The first line of this AP analysis of Congressman and Missouri's GOP Senate candidate Roy Blunt's attempt to hide his support for the 2008 bailout:
Before he was against it, U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt was for a 2008 bill authorizing up to $700 billion to shore up banks and other troubled financial institutions."Carefully parsing." That's such a polite way of saying that Blunt isn't being honest with the voters of Missouri.
In fact, Blunt helped negotiate its details and - as House Republican whip - helped round up enough votes to ensure its passage.
Now a candidate for U.S. Senate, Blunt is carefully parsing his past support for the unpopular bank bailout. Blunt's Senate campaign last month accused his Democratic opponent, Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, of "falsely asserting that Roy Blunt supported a $700 billion bailout package."
But, Blunt's been in DC so long -- and become such a well-known A-list DC party animal -- that he must think the people of Missouri are stupid. First, he ran an biographical t.v. ad that ignored the key fact that he's been a member of Congress for 14 years, including a stint in GOP House leadership. Lately, he's been saying that he never supported the bailout when, in fact, he did. There are even two recorded roll call votes (here as HR 3997 and here) showing his YEA votes.
No wonder the Missouri teabaggers wanted everyone to know they didn't endorse him.
Blunt's opponent is Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan. She's running a "Stop the Bull" campaign against Blunt (and as a cattle farmer, Robin knows bull when she sees it.) Her website is here and AMERICAblog's ActBlue page for Carnahan is here.
This race is going to be close right to the end. Missouri's like that. It's close as the Pollster.com tracker shows.