Last night, fellow Senate Republicans finally persuaded Sen. Jim Bunning of Kentucky to drop his one-man block on a bill funding unemployment benefits, road construction, and other politically popular measures — but not before Democrats were able to make vast amounts of political hay from the episode by painting Bunning as the epitome of an obstructist party. Did Bunning's move derail the GOP's recent momentum in Washington?
Bunning is the Democrats' new best friend: Bunning's right that the GOP should "draw a line in the sand" on spending, says Rick Holmes at Wicked Local. But stiffing the unemployed is a "snit," not a serious effort at deficit reduction. If Bunning's "tantrum" did anything, it just proved that "if anyone can save the Democrats from humiliation in November, it’s the Republicans."
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