 600,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans, Kentucky has drifted along with other southern states to the right. Voters often reject Democrats over issues like gay marriage, school prayer, abortion and guns.

But in an editorial Sunday, The (Louisville) Courier-Journal, the state's largest newspaper, questioned Bunning's competence. "Is he, as he ages, just becoming a more concentrated version of himself: more arrogant, more prickly?" the paper wrote. "Or is his increasing belligerence an indication of something worse? Has Sen. Bunning drifted into territory that indicates a serious health concern?" The newspaper, which is owned by Gannett, USA TODAY's publisher, endorsed Mongiardo.

Bunning's Rotary Club speech here was aimed at driving any doubts from voters' minds. Although he referred to notes often during the speech, he appeared lucid during a question-and-answer period.

But speaking to reporters later, Bunning reinforced an image among some that he is out of touch when he didn't seem to know about the Army reservists in Iraq who recently refused to go on a convoy mission. "Uh, what are you talking about? I don't know what you are talking about," Bunning replied to a question. When told the story had been in the news for more than a week, he said, "I don't watch the news. And I have not read a newspaper in over six weeks. When I do watch some TV news, I watch Fox."

Bunning called it "as dirty a campaign as I've seen" and said it's "unbelievable to challenge somebody's health and competency, when anyone who is here can see that I'm sharp, healthy and mentally awake."

Bunning, press will not meet after all

By CASEY EHMSEN
Elizabethtown News-Enterprise

Sen. Jim Bunning turned down a nationally televised debate with Democratic challenger Daniel Mongiardo Thursday.

Staff from the Bunning campaign contacted producers from NBC's "Meet the Press" Thursday to decline their offer to debate Mongiardo on the show this Sunday.

David Young, Bunning's campaign manager, said Bunning rejected the offer because the race, which has drawn closer since Bunning opened up a wide lead over the summer, should be confined to Kentucky.

"The race is in Kentucky, not Washington, D.C. Instead, Sen. Bunning will be going to church with his family, and he's also ramping up for his statewide Victory 2004 bus tour next week of 25 counties," Young said.

The decision brought sharp criticism Thursday from his opponent, who said Kentuckians need a senator who is "not afraid to debate the issues."

"It's sad that Sen. Bunning continues to hide behind a million-dollar ad campaign," said Mongiardo, who accepted the "Meet the Press" offer Wednesday. "Kentucky families need a senator who will fight for them, not one afraid to debate the issues."

Mongiardo, a Democratic state senator from Hazard, has openly criticized Bunning for avoiding face-to-face debates. Besides one taped televised debate that aired last week — for which Bunning imposed strict restrictions — the candidates have not debated openly. Bunning also declined to appear for a KET taping Tuesday.

Bunning's reluctance to meet his opponent publicly has fueled rumors that his health is declining, a charge Bunning strongly denies. He has released letters from two doctors vouching for his health.

"Meet the Press" producers contacted both candidates Tuesday and asked them to appear for a segment on this Sunday's hourlong program. The show, which airs at 10 a.m. Sundays and is rebroadcast during the week on CNBC and MSNBC, has highlighted highly contested U.S. Senate races in South Carolina, Oklahoma and Colorado since the start of October.

Betsy Fischer, the show's executive producer, said the only other Senate candidates to decline an invitation to appear on the show were from Alaska. They turned down the offer because of the distance to Washington, Fischer said.

Fischer said "Meet the Press" would not interview Mongiardo without Bunning.

"Meet the Press" is typically viewed in 4,000-5,000 households weekly in the Louisville market, said Steve York, assistant news director for NBC's Louisville affiliate, WAVE 3.

The station didn't expect to draw many more viewers if Bunning had agreed to debate Mongiardo, York said.

"I don't know that it makes a whole lot of difference," York said. "‘Meet the Press' has a loyal viewership. If it were well known that Bunning and Mongiardo would be on there, we might get a little bit of a (ratings) bump. With the controversy, we might get a little bit more."

A Bluegrass State Poll by The Courier-Journal last month showed Bunning with a double-digit lead. Mongiardo, however, said a poll of 503 likely voters conducted by Garin-Hart-Yang Research between Oct. 15-17 shows the candidates tied at 43 percent.


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[rocktivity]

1. Didn't he debate from a remote location with a teleprompter?

And if he's the former baseball pitcher, was he ever beaned or or hit in the head with a line drive?

:headbang:
rocknation