Campaign Action
Opening with a voice and the title, “A 10 Hour Bus Ride,” the new campaign video from Kentucky Democratic candidate for Senate Amy McGrath, calls out Sen. Mitch McConnell for being the true enemy of coal miners and workers in his state of Kentucky. It’s the true story of a bus chartered and filled with coal men, all afflicted with black lung disease, going to see their State Senator Mitch McConnell—to “try and save our disability benefits.” The voice is Jimmy Moore, a miner from Pike County. He finishes his short story, “Ten hours on a bus, and we got to see him [McConnell] for all of one minute.” Moore explains that his grandfather and his stepfather both died of black lung, and that his son is also affected by the disease.
McConnell brushing off black lung-afflicted coal miners from his state was covered here by our own Meteor Blades last month. It’s not hyperbolic to call what McConnell did a “brush off.” Every one of these men that went to visit their senator in Washington is worth more than 100 Mitch McConnells. Senator McConnell’s and other Republicans’ problem here is that they are for fossil fuel industry money, not fossil fuel industry leaders. Allowing coal companies to dip into compensation funds meant for workers’ health problems is something conservatives don’t want to address or censure. The fact that coal minors are contracting black lung disease at an alarming rate is also something anti-universal healthcare officials like Mitch McConnell don’t want to face.
Jimmy Moore makes it clear what kind of integrity he feels Senator Mitch McConnell has. “Mitch McConnell let the coal companies walk away from us. And then after one minute, he did, too.”
McGrath talks about not leaving Kentucky’s coal miners behind and asks the audience “Which side are you on?” It’s a simple question with a seemingly straightforward answer.
Watch the video below the fold.
McGrath announced her bid for McConnell’s Senate seat at the beginning of July and so far she has been hammering home how little Leader McConnell has done for the working person of Kentucky—the voters he panders to the most, while doing for the least. McConnell’s mostly made sure that incompetent judges fill up our courts and that regardless of the will of the people, he will fight tooth and nail to make sure that democracy takes a back seat to big money interests. We will know how much headway McGrath’s campaign is able to make in the coming months based on how low McConnell begins to go. Because Mitch McConnell has nothing except fear, anger, and deceit in his tool box.