Thanks to The Hillbilly Report, we now have video:
Here's the statement released in response to Lunsford's candidacy announcement:Statement of Jonathan Miller on Possible Candidacy of Lunsford As I said, when I announced my campaign for Governor, this election is about one thing, plain and simple: do you want change, or more of the same? I’ve talked to people from all 120 Kentucky counties, and their answer is resoundingly clear: they want real change, and they want it now.
Unfortunately, the Democratic primary is looking like what Yogi Berra once described as “déjà vu all over again.” While the calendar reads 2007; it is beginning to look a lot like 2003. And it has a whole lot of people very concerned.
In the past 48 hours, my campaign has received hundreds of phone calls and e-mails about the prospects of Bruce Lunsford's possible entry into the Democratic primary.
Some of these people are longtime Democratic activists, the heart and soul of our party. Some of these people are the ones who are simply demanding real change. And some are the bedrock citizens of this state, many of whom are not involved in party politics at all, but who are horrified, or embarrassed, about what has happened to our state. What worries me most is that a large number of those concerned come from the new generation of Kentuckians, young people who have been so turned off by the attack politics as usual.
They have some important, vital questions, questions that need to be answered:
• They want to know if Bruce Lunsford will again spend millions of dollars of his own money to tear down fellow Democrats, and if unsuccessful, endorse the Republican nominee, as he did in 2003.
• They want to know why Bruce Lunsford headed up the Fletcher Blue Ribbon commission which was supposed to end “waste, fraud and abuse” but ended up giving us the opposite, and leaving us now with the merit-pay mess and the pardon scandal.
• They want to know if Bruce Lunsford again will quit the race if he is confronted with questions about his business.
• They want to know how he can be a candidate in the Democratic primary when he has put his money and his support behind both of the Republican candidates he supposedly wants to run against: Governor Fletcher, whom he worked for, and Former Congresswoman Anne Northup.
I do not have the answers to those questions. But that is why I wanted to make this statement today. I want to make it clear that I think these questions need to be asked and deserve to be answered. And at his official announcement tomorrow, I challenge Bruce Lunsford to answer these questions for the people of Kentucky.
If we want to turn around this state, we need to have a fair, open and honest debate. About their record, their beliefs, their values.
Last Friday some of you were there when I said I like my country music old-school, like Johnny Cash, and I like my football old-school: smash-mouth defense played outside in the cold on the grass. But Kentucky cannot afford any more old-school politics.
They want real change. They want a campaign that focuses on hope and opportunity, not fear and anger. They want a campaign that brings people together, not one that tears people apart. They want a campaign that appeals to the best in all of us, one that will rise above self-interest and cynical sound-bites, one that will lift us up, inspiring all of us to work together, with compassion for all, in order for Kentucky to reach its true potential. Today, I challenge Bruce Lunsford to join us in a campaign that all of Kentucky can be proud of.
I want to promise the state of Kentucky, the tough questions will be asked; we will have a full and honest debate about how to bring change to this state. And together, we will bring real change to Kentucky.
"Seeing Bruce Lunsford in the Democratic primary is like seeing Rick Pitino at a UK pep rally. He is welcome to attend, but he appears more than a little out of place.
"I have always said that this election is about a simple choice: do you want change, or more of the same. I fully expected Governor Fletcher to try and make the case for ‘staying the course’ with his administration. I did not expect to hear that case made by one of Fletcher’s own Republican appointees in the Democratic primary.
"I am told that Bruce made a public promise today, that he will not go negative this time around and that he will support the Democratic nominee. He said the same things in 2003. Then he ended up spending millions going negative, endorsing Republican Ernie Fletcher and even working as a political appointee in the Fletcher Administration.
"Though his record, like the record of his Governor Ernie Fletcher, is far from encouraging, I hope he will actually keep his promise this time."
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