Is this man qualified to tell Kentucky voters who is and isn't qualified to be their senator?
The Mitch McConnell campaign is blasting the airwaves with
Meet The Press moderator
Chuck Todd's statement that by refusing to say whether or not she voted for President Obama, Democratic challenger Alison Lundergan Grimes has "disqualified" herself from being elected Kentucky's senator. Neither McConnell nor Todd has explained why running for the Senate disqualifies anyone from the right to vote in secret, which is one of the fundamental tenets of a functioning democracy.
The reality is that Barack Obama is not on the ballot in Kentucky or anywhere else this year, and Grimes may have voted for him or not based on a complexity of reasons that have nothing to do with the current campaign. Obama was not running in a vacuum, and even if she were so inclined, for Grimes to explain fully the rationale for her vote would require rehashing all the many disparate issues and personal dynamics that were in play between Obama and his bullying vulture capitalist 2012 opponent Mitt Romney. But to professional political hacks such as Chuck Todd, a Senate campaign apparently is less about issues than about the gotcha "journalism" professional political hacks so love.
For Kentucky voters, it is now a question of whether or not they want to be influenced by McConnell's attempt to take political advantage of Todd's partisan judgment of Grimes. Chuck Todd is the ultimate Washington insider, the lead talking head on the leading Beltway echo chamber television show, after having worked at various inside Washington political outlets for more than two decades. Is that the type of person Kentucky voters trust to tell them who is and isn't qualified to be their senator? Does it surprise Kentucky voters that career Washington insider Chuck Todd would so explicitly endorse career Washington politician Mitch McConnell? Does it surprise Kentucky voters that career Washington politician Mitch McConnell thinks career Washington insider Chuck Todd should be telling them who is and isn't qualified to be their senator?