We all know how much Glenn would like to see Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) voted out of the Senate next year, and on radio this morning Glenn interviewed Sen. McConnell’s challenger in the Republican primary, Matt Bevin. As far as Glenn is concerned, Sen. McConnell is finished - especially after the $2 billion “Kentucky Kickback” he received in exchange for shutting down TEA Party conservatives and handing the President yet another victory (and the American people yet another defeat).
“Matt Bevin is on with us. I hope to be saying the good senator Matt Bevin from the state of Kentucky. He is running against Mitch McConnell. And we have had him on the program once before. We liked him. We thought we would have him on again. Welcome to the program, Matt,” Glenn said. “So can you tell me any thoughts on this $2 billion, you know, gift that Mitch McConnell definitely didn't have anything to do with?”
“When you have Dianne Feinstein coming out and running interference for you as your cover, something smells a little fishy there. Here's what I'll say. This was specific to a project, the Olmstead Lock and Dam project, which is in Southwestern Kentucky, and it's a critical project. It is a project that needs to be completed, but the methodology for this 2 billion, 2.8 billion just stinks,” Matt said. “This is not how funding is supposed to occur. Sweeteners, kickbacks, whatever you want to call them, should not be a part of these sort of processes where we are saving the American people supposedly from some manufactured crisis, and in order to make that happen under the cover of darkness, favors at the taxpayers' expense get bandied about.”
Matt does not have an easy primary fight in front of him. He will be going up against the well-stocked campaign war chest of Sen. McConnell, as well as the wrath of the establishment GOP. But Matt recently received a very important endorsement that should provide a bit of relief.
“I just within the last hour received the endorsement of the Senate Conservatives Fund. This is Jim DeMint's old group. It's now run by a gentleman by the name of Matt Hoskins, and I cannot tell you how exciting this is,” Matt said. “The Madison Project was my only other significant national endorsement and so this is a very significant additional endorsement. I'm very grateful.”
While it is easy to believe that anyone would be better than Sen. McConnell, Glenn asked Matt to explain to the American people what his plan will be if he is elected.
“We have got to wean people from this idea of free lunches, and it's free lunches at a scale the likes of which literally nobody can afford to pay for because there is no free lunch. And what we're doing is we're sticking it to people, this artificially deflating interest rates and keeping them artificially low is coming at the expense of those people who saved their money, who did things the right way, who expected to get 4, 5, 6% perhaps and are now getting 0.1 or 0.2%,” Matt explained. “And we're doing it in order to accommodate the ballooning debt and the interest payments and we're sticking it to the people who have been responsible in order to cover for those who have not. What we need to tell the American people is that the party's over. And while that is painful to hear, austerity, we have no idea what this is going to look like if we don't start walking that dog back soon.”
“I will hold out as a Republican. Even in the minority, I would just hold firm,” he continued. “I would unite the caucus as to the absolute degree. The liberals, I must say, are fantastic even at uniting when they disagree behind something.”
Glenn decided to play devil’s advocate for a moment and asked Matt to consider what he would do when faced with a situation where everything is being blamed on him and his reelection chances are endangered.
“That has been working brilliantly thus far, which is why the Republicans have been folding like sock puppets. You know, it's remarkable,” Matt said. “But we have got to stop spending. 40 cents of every dollar, Glenn, that we are spending in this country is still borrowed money. Plus, we're twisting, whether we're quantitatively easing or twisting, we have some cute little name for what we're doing in terms of printing money. And we cannot continue down this path. We must hold firm for cessation of increase in debt. We cannot dig deeper into a hole that’s already questionable as to whether future generations will be able to climb out of.”
“Thank you very much. I appreciate it, and we'll talk again,” Glenn said. “MattBevin.com. Running against Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who must go.”
Watch the entire interview below: