Curbstomping makes Daily Show Moment of Zen

Last night's pre-debate curbstomping was featured as tonight's moment of zen at the end of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

Stomping doesn't play well in Kentucky...

Remember a guy named Christian Laettner?



I remember that Kentucky-Duke game all too well...

What Judd Apatow finds funny...

Judd Apatow recently edited a book compiled of what he thinks is funny.

Jewish Journal:

The 42-year-old Apatow is by turns wickedly hilarious, self-aware and a rapid-fire wordsmith in conversation; it’s what one might expect from the writer and director of “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” “Knocked Up” and “Funny People” and the producer of other hit raunch-fests-with-heart such as “Superbad” that often reflect his life and career. When the struggling young Jewish comic played by Seth Rogen in “Funny People” recounts how his parents’ bitter divorce forced him to “find the funny,” it could have been Apatow speaking. Hence the therapy sessions. And the content of his new anthology, “I Found This Funny” (McSweeney’s: $25), subtitled “My Favorite Pieces of Humor and Some That May Not Be Funny at All.”

The book — which includes short stories by Raymond Carver and Jonathan Franzen alongside work by Apatow, Jon Stewart and other comedians — benefits 826 National, the nonprofit tutoring, writing and publishing organization for students 6-18 headed by Dave Eggers. On Oct. 29, Apatow will conduct a reading at Book Soup and on Oct. 30 at Skylight Books. On the evening of Oct. 29, he and Eggers will co-host an 826 fundraiser (also his book release celebration) at the Writers Guild Theater, with music and comedy by Apatow’s mentor, Garry Shandling, as well as Randy Newman and others.[...]

Comedy is usually about obstacles and things going wrong while we attempt to figure life out or try to do good in the face of a dark world,” Apatow explained. “Two incredibly happy, well-adjusted people living a calm life is a fantastic thing, but it’s not something that provides any entertainment for the rest of us. It’s nice to know other people are struggling.It makes you think, ‘I’m not the only onewho feels this way — some people feel even worse,’ ” he said, laughing.

Apatow first read “The Conversion of the Jews” 10 years ago in the midst of “a Philip Roth kick.” He identified with the sensitive boy who turns the tables on dogmatic grown-ups by threatening to jump off his Hebrew- school building. “As an aspiring stand-up comedian at the age of 11, I certainly understood the concept of standing on a roof, flapping your arms, trying to get people’s attention,” he said.

Apatow grew up in Syosset, N.Y., with parents who were supportive of his stand-up ambitions but who eschewed religion. “My parents were atheists, and there was no talk of religion or spirituality whatsoever,” he said. “The only thing my mom and dad ever said was, ‘Nobody ever said life was fair.’ That’s about as spiritual as we got in my house. When I asked to be bar mitzvahed — probably just because I heard my friends were making a lot of money [through bar mitzvah gifts] — they refused to let me go to Hebrew school, but there was no reasoning behind it. They never sat me down and explained their philosophies, which certainly did more damage than they were aware of at the time.

“It left [me] spiritually lost because there was no conversation, pro or con, in terms of religion and spirituality. So other than going to a lot of bar mitzvahs and the occasional Passover dinner, there wasn’t any religion in the house. And that’s a very dark point of view. My parents weren’t agnostic; they never said, ‘I hope there’s something more happening.’ They said, ‘That’s it.’ ”

It was a scary vision of the world: “Terrible,” he said. “And I’ve spent a lot of my life trying to recover from it.”

Apatow’s obsession with comedians was part of that journey: “Comedy is a search for answers,” he explained. “If you’re not provided with any answers in another context, you look to people who have some thoughts about what it all means. ... But comedians are very dark people, so you don’t get a lot of light answers.”

In his introduction to “I Found This Funny,” Apatow describes how his adolescent reading consisted first of books on the Marx Brothers, whose anarchic upending of wealthy snobs leveled an unfair social playing field. Besides his comedy hero Steve Martin, he said, he “also enjoyed Lou Costello; he was a big weird nerdy guy who got into trouble while his friend was giving him a hard time and whacking him in the face every once in a while. ... I felt that way with my own friends; I was always the smaller one, hanging out with athletes, picked last for the teams, getting bossed around a bit, trying to stand up for myself, usually with terrible results.”[...]

“I’m still shocked that I’ve done well,” Apatow said of his adult success. He describes some of his commitment to charity work — which currently includes producing public service announcements for the emergency relief group American Jewish World Service — as “survivor’s guilt”: “There’s a part of me that is never comfortable with the fact that I’ve done well,” he said. “Comedy is driven by your pain, and it’s sort of weird that your pain leads to your job, which leads to being comfortable — and yet you’re never comfortable.”

Apatow’s own contribution to “I Found This Funny” is titled, “How I Got Kicked Out of High School,” a diary of the rise and fall of his television show, the critically lauded but all-too-quickly canceled “Freaks and Geeks.” The story opens as Shandling visits Apatow at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center after Apatow has had back surgery for severe pain caused, in part, by the stress of the demise of “Freaks.”

“Today I found myself wondering if I should create a really smart, hilarious show that just happens to be about hot models,” he wrote in one of the diary entries.

A decade later, Apatow has produced many of the highest-grossing film comedies in Hollywood, but, he said, he’s still evolving his take on things spiritual. He’s read a lot of Buddhist thought; he’s raising his two daughters with the understanding that religion is not necessarily predestined by one’s family history (his wife, the actress Leslie Mann, is not Jewish); and he is “not closed off” to reading more about Judaism.

When pressed now about what his Jewishness means to him, he said, “I don’t know if it’s specific to being Jewish, but there’s a certain neurosis mingled with a certain amount of warmth and instinct to do well by other people. Maybe everyone in the world feels that, but there’s a combination of humor and positive intentions that feels connected that. And a fair amount of pain,” he added, 10 minutes late to his therapy session. “And more guilt than you think is possible to hold in one human shell.”

Attacker give $2500 to Paul, Rand Paul won't apologize

The attacker, as Joe notes, gave $2,500 to the Rand Paul campaign. I'm calling on Rand Paul to return the money even though he likely won't since Rand Paul loves money from white supremacists as well.

Also, there's this thing that voters like. It's called class. I don't see Rand Paul openly apologizing to the victim.

Here's a statement from the Conway campaign:

"We are still waiting for Rand Paul to apologize to the victim of this attack. A boot stomp to the head of a woman is never appropriate, Rand should apologize to her, stop blaming others, and identify the others involved in this thuggish behavior and disassociate his campaign from them immediately."

Attorney General's Office refers State Police

Given Jack Conway's campaign contribution to the Greg Fischer for Mayor campaign, the Attorney General's office was wise to transfer the investigation to the Kentucky State Police so that they could look after the matter.

Robert Foster, commissioner of the AG’s Department of Criminal Investigations, wrote to both the state Republican and Democratic parties on Monday, saying the office was referring the matter to state police because of politics.

“Given that General Conway has contributed to the Fischer campaign and given that the Kentucky Democratic Party supports all Democratic candidates, including General Conway, in order to avoid the appearance of impropriety in this matter, we are referring both of these complaints to the Kentucky State Police for any action that it deems appropriate,” the letter says.

The Kentucky Republican Party last week requested Conway’s office appoint a special prosecutor to investigate independent candidate Jackie Green’s endorsement of Democrat Greg Fischer, after an e-mail from Green to his campaign staff surfaced that said Fischer “raised the issue of our team playing a role inside gov.”

It is unclear what Green meant to that. E-mails between Green and the Fischer campaign, also made public last week, say only that Green was offered “significant input” in the creation of an environmental office that Fischer would create as mayor.

Days after the GOP request, Democrats made a similar request when Louisville Metro Council President Tom Owen said that Heiner offered Tyler Allen “significant input” into transportation matters if Allen would endorse him. Allen is a former Democratic mayoral primary candidate, who was defeated by Fischer in May.

Matt Erwin, a spokesman for the Democratic Party, said having the state police take the lead in the investigations is fine with the party.

“If the AG decided another body should handle it, we’re satisfied with that situation,” Erwin said.

Yet even more...

Excerpts from the article that is hitting the AP wires...

"I'm sorry that it came to that, and I apologize if it appeared overly forceful, but I was concerned about Rand's safety," Tim Profitt told The Associated Press.

A judge will decide whether Profitt should face criminal charges.

Lauren Valle, the 23-year-old activist with the group MoveOn.org, said her face was swollen and her neck and shoulder were sore after she was wrestled to the ground by Paul supporters Monday night before a debate between the tea party favorite and Democrat Jack Conway.[...]

Paul's campaign dropped Profitt as campaign coordinator in Bourbon County in central Kentucky and banned him from future events.[...]

Paul campaign manager Jesse Benton said Profitt's actions were unacceptable and would not be tolerated.

"The Paul campaign has disassociated itself with the individual who took part in this incident, and once again urges all activists — on both sides — to remember that their political passions should never manifest themselves in physical altercations of any kind."

Paul's campaign called the altercation "incredibly unfortunate" and expressed relief that the woman was not injured.

Conway said he was shocked to see the video footage.

"We can disagree on issues, and I don't know what preceded the incident, but physical violence by a man against a woman must never be tolerated," Conway said in a statement. "It is my hope that steps have been taken to ensure this kind of thuggish behavior never happens again in this campaign."

Details from victim...

The Huffington Post has in-depth details from Lauren Valle on her recollection of the events.

I have been at a bunch of events before, the previous debate, and the Rand Paul campaign knows me and they have expressed their distaste for my work before. What happened last night was that about five minutes before Rand Paul's car arrived they identified me and my partner, Alex, who was with me. They surrounded me. There was five of them. They motioned to each other and got behind me. My partner Alex heard them say 'We are here to do crowd control we might have to take someone out.'

When Rand Paul's car arrived a couple of them stepped in front of me so I stepped off the curb to get around them to get back out front. At that point they started grabbing for me and I ran all the way around the car with them in pursuit. The footage is after I've run all the way around the car and I'm in front of the car and that is when they took me down. One or two people twisted my arms behind my back and took me down... It was about two-to-three seconds after that that another person stomped on my head. And I lay there for 20 seconds or so and my partner Alex came and got me up and that's the point where there is the media clip of me speaking.

Rand Paul supporter identified...

The Rand Paul supporter that stomped on a liberal activist last night before the KET debate between Jack Conway and Rand Paul has been identified as Tim Profitt, Rand Paul's campaign coordinator for Bourbon County.

Profitt spoke with the AP, I'm assuming today, but he made excuses about the camera angle. I've watched the video a few times and HE HAS NO EXCUSE:

Tim Profitt, a volunteer with the Republican's U.S. Senate campaign, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the camera angle made the scuffle Monday night appear worse that it was. He criticized police for not stepping in and says other supporters warned authorities about the activist.

If the campaign released a press statement, it should be on their website but it isn't.According to Joe, the Lexington Police Department is taking care of matters.

The Lexington Division of Police has identified a suspect in connection to the October 25, 2010 assault of a woman at 600 Cooper Drive.

On the 25th, at approximately 7:00p.m., officers were alerted to an active assault at 600 Cooper Drive (Kentucky Educational Television Studios).

Officers responded to the scene of the assault and made contact with the victim. She identified herself as a member of MoveOn.org and stated she was assaulted while attempting to take a picture with candidate Rand Paul. Division of Police patrol officers took an assault report and forwarded the case to the Division of Police Bureau of Investigation.

Today, October 26, 2010, detectives identified the suspect, involved in the assault, as Tim Profitt. Mr. Profitt is currently being served with a criminal summons ordering him to appear before a Fayette County District Court Judge.

Per Jake, she has had some previous history with having been charged a felony while working with Greenpeace.

Profitt made comments today but, umm, he goes on the defensive.

“The way she went after him it looked like something bad was getting ready to happen,” said Profitt, 53, of Bourbon County.

He said he put his foot on her shoulder, not her head. “I said, ‘Now you stay down,’ and called for police. The only thing we were trying to do was subdue her.”

He criticized police for not taking action after other supporters warned authorities about the activist.

Rand Paul supporters support domestic violence against women!!

In politics, there is this thing called thick skin. It's where you do not retaliate against someone, whether or not they are trying to incite you. I wasn't there so I don't know what happened but last night, Rand Paul's supporters took things into their own hand. I hope Rand Paul releases a statement because as of this very moment, by not doing anything, he silently supports domestic violence against women. That is wrong. Don't doctors, even self-certied opthamologists, take an oath that says to first do no harm?

RIP: Joseph Stein

Joseph Stein, a veteran of the Sid Caesar writing room and the writer that adapted Fiddler on the Roof into both an award-winning stage musical and motion picture, has died at the age of 98.

“Fiddler on the Roof,” based on Sholem Aleichem’s short stories about a Jewish milkman and his family who face terrifying change in a small Russian village in 1905, opened on Broadway in 1964. Sheldon Harnick’s lyrics and Jerry Bock’s score captured the high notes of the praise, but Mr. Stein’s book hardly went unnoticed.

“It goes beyond local color and lays bare in quick, moving strokes the sorrow of a people,” Howard Taubman wrote in his review in The New York Times, which also described the book as “marvelously right.”

Between memorable songs like “Sunrise, Sunset” and “If I Were a Rich Man,” Mr. Stein’s dialogue had its own kind of poetry. As Tevye’s daughter Hodel prepares to join her future husband in Siberia, she tells her father, “G-d alone knows when we shall see each other again.” He responds, “Then we will leave it in his hands.” And just before the show’s first big number, Tevye speaks to G-d: “I realize, of course, that it’s no shame to be poor, but it’s no great honor either.”

In 1965, the show won nine Tony Awards, including the one for best musical and Mr. Stein’s for best author of a musical. By 1971, when the production became Broadway’s longest-running musical (that record has since been broken several times), it had already been produced in 32 countries in 16 languages. The show closed the following year, but it has since been revived on Broadway four times, most recently in 2004.

Mr. Stein was already an old Broadway pro when “Fiddler” came along. Just the year before, he had won glowing reviews for his book of “Enter Laughing,” a comedy, based on a book by Carl Reiner, about a Jewish boy who wants to become an actor.[...]

Joseph Stein was born on May 30, 1912, in the Bronx, the son of Charles Stein, a handbag maker, and the former Emma Rosenblum. He received a bachelor’s degree from the City College of New York in 1934 and a master’s degree in social work from Columbia University in 1937.

Mr. Stein had a career as a social worker for several years before he happened to meet the comedian Zero Mostel through a mutual friend. Mr. Mostel mentioned that he was looking for comedy material for a radio show, Mr. Stein threw out an idea, and Mr. Mostel paid him $15 for it. His writing career had begun. (Mr. Mostel went on to play Tevye in the original Broadway production of “Fiddler.”)

In 1948, Mr. Stein made his Broadway writing debut, creating a single sketch with Mr. Glickman for “Lend an Ear,” a musical revue that starred Carol Channing and was choreographed by Gower Champion. And he became part of the writing staff of Sid Caesar’s classic 1950s comedy-variety series “Your Show of Shows.”

May he rest in peace.

Remembering the late Senator Paul Wellstone

Eight years ago today, we lost Senator Paul Wellstone, an iconic liberal that represented Minnesota. His loss was a tragedy not just for the United States Senate but for the people of Minnesota as well. At the time of his death, the Senate had yet to vote on the resolution to give the President the authorization to use force against Iraq.



We miss you, Senator, always and forever.

Mitch McConnell has ony ONE ITEM on his agenda

National Journal:

"The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president."

-- Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)

Yes, Christine O'Donnell is an idiot...

Christine O'Donnell is showing how ignorant she is when it comes to politics. First, she could not name a single Supreme Court decision that she disagreed with while debating her opponent. Now comes this story from Politico.

Delaware GOP Senate nominee Christine O’Donnell struggled to name a Democratic senator she could work with Wednesday, eventually settling on Joe Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut.[...]

Well, she's not a senator anymore, but I would definitely have to say Hillary Clinton,” O’Donnell said, noting that she respects Clinton’s rise in the political world as another female candidate.

Democrat Chris Coons shot back that his Republican opponent “literally cannot name a single currently serving senator in my party with whom she would work.”

O’Donnell then interrupted with a shout of “Lieberman,” who often aligns with Republicans and supported Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) during the 2008 presidential election.

I don't know how much further of an embarrassment O'Donnell can be.

Republicans, please stop lying about Health Care

NY Times Editorial:

Here are a few basic facts that Americans need to keep in mind before they go to the polls, and afterward. First, most aspects of the reform do not go into effect until 2014. Second, things are indeed bad out there: The costs of medical care and insurance premiums are (still) rising, and some employers are (still) dropping coverage. But for that, you should blame the long-standing health care crisis and the current bad economy. Health reform is supposed to help with these problems.[...]

WE CALL THAT CAPITALISM: Republican politicians never tire of denouncing health care reform as a “government takeover” — or socialism. What is true is that the law relies heavily on private insurers and employers to provide coverage. It also strengthens regulation of those insurers and provides government subsidies to help low- and middle-income people buy private insurance on the exchanges.

Those exchanges will promote greater competition among insurers and a better deal for consumers, which last time we checked was a fundamental of capitalism.[...]

WHAT ABOUT MY PREMIUMS? Some Republicans are also claiming that health reform is driving up premiums. There have been sharp increases in some states, primarily in response to soaring medical costs. Some insurers may also be trying to increase their profits before the reform law holds them in check. A few very welcome provisions that take effect early, like requiring insurers to cover preventive care without cost-sharing, will play a minor role in premium increases for next year.

Reform has also energized federal officials and many state regulators to challenge and force down big increases sought by insurers. The Justice Department just filed suit against Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Michigan for allegedly using its market power to drive up costs for its competitors and its own subscribers.[...]

WHAT THEY’RE NOT SAYING: Health care reform has already brought substantial benefits, mostly starting in late September. Insurers are now barred from dropping coverage after a beneficiary becomes sick. Dependents can stay on their parents’ policies until age 26. Insurers must cover preventive services and annual checkups without cost-sharing. Lifetime limits on how much insurance plans will pay for treatment are gone.

The major benefits start in 2014, when tens of millions of the uninsured will gain coverage through Medicaid or by buying private coverage — with government help for low- and middle-income Americans — on the new competitive exchanges. If you lose your job, you will no longer lose access to insurance. And with government help the coverage should be affordable.

Far too few Democrats are explaining this on the campaign trail. The barrage of attack ads are hard to push back against. But the voters need to know that health care reform will give all Americans real security.

Yarmuth and Lally debate at AJ

Congressman John Yarmuth and challenger Todd Lally attended a forum at AJ this afternoon.

The two candidates spent much of their allotted time outlining their positions and, in Yarmuth's case, defending his record, and they shied away from taking potshots at one another.

Lally, a United Parcel Service pilot and Kentucky Air National Guard officer, said the country is headed in the wrong direction with debt and unemployment that are way too high.

“We have to make a change. … It's time to do better,” he said.

Yarmuth, seeking his third term, said he was proud he had supported House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and his Democratic colleagues in raising the minimum wage, shoring up Medicare, improving benefits for veterans, making prescription drugs more affordable for seniors and lowering the interest rate on student loans.

On the passage of the health care reform bill, for which Yarmuth voted, Lally said the measure is unconstitutional, is detested by a large majority of Americans and is out of financial reach of many individuals and the country as a whole. But Yarmuth said the old health care system was facing bankruptcy, had left 50 million people without insurance and was “clearly unsustainable.”[...]

Yarmuth, however, who voted for the economic stimulus package, said President Barack Obama inherited a huge debt from the previous administration of Republican George W. Bush and the stimulus bill was a last resort to halt a sinking economy. He contended that, without stimulus spending, unemployment nationally would be around 16.5 percent.

“We brought the country back from the brink,” he said, adding that the stimulus program had created about 1,800 jobs in Jefferson County alone.

I was planning to attend the forum this afternoon but an unforseen scheduling conflict came up and I was unable to do so.

The Tea Party Movement: Seventy percent have not campaigned

This comes via The Washington Post as they gauge the scope of the movement that calls themself the tea party.

In an unruly, unpredictable and chaotic election year, no group has asserted its presence and demanded to be heard more forcefully than the tea party. The grass-roots movement that was spawned with a rant has gone on to upend the existing political order, reshaping the debate in Washington, defeating a number of prominent lawmakers and elevating a fresh cast of conservative stars.

But a new Washington Post canvass of hundreds of local tea party groups reveals a different sort of organization, one that is not so much a movement as a disparate band of vaguely connected gatherings that do surprisingly little to engage in the political process.

The results come from a months-long effort by The Post to contact every tea party group in the nation, an unprecedented attempt to understand the network of individuals and organizations at the heart of the nascent movement.

Seventy percent of the grass-roots groups said they have not participated in any political campaigning this year. As a whole, they have no official candidate slates, have not rallied behind any particular national leader, have little money on hand, and remain ambivalent about their goals and the political process in general.

Let me get this straight: SEVENTY PERCENT of the grassroots organizations have not participated in any political campaigning at all this year?!? Unbelievable. Going to rallies alone does not do anything in getting the vote out. One has to go door to door, make phone calls, etc. I'm calling the bluff right now. Let's continue on now, shall we.

The local groups stand in contrast to - and, in their minds, apart from - a handful of large national groups that claim the tea party label. Most of those outfits, including FreedomWorks and Tea Party Express, are headed by longtime political players who have used their resources and know-how to help elect a number of candidates.

The findings suggest that the breadth of the tea party may be inflated. The Atlanta-based Tea Party Patriots, for example, says it has a listing of more than 2,300 local groups, but The Post was unable to identify anywhere near that many, despite help from the organization and independent research.

In all, The Post identified more than 1,400 possible groups and was able to verify and reach 647 of them. Each answered a lengthy questionnaire about their beliefs, members and goals. The Post tried calling the others as many as six times. It is unclear whether they are just hard to reach or don't exist.

So it's not as large as the media makes the movement appear to be?

What are they so concerned with?

The most common responses were concerns about spending and limiting the size of government, but together those were named by less than half the groups. Social issues, such as same-sex marriage and abortion rights, did not register as concerns.

Social issues are not a concern?!? Say what?!? The biggest issues that DRIVE Republicans to the polls are being scared of Adam marrying Steve instead of Eve. Or Suzy killing her unborn child. I can't believe that the tea party movement does not care about social issues. It's a shock.

What goes on at this tea party meetings?

One question remains: If most tea party groups don't engage in political campaigning, what exactly do they do?

Lisante, from Miami County, Ohio, said his meetings generally start with the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by a prayer, and then a speaker and a skit - the most recent was about the bank bailout. (Lisante said it was very funny.) The point, he said, is not to organize political action but to educate members and encourage them to become active on their own.

"Basically, we say: 'Listen, guys: You can no longer be the one who doesn't vote,' " Lisante said. " 'If you want to have an impact, you've got to show up.' "

Political novices, indeed. You don't get the vote out like that. You have to make phone calls and go door to door.

Rand Paul is not good for Kentucky

Jim reminds us that "A Vote For Rand Paul Is A Vote For David Duke, Mark Williams And White Supremacist
."

Al Cross on the Conway-Paul campaign

Al Cross wrote about the latest events in today's C-J. Read in full here but excerpts follow:

Paul's first response ad asked, “What kind of shameful politician would stoop this low, to bear false witness against another man just to win an election?” Actually, nothing in Conway's spot appears to be false, and if anyone bore false witness last week, it was Paul.

In last Sunday's debate, amid some of the most sustained indignation ever seen on Kentucky political TV, Paul repeatedly said Conway “makes up stuff” about what Paul did at Baylor University. Later in the week, he started issuing broad denials, saying “None of what's been reported ever happened.”

Specifically, though, Paul has never denied belonging to a student group “that called the Holy Bible a hoax, that was banned for mocking Christianity,” as Conway's ad said. Two former group members confirmed that for The Courier-Journal, one saying Paul “flourished in … blasphemy.”[...]

In the debate, Paul said Conway's charge was based on “an anonymous source,” with information Conway “read on a blog.” In fact, The Washington Post and GQ magazine have both reported on interviews with the woman, saying she didn't want to be identified because she is a clinical psychologist.

Rand and Ron Paul keep strange company

All of it is very well-documented but go read and find out why Rand Paul has ties to bigots.

Courier-Journal endorses Jack Conway for Senate

The Courier-Journal endorsed Jack Conway for the United States Senate.

When Kentucky voters go to the polls Nov. 2, they will be casting a verdict on one of the most closely watched Senate races in the nation.

The Republican candidate, Rand Paul, a Bowling Green ophthalmologist, is widely viewed as a measuring stick of the appeal of the libertarian values of much of the tea party movement. His candidacy rests largely on voter discontent with the administration of President Obama, who fared poorly in the 2008 election in Kentucky. Republican strategists view a victory by Dr. Paul as almost essential if they are to capture a Senate majority.

The Democratic candidate, Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway of Louisville, supports the oft-maligned national health care reform, but has tried to distance himself from Mr. Obama. Instead, he has leaned more heavily on former President Bill Clinton, who has scheduled two Kentucky visits on his behalf. Some pundits and Democratic operatives view this Senate position, which became open when incumbent GOP Sen. Jim Bunning announced his retirement plans, as the only Republican seat in the country that might be captured by a Democrat.

While all of that is interesting and indeed significant, Kentucky voters should also look out for their own interests in the United States Senate. If they do, they will elect Mr. Conway, whose candidacy we enthusiastically endorse.

Unlike Dr. Paul, who has never held a government office, Mr. Conway already has a strong record of public service. As a senior adviser and a legal counsel under Gov. Paul Patton, Mr. Conway played a key policy-making role, including as an architect of the nationally acclaimed higher education reform law of 1997. In almost three years as attorney general, Mr. Conway has saved the state's taxpayers several hundred millions of dollars, fighting high Medicaid drug costs, unjustified utility rate hikes and price gouging by oil companies. He also saved money by not joining the right-wing lawsuit against health care reform, noting that it also could open legal challenges to Social Security and Medicare.[...]

However, there is much about Mr. Conway's platform to applaud. He has a sensible plan to save $430 billion over 10 years — that's not enough, but it's a good start — by allowing Medicare to negotiate bulk rates on prescription drugs, fighting Medicare fraud and abuse, and closing offshore tax shelters and loopholes. He proposes a Small Business Loan Fund to enable local banks to lend more money to small businesses. He promises to be a sharp-eyed watchdog against the danger of war without end in Afghanistan.

Dr. Paul's campaign, on the other hand, has been a loopy journey of bizarre positions, often followed by reversals or clarifications. At various times, he has questioned the government's right to prevent racial discrimination by businesses, brushed off the need for the Americans with Disabilities Act (there are at least 12,000 disabled veterans alone in Kentucky) and tough mine-safety regulations, suggested federal anti-drug programs aren't essential in this state, floated the idea of a $2,000 deductible for Medicare and briefly seemed to endorse a regressive 23 percent sales tax to replace income taxes.

As these positions suggest, Dr. Paul has a national ideology but little understanding of Kentucky. At its core, his anti-tax, anti-spending agenda appears not to recognize that Kentucky receives far more in money from the federal government than it sends to Washington. At best, Dr. Paul's odd positions might embarrass Kentucky. At worst, he could cast votes that would inflict serious harm on the state.

Put Kentucky first and elect Jack Conway to the United States Senate.