In 2014, Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., beat his opponent’s campaign like it owed him money.
Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes talked a big game when she went up against the Senate Majority Leader, but she went down hard, clocking in at only 40 percent.
Grimes is still a player in the Bluegrass State, but the Kentucky GOP will never let her forget how badly she performed the last time she challenged one of their own.
On Friday, for example, Grimes joked during an address at the Fancy Farm Picnic, an event in which aspiring Kentucky politicians often launch their campaigns, about the 2017 assault of Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.
“Just ask his neighbor. He can be beaten,” she said, according to Associated Press reporter Adam Beam.
Just to refresh your memory: Paul’s neighbor, Rene Boucher, attacked the senator from behind, breaking six of Paul’s ribs. It was bad. Boucher was sentenced to 30 days in prison.
I’m not going to get into the weeds of whether Grimes’ joke was “appropriate,” or whether it contributes to the general erosion of political discourse in the blah, blah, blah. I don’t enjoy policing tone. I don’t enjoy policing jokes.
What I do enjoy about this story is the response from Paul’s staff.
Rather than go the predictable route of demanding an apology, or complaining that the joke was in poor taste of out of bounds, they simply pointed to the scoreboard.
“That’s almost as sad and pathetic as her last campaign,” Paul’s chief strategist, Doug Stafford, said in response to her Fancy Farm Picnic remarks.
He added, “Mitch beat her so bad he almost got charged with a hate crime.”
Yes. More of this please. Anyone can complain about a mean-spirited joke. Competent trash-talk, on the other hand, takes talent.
Lastly, as to the premise of Grimes’ joke (that Paul is easily beaten): He won election on his first try in 2010, easily defeating his Democratic opponent by 11 percentage points. Paul also won his re-election race in 2016, besting his opponent 57 percent to 42.
Good luck with the beatings, guys.
