RSI Endorses Jack Conway

I haven't exactly been brimming with enthusiasm about the Democratic primaries for the U. S. Senate seat currently held by right-wing bully Jim Bunning.

In a typical pattern for cowardly Democratic politicians in Kentucky, attractive candidates like Ben Chandler and Crit Luallen decided that running was too risky and chose to stay in their current positions. That left a not-particularly-compelling primary between Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo and Attorney General Jack Conway. Mongiardo is a relatively weak campaigner who should have beaten Bunning in 2004. So I've never been excited about him. But Conway comes off as a blow-dried politician who doesn't have much going for him other than being good-looking--sort of the Democratic version of Republican candidate Trey Grayson.

But I've decided to go with Conway.

Today's Lexington Herald-Leader has an article on how all the Senate candidates are fawning over the coal industry. In a way that makes sense. Coal is a major industry in Kentucky. But the coal companies are also some of the most predatory corporations out there--sort of a smaller scale version of Goldman Sachs and the financial sector. So, the support for coal among Kentucky politicians is pretty nauseating even though it's the "Kentucky patriotic" thing to do.

But Mongiardo takes the cake. The most egregious environmental crime of the coal companies is mountain top removal--a mining practice that removes entire hills to get at the underground coal seams. Mongiardo's tag line: "it's not mountaintop removal; it's mountaintop development."

Screw that. I'm endorsing Conway.