"The Cunning Senator Bunning"

What's this I hear about Kentucky Senator Jim Bunning trying to stop unemployment benefit extensions and other expenditures just because there was no offset or way to pay for these measures. Since when in Congress has anyone ever stopped to consider where all the money for their out of control budget busting bills and wasteful political pork projects?

Jim Bunning used to be a professional baseball player, a Hall of Fame pitcher in fact, for the Detroit Tigers, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, and the Los Angeles Dodgers, and was known for the "brush back" pitch where you throw a fastball close to the batter who is crowding the plate. This man knows how to play "hardball" and now he is playing political hardball by trying the novel approach in the Senate of insisting the the Senators consider paying for some of their proposed bills. How "cunning" Senator Bunning but don't you know in America what we do is "kick the can down the road". We never seem to try to solve issues or pay the cost of current governmental programs when we can stall or just borrow the money from China and worry about paying the real costs in the endless future. Not only do most people in Congress not consider the costs of their lame brain schemes but they get all worked up if someone like Senator Bunning tries to make them show some fiscal accountability. They scream "This is an outrage" and "It's not fair for one Senator to hold up the important work of wasting taxpayer money" and trying to label Senator Bunning's actions as "extreme" and "heartless".

It is a fairly lonely position to take in the modern day Congress of trying to restore some sense of fiscal responsibility. The cunning Senator Bunning has got the Congress running when his major point is his audacity to suggest that Congress follow the supposed lead of President Obama who said that we should stop treating tax revenue like monopoly money. I'm sure President Obama was as surprised as the Congress that someone would actually follow the principle of 'pay as you go". I for one applaud Senator Bunning's efforts to "strike out" against unfunded congressional proposals and his "pitch" for fiscal restraint. This attitude may be the start of a whole new "ballgame" in beltway politics even if it leaves some of the current congressional members in a "foul" mood.