“Kentucky” on The Daily Caller

It was just a regular Tuesday in the Kentucky state legislature — and then a penguin pooped on the state Senate chamber’s floor. (more)

Rep. Ron Paul is using Monday’s high-profile incident of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) detaining his son, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, at a Tennessee airport to raise money for his presidential campaign. (more)

Kentucky GOP senator and tea party supporter Rand Paul blasted Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich Friday, calling the former House Speaker a “big government, status quo Republican.” (more)

Voters re-elected Kentucky’s Democratic governor Tuesday and picked a new governor in Mississippi, casting ballots that could foreshadow the public’s political mood just two months ahead of the first presidential primary and nearly four years into the worst economic slowdown since the Depression. (more)

Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, has called for a congressional investigation into political interference in the NCAA’s conference-realignment process, following reports that West Virginia University’s acceptance into the Big 12 Conference, which was a near-certainty on Tuesday morning, is being held up following competitive lobbying from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell — on behalf of his alma mater, the University of Louisville. (more)

FRANKFORT — A government employee seeking whistle-blower status claimed in a letter released publicly Monday that some state workers were threatened with termination unless they contributed to Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear’s re-election campaign. (more)

Reports that the Republican Party of Kentucky is considering a proposal that would put off the election of party leadership one year until 2013 has caused an uproar among members of the Tea Party, many of whom perceive it as a way to prevent Tea Party candidates from getting elected to the party leadership. (more)

This week’s gubernatorial primary election in Kentucky produced all of the excitement of a three-hour Joe Biden dissertation on nuclear non-proliferation. And, while there may be some comic value to hearing Biden speak for any length of time, yesterday’s poll results in the Commonwealth should be no laughing matter for Tea Party faithful. (more)

Even in the unpredictable, anything-goes world of March Madness, this is a Final Four nobody saw coming. (more)

1.) Catty Hill Dems can’t resist spinning a tragedy — Here are two good ways to win votes and influence people: Hours after a national tragedy, phone a reporter and spin the event this way: The Obama White House “need[s] to deftly pin this on the tea partiers….Just like the Clinton White House deftly pinned the Oklahoma City bombing on the militia and anti-government people.” When Pres. Obama instead says before a crowd in Tucson, “What we can’t do is use this tragedy as one more occasion to turn on one another….Rather than pointing fingers or assigning blame, let us use this occasion to expand our moral imaginations,” the next best thing Democrats can do, apparently, is personally attack Rep. John Boehner for not flying to Tucson to hear Obama discourage personal attacks. Different aide, different day, same moral depravity: “Don’t you think they could have worked with the White House on timing to make sure he got on AF1?,” a senior congressional aide told The Daily Caller’s Jon Ward on Thursday. “Hell, as speaker, he could have taken a delegation to Arizona on military air.” When it was pointed out that Boehner was already attending a memorial, in Washington, the aide argued that the speaker was skipping Tucson for an RNC event. “Tell these guys to give me a break. Bottom line: he’s not there and he’s Speaker of the House. He’s not there and is at an RNC event tonight. Period.” The aforementioned statements have nothing to do with why House Democrats are in the minority, but are two good reasons why they should stay there. (more)

1.) We will all die of old age before anyone cuts spending — After a largely symbolic repeal of Obamacare, what will Republicans do next to cut spending? Absolutely nothing, apparently. “Entitlement reform will only be done on a bipartisan basis. So we’re waiting for signals from the president as to whether or not that’s a discussion he’s willing to have,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, in a Thursday press conference. “The president must embrace it.” The Daily Caller’s Jon Ward writes, “House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Virginia Republican, acted on Tuesday as if Obama was the one who was just elected based on promises to cut government spending” and that “House Speaker John Boehner, Ohio Republican, had no answer Thursday for NBC’s Brian Williams when asked to name ‘a program right now that we could do without.’” Head, desk. (more)

Wow, what a year. (more)

1.) Inouye and other Senate dinosaurs make one last mad hobble for cash register — “In the waning days of the lame duck congressional session, Democrats controlling the Senate — in collaboration with a handful of old school Republicans — are pushing to wrap $1.27 trillion worth of unfinished budget work into a single ‘omnibus’ appropriations bill,” reports the AP. Sen. Jim DeMint hates this bill so much that he has threatened to read all 1,900 pages aloud if his colleagues do not make it smaller. To that end, a small contingent of fiscal guerillas are hoping to address the federal budget in the new year, when reinforcements will have arrived from Florida, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Utah, and Kentucky. Until then, it’s DeMint, McCain, and Coburn attempting to hold back a red sea of pork. Their efforts are not completely futile. After requesting an earmark for the Kentucky National Guard to eradicate the most valuable cash crop in the United States, Sen. Mitch McConnell suddenly realized that he is not supposed to be spending other people’s money willy-nilly anymore, and had the earmark removed. “This is exactly what the American people said Nov. 2 they didn’t want us to do,” a chastened McConnell said. (more)

Republican Rep. Ron Paul told The New York Times that there is at least a 50-50 chance that he’ll run for president a second time, but that he would also factor the economic situation into his decision, among other things. (more)

Rand Paul had never run for office until this year when GOP primary voters in Kentucky shocked insiders by nominating him for the U.S. Senate over a more establishment Republican candidate. (more)

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell predicted Thursday a resolution soon to the impasse over tax breaks and the federal budget that has pitted congressional Republicans against the White House and Democratic lawmakers. (more)

Despite the fact that the Republican caucus has sworn off earmarks, the Senate failed this week to receive the necessary 2/3 majority for a legislative ban on earmarks. A silly narrative emerged prior to this vote warning cities of all shapes and sizes that they would suffer colossal funding losses if earmark reform was enacted. Lacking in this analysis were basic facts that everyone should know. (more)

Melanie Sloan, the director of top watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), picked up the phone. It was Lanny Davis, former special counsel to President Bill Clinton, and he was mad. (more)

In July of 1958, Jim Bunning walked into Fenway Park and did what was seemingly impossible — he threw a no-hitter against Ted Williams and the Boston Red Sox. (more)

Kentucky’s chances for a deep run in the N.C.A.A. basketball tournament took a significant hit Thursday when the N.C.A.A. ruled that the freshman center Enes Kanter was permanently ineligible. (more)