“The likelihood of one individual being right increases in direct proportion to the intensity with which others are trying to prove him wrong.” – Heaven Can Wait (1978).

Perhaps Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Kentucky) can take solace with the above line because, for a week, the two-term senator was subjected to a campaign of white-hot intensity from the media and political opponents because of his opposition to a deficit-increasing $10 billion spending bill.

Bunning’s condemnation comes from both sides of the political aisle and all corners of mainstream media. “He’s hurting the American people,” Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said Tuesday.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs opined on Tuesday, “I don’t know how you negotiate with the irrational.”

Irrational is how the White House sees a senator who insists on adhering to a Senate rule. Under new “pay-go” rules, Senate spending bills must be paid for without increasing the budgetary deficit.  Bunning said: “I wanted to expose that the emperor has no clothes.”

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Washington) railed against Bunning on Tuesday as “posturing before politics, before families, and point-scoring before the needs of struggling Americans.”

Larry Forgy, a two-time candidate for Kentucky governor and one of Bunning’s biggest admirers said, “He’s as tough as a pine knot. He doesn’t care what they say about him.”

Before his solitary opposition to the Senate’s budgetary gimmick, Bunning was known more for his Cy Young Award and his Baseball Hall of Fame induction than for his political career.

In the past week, Bunning’s compassion, sanity and intelligence have been challenged as never before, usually by those who do not know the man or his fundamental belief system. If his detractors are to be believed Bunning wants Americans to starve and become homeless, since unemployment checks would stop being issued if he succeeded in his filibuster of the spending bill.

For nearly a week Bunning pointed out that the funds for paying more unemployment benefits could be found in the unspent stimulus money. He claimed that additional deficit spending would be unnecessary in this regard.

This is irrational?

Forgy said Bunning should be praised: “It’s the equivalent of hitting the mule between the eyes with a two-by-four to get its attention. He is drawing attention to an issue, and if he has to draw criticism to himself in the process, he’s willing to do that.”

Anyone referring to Bunning as an obstinate, unreasonable or uncaring man, simply does not know Jim Bunning.

This is the same Jim Bunning who made a promise to a political neophyte seeking election 30 years ago, and kept that promise at great professional and financial sacrifice.

In 1980, state Senator Jim Bunning and his wife Mary, met a young, idealistic and naïve newly minted attorney who was running for Congress. The candidate grew up in Detroit and remembered trips to Tiger Stadium to watch Bunning strike out opposing players for the Tigers.

By 1980, Bunning was an agent for several major league baseball players.

When asked to appear at a fundraising event in the tiny town of Scottsville, Kentucky in early October, the future Hall of Famer told the candidate he would be there if the Lord was willing.

October soon arrived and the political neophyte’s campaign was foundering as only an underfunded campaign for Congress can founder.

Two of Bunning’s clients were in the playoffs, and one of the playoff games would be played the same night as his scheduled appearance in Scottsville for the candidate. The candidate and his wife were resigned to having a disappointed crowd.

Another nail in the coffin was that Bunning was in another state, and the closest airport to Scottsville was also in another state.

Hundreds of people from several counties came to the event hoping to see the baseball great. Bunning, you see, was one of only a handful of Kentucky natives who had made it big in Major League Baseball.

“There’s going to be some mad folks tonight when we have to tell them the truth,” someone commented.

As the candidate smiled, posed for pictures, shook hands and drank coffee by the bucket, many in the crowd expressed their fondness for Bunning.

Shortly before the kickoff for the event, the front door to the armory swung open and a tall, well tanned Bunning strolled in, arm in arm with his wife.

“I thought your players are playing in the playoffs,” the candidate said to Bunning.

Bunning replied simply: “You made a commitment to try and make this country a better place and have worked hard in this campaign. I made a promise to you before the success of my players could possibly be known. There is more than one playoff game and what kind of guy would I be if I couldn’t keep my promises?”

On Tuesday, Bunning ended his opposition and the Senate approved the one-month stop gap funding measure.

After the Senate voted, Bunning’s communication director, Mike Reynard, perhaps offered a glimpse of what may be in store the next time the Senate proposes another stopgap funding measure. “If we can’t find $10 billion to pay for something that all 100 senators support, we will never pay for anything.”

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