Ky. senator is divisive figure

March 3, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

FRANKFORT, Ky.

The angry man of the Senate was at it again.

Republican Sen. Jim Bunning, a 78-year-old Hall of Fame pitcher, played hardball on Capitol Hill, single-handedly holding up a $10 billion spending bill for days because it would add to the deficit. On Tuesday night, a spokesman for Bunning said he finally relented and would let the measure proceed to a vote.

The move had forced some 2,000 federal employees into unpaid furloughs, put jobless benefits in jeopardy for millions and halted more than 40 highway projects.

Because of his ornery nature and ungovernable mouth, Bunning has come to be regarded as the crazy uncle in the Senate attic during his 11 years in Washington. And because he is retiring after this session, there isn’t much anyone can do to keep him in line.

“I think the older he gets, the more cantankerous he becomes,” said Kentucky Republican Larry Forgy, a two-time candidate for governor and one of Bunning’s biggest admirers.

Last year, Bunning had to apologize after he predicted Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, would be dead within a year.

During his 2004 re-election campaign, which he narrowly won, he said his Democratic opponent — Daniel Mongiardo, who is of Italian descent — looked “like one of Saddam Hussein’s sons.” He apologized for that, too.

On Tuesday, a raucous and divided crowd of about 150 people gathered in front of the embattled senator’s Lexington offices. One woman waved a placard that read: “Stand Tall Sen. Bunning. You Are Pitching a Perfect Game.” Nearby, another sign read: “Sen. Al Franken is a comedian. Jim Bunning is a bad joke.”

Bunning is so toxic that GOP leaders pushed him to retire when his second term is up at the end of the year.