Despite brashness, Bunning still a hero in Ky.

By ROGER ALFORD, Associated Press Writer Roger Alford, Associated Press Writer – 9 mins ago

Democrats bemoaned Bunning as unsympathetic to down-on-their-luck Americans when he single-handedly held up a $10 billion spending bill that had money for jobless benefits. He‘s not popular among Republican senators, either — including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky — who worked to dry up the brash lawmaker‘s fundraising so he‘d have no choice but to drop out of his re-election campaign.

"Jim Bunning has been right more than he‘s been wrong," said Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson, a Republican who thinks of Bunning as his mentor. "And history will show that he, more than anyone else, predicted some of the economic problems we‘re having now and worked to try to prevent them."

But given the change in political mood, Alecia Webb-Edgington — who helped organize the dinner — believes Bunning might have been written off too quickly.

Grayson, who is running for the Senate seat, called Bunning "a Hall of Famer in baseball, politics and life."

And, last year, he apologized again after he predicted Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, would be dead within a year.

Davis said Bunning stood alone against the "hatred and vitriol" of the liberal media and liberal Democrats when he stalled the spending bill a few weeks ago.

Bunning sat quietly beside his wife of 58 years, Mary, while a video tribute played on huge screens and supporters wiped tears.

Bunning made only a passing reference to his action on the spending bill, saying "I‘m extremely worried about the condition of the United States of America presently. You cannot keep charging things to the national credit card."

That move exposed Bunning to widespread ridicule. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said: "I don‘t know how you negotiate with the irrational."

Bunning also became fodder for late-night comedians, with Jon Stewart of Comedy Central‘s "The Daily Show" calling Bunning a "cranky obstructionist" and joking that he is "leaving the Senate to spend more time obstructing his family‘s progress."

However, Webb-Edgington said supporters saw Bunning‘s action as heroic because he took a stand against adding to the deficit.

"He flies the flag for the Republican party," she said.

Ryan Quarles of Georgetown, a law student at the University of Kentucky, credited Bunning with reinvigorating fiscal conservatives in the Republican Party with his stand on deficit spending.

"At some point, a line had to be drawn on spending," Quarles said. "Sen. Bunning had the courage to draw that line."



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