West Kentucky is genuinely one of the most pleasant regions in these United States – wide open spaces, recreational opportunities to the nth degree, some of the finest people you’ll find anywhere, not to mention its status as the buckle on the mouth-watering BBQ belt.
It’s a wonderland.
So how is it possible in God’s green earth that these fine folks persist in sending a cancerous stooge, Rep. Jamie Comer, to represent their interests in Washington?
West Kentucky forms the base of the First Congressional District, although the state legislature, in its never-ending search for political leverage regardless of logic, has seen fit to stretch its boundaries all the way from the Mississippi River to the state capital in Frankfort, some 250 miles distant. Once the home of Yellow Dog Democrats, the First has turned MAGA in a big way.
Comer, a Republican from Frankfort or Tompkinsville or wherever he claims to reside these days, is not only an embarrassment to Kentucky, he has managed, from his spot as chair of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, to drench himself in shame from Maine to California.
Now, we’ve had a lot of fun with this dope for the past three-and-a-half years as he gorged on self-importance, pursuing a laughable impeachment inquiry into President Biden that attracted nothing but ridicule, and deservedly so. He was belittled throughout the process (which went nowhere), emerging as a walking, talking punchline.
But the joke doesn’t end there. With the election heating up, Comer has opted to transform his congressional panel into an arm of the Republican National Committee. And he doesn’t even have the good sense to try and hide it.
This month alone, Comer’s committee has conducted a hearing entitled, “A Legacy of Incompetence: Consequences of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Policy Failures,’’ with Comer introducing the topic by saying, “Everything Joe Biden and Kamala Harris has touched has failed.”
So much for a serious inquiry on the issues. The RNC couldn’t have said it better.
The session offered the thoughts of various Trump apparatchiks while failing to note, as related by ranking member Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), aka The Smart Jamie, who said, “The Biden-Harris Administration has restored America’s place as a global leader and led an economic recovery that is the envy of the rest of the world.”
The panel is also working to tie Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democrats’ presidential nominee, to ongoing issues at the Mexican border, threatening to subpoena documents from U.S. Customs and Border Protection regarding her tenure as Border Czar – a title she never held. And Comer is investigating reports of illicit financial activity related to contributions to online political fundraising platforms like ActBlue, a pro-Democratic group.
All of this, obviously, has been undertaken to enhance Republican chances and undermine Democratic efforts in the November election, constituting an abuse of the committee system which undoubtedly will go unpunished by majority Republicans.
It also aids our boy Jamie’s political aspirations. The nudnik is expected in some quarters to seek the GOP nomination for governor in 2027 (God save the commonwealth) and leading the charge against Democratic interests will certainly boost his status with GOP donors.
Comer’s most recent hit job arrived this week when Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky visited a Pennsylvania munitions factory to express thanks for aiding his country in its ongoing war with Russia, an endeavor that has drawn support from the Biden administration. Zelensky took the opportunity to speak critically about Donald J. Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, who has refused to even say if he supports Ukraine in its effort to fend off Russian invaders.
“Because the Biden-Harris Administration orchestrated and used government resources to make possible this apparent campaign event that resulted in the potential interference in a federal election, the Committee seeks information from the White House and Biden-Harris Administration,” Comer said.
The claim drew a strong rebuke from Raskin, who asserted that Comer “just soldiers on with yet more Kremlin talking points.”
“Eager to keep using the Committee as a tool for Trump’s floundering campaign, Chairman Comer, fresh from humiliating himself and his Republican colleagues with the laughingstock failure of his impeachment campaign against President Biden, is once again serving up a meaningless investigation tinged with Russian propaganda,” Raskin said.
“The only media even following Chairman Comer’s embarrassing contortions now are Fox News and Russia’s state-owned propaganda outlets, RT and Sputnik, which faithfully and generously quote and cite Comer’s pathetic statements,” Raskin added.
Our boy Jamie, reacting to news that Harris, a former prosecutor and California attorney general, owns a gun, is calling on her to identify the make and model, which frankly is none of his damn business.
But the piece de resistance involves Comer’s gratuitous attacks on Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic nominee for vice president, who maintains a long-held interest in the history and culture of China, a nation he has visited about 30 times. Comer is afraid this attraction has rendered Walz into some kind of foreign agent working for the Chinese Communist Party and has requested documents from the FBI. The agency has, thus far, refused to comply.
“The FBI’s silence regarding Mr. Walz’s documented relations with CCP affiliates is inexcusable,” Comer said. “The Committee must understand the full extent of Mr. Walz’s ties to the CCP.”
Whatever.
If it ended there the whole affair could be tossed into the Jamie-being-stupid-again garbage pail of history and everyone could have a good giggle at the moron’s expense. But of course, it didn’t.
Appearing Sept. 20 on the Fox Business network, one of the right-wing outfits that still has the stomach to offer him time, Comer said, “It’s very questionable what Tim Walz’s times with China are. And we want to know what the FBI has on him.”
You know, the usual Jamie horse manure. But then Comer offered more brilliant analysis after viewing a tape of Walz, his wife, and two children at a rally.
“Yeah, that’s a scary family there,” Comer said. “I mean, you know, it looks like the kind of family that’s been indoctrinated and there’s a better way to do business. And, you know, some of the things the Walzes have said about China, their affection for China, that’s very concerning to me because we do not want to set our business model like China’s.”
Now, take a moment and consider this nitwit, who represents more than 750,000 people, went on national television and attacked, without cause, an entire family he knows nothing about. The Walzes have been married for 30 years and have two children, a boy and a girl, and the son has some emotional issues. That, in Comer’s mind, constitutes scary.
It’s one thing to attack a candidate of the opposing party. It’s another thing to attack that candidate’s family. And what, exactly, does a “family that’s been indoctrinated” look like? What they present is what used to be called the “nuclear family,” which is not by any definition abnormal.
So, the good and earthy people of West Kentucky are going to head for the polls on Nov. 2 and, in all likelihood, cast their votes for a charlatan, a doofus, who thinks it’s proper to attack the family of a candidate of an opposing party. It’s not really a question of Democrat or Republican, left-wing or right-wing. West Kentucky is, and always has been, conservative territory and can be counted on to send a like-minded candidate to Washington. It’s a question of moral and immoral, fair and foul. Comer comes down on the wrong side of the ledger.
It should be noted, to be fair, they have little choice. The Kentucky Democratic Party has devolved into almost as big a joke as Comer himself. The once robust political organization couldn’t even come up with a suitable candidate to challenge this amoral thug. Erin Marshall, sources in West Kentucky tell me, is a very nice, smart person filling the role, but she’s overwhelmingly inexperienced, appears at events with no staff, and doesn’t possess the financial wherewithal to produce anything approaching a decent campaign.
That’s the party’s fault, and the folks in the First pay the price.
And the media isn’t helping.
On Wednesday, I received a bulletin on my Smartphone from the once powerful Courier Journal of Louisville under the dramatic heading, “Top Stories.” The announcement read, “New East End Popeyes location reveals when it will open. What we know.”
We know three things: Popeye’s makes a good chicken sandwich, spicy is better than regular, and the Commonwealth’s traditional journalism outlets have lost their way and let the public down.
With the exception of the CJ’s always dynamic Joe Gerth and maybe a couple others, there’s no reporter in the state who has displayed the unction to take on the likes of a sneering nobody like Jamie Comer. The Courier used to have reporters, folks like my dear friend Tom Loftus, Debby Yetter, Al Cross, Bob Johnson, and others, including my old pal Jack Brammer at the Lexington Herald-Leader, who weren’t afraid to fold back the curtain on those failing the Commonwealth.
But those days are gone and, as Bruce Springsteen said, “they ain’t comin’ back.”
Things have changed in West Kentucky as well. The First District was once represented by the venerable Alben Barkley, of Lowes, who went on to the Senate, attained the position of Democratic leader, and eventually served as President Harry Truman’s vice president.
Easy to tell the difference between now and then.
Of course, to be fair to Comer, the district was also represented for 18 years by Carroll Hubbard, of Mayfield, who got caught up in the House banking scandal and served two years in the can for campaign finance violations.
That’s more like it.
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Written by Bill Straub, a member of the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame. Cross-posted from the Northern Kentucky Tribune.
