When Your Fastball is Gone

Tonight I heard a speech by Sen. Jim Bunning at the annual meeting of the Kentucky Political Science Association in my hometown of Morehead, KY. Bunning was a Hall of Fame pitcher for the Tigers, Phillies, Pirates, and Dodgers who went into Kentucky politics when he lost his fastball and served on the local and state level before moving to the House of Representatives and then the Senate.

Bunning's far from being a political Hall of Famer, but he also used to throw his share of high, hard ones in Kentucky politics as well. At age 75, however, the Senator has also lost his political fastball and barely survived a re-election campaign against a very obscure state senator in 2004. And tonight was more of the same.

So what do you get from washed up politicians?

In Bunning's case, it was bi-partisanship--a soft-headed helping of wishful thinking that everybody could just get together and solve the problems of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. He did everything but quote Rodney King.

I had planned to ask a couple of tough questions about the culture of corruption in Congress and the sexual orientation of Kentucky's other U. S. Senator.

But I changed my mind and got up to leave at the beginning of the Senator's second baseball story.

I'll save my punches for somebody who can fight back.