Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes hits Obama on coal

last updated 8 January 2015

President Obama has unveiled a new plan to use executive authority to cut power plant emissions of CO2 by 30 percent, and as Jon Terbush noted, this is a big deal in Kentucky. In fact, it's such a big deal that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's Democratic opponent, Alison Lundergan Grimes, is running ads in newspapers criticizing President Obama for the move:

And why does Grimes have the latitude to criticize a sitting president of the same party? Democratic voters and liberal outside groups (and, no doubt, Harry Reid and President Obama) are pragmatic enough to know it's all theater. They are smart enough to know that she will probably vote the liberal line once she's in office, and the primary objective is to do whatever it takes to get her there. If criticizing Obama is what it takes to win in Kentucky, well, that's just the cost of doing business.

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Matt K. Lewis is a contributing editor at TheWeek.com and a senior contributor for The Daily Caller. He has written for outlets including GQ Politics, The Guardian, and Politico, and has been cited or quoted by outlets including New York Magazine, the Washington Post, and The New York Times. Matt co-hosts The DMZ on Bloggingheads.TV, and also hosts his own podcast. In 2011, Business Insider listed him as one of the 50 "Pundits You Need To Pay Attention To Between Now And The Election." And in 2012, the American Conservative Union honored Matt as their CPAC "Blogger of the Year." He currently lives in Alexandria, Va.

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