A nonprofit publication of the Kentucky Center for Public Service Journalism

Bill Straub: Hard to imagine a wackier contest with two candidates vying for who’s the biggest gun nut


Where else other than Kentucky can you witness a challenger in a congressional race toiling to out-crazy an incumbent who is himself such a monstrous whack job that even former President Donald J. Trump, the king of the crackpots, couldn’t stomach him?

That is the case that appears to be developing in the forever curious 4th Congressional District, which basically runs along the Ohio River from Oldham County to Boyd County.

According to my dear friend. Jack Brammer, longtime Frankfort Bureau chief with the Lexington Herald-Leader, some nitwit named Claire Wirth, of Oldham County, is looking to unseat Rep. Thomas Massie, R-SomewhereorotherLewisCounty, who is looking to defend his status as the biggest nut in the delegation, a hard-earned status given that the Bluegrass mission to DC also features the likes of Sen. Rand Paul, R-Bowling Green.


The NKyTribune’s Washington columnist Bill Straub served 11 years as the Frankfort Bureau chief for The Kentucky Post. He also is the former White House/political correspondent for Scripps Howard News Service. A member of the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame, he currently resides in Silver Spring, Maryland, and writes frequently about the federal government and politics. Email him at williamgstraub@gmail.com

Let’s just say it’s shaping up to be one of those old limbo contests from the 1960s – how low can you go.

Wirth, who moved to the Commonwealth from Arizona about three years to evade the influx of brown people crossing the border, is seeking public office for the first time and, in an attempt to draw attention to that spectacular effort, has promised to give away an AM-15 pistol to some lucky individual who contributes to her campaign. The winner is expected to be announced soon.

A perusal of Wirth’s campaign site – we undertake these dangerous assignments so you don’t have to – shows our gal touching all the right-wing bases, noting, “Claire aims to protect our Constitution from far-left ideals of socialism, and the dismantling of the moral integrity our great country was built upon. We have seen the radical liberal agenda become unhinged in recent years affecting issues beyond just local politics …”

First and foremost on her agenda, of course, is that old devil, gun rights, asserting that. “The Second Amendment is a cornerstone of our Republic and Claire will deny any incremental gains attempted by the Democrats to erode our Bill of Rights. She is also a proud lifetime member of the National Rifle Association.”

Running to the right of Massie on the issue of guns is a neat trick, seeing how the dude is as gun happy as Al Capone — an original founder of the House Second Amendment Caucus and a current co-chairman of the group who once posed for a photo op with one of his AK-47s, offering it up like a proud new papa fondling his newborn babe.

Wirth notes on her campaign site that Massie’s voting record has attracted some mediocre marks from the National Rifle Association. That’s because Wonder Boy has, on occasion, run to the right of that disgraced outfit, siding more frequently with the radical National Association for Gun Rights. Massie, for instance, opposed such NRA endorsed measures as a federal ban on gun stocks that convert semi-automatic rifles into automatic weapons.

So that might prove to be a tough sell. It’s a difficult proposition to be more looney-tunes on guns than Thomas Massie but it appears Wirth is in there pitching.

Frankly, it’s difficult to imagine anyone being more right-wing than Kentucky’s very own Whiz Kid unless you lived and prospered in Chili under Pinochet back in the 70’s. Like his brother in arms, Rand Paul, Massie lives to oppose whatever initiatives come before the lower chamber and to make a general bloody nuisance of himself.

Wirth’s next best bet is the Orange Menace, who was unceremoniously tossed from the White House back in January. Massie, it seems acted a little too cute for his own good last year, delaying passage of the initial $2 trillion COVID-19 stimulus package by demanding a recorded vote, forcing lawmakers back to DC at a time when travel was supposed to be limited.

Trump was not amused.

“Looks like a third rate Grandstander named @RepThomasMassie, a Congressman from, unfortunately, a truly GREAT state, Kentucky, wants to vote against the new Save Our Workers Bill in Congress,” Trump said in a tweet, indicating in a second missive that Wonder Boy should be ousted from the Republican Party.

“He just wants the publicity,” Trump stated.

Massie is not unpopular in the 4th District but he’s nowhere near as beloved as the Menace. With this in mind, Wirth is hoping to gain Trump’s support, a move that conceivably could unsettle the electoral dynamic if approached right.

Also playing a role in the inevitable showdown is Massie’s penchant for exposing himself as the goofball he is, arguing against any mandated vaccination for COVID-19, including for military personnel.

“I’ve been contacted by members of our voluntary military who say they will quit if the COVID vaccine is mandated. I introduced HR 3860 to prohibit any mandatory requirement that a member of the Armed Forces receive a vaccination against COVID-19.”

That, of course, is just plain stupid. No soldier or sailor can simply remove his or her uniform in a fit of pique and quit. They must be officially discharged, otherwise they’re considered AWOL.

And members of the military already are required to get immunized for a variety of maladies without question. Most of the time these folks don’t even know what they’re being immunized for.

And, for some unfathomable reason, the Whiz Kid voted not once, but twice, against awarding Congressional Gold Medals to the U.S. Capitol Police and Washington, D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department for their service during the Jan. 6 insurrection.

That one, folks, no matter how hard you may try, is impossible to defend.

With that as background, it’s fair to say Massie falls squarely in what might best be characterized as the House Screwball Caucus, an ever-growing club to which Wirth apparently aspires. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green, R-GA, who isn’t even trying to hide her bigotry, Rep. Laura Boebert, R-CO, vying with Massie for the chamber’s head gun nut, and the grandaddy of them all, Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-TX, a notorious walking, talking embarrassment, are right in there with him.

But Wirth would no doubt be a noble addition.

The Commonwealth of Kentucky, for all its problems, used to be known for sending some pretty serious lawmakers to the nation’s capital. Going back aways, there was Henry Clay of Lexington in the 19th Century, Alben Barkley, of Paducah, who rose all the way to vice president, John Sherman Cooper, of Somerset, who was probably the most respected member of the chamber in his time, Wendell Ford, of Owensboro, perhaps the most popular politician in the state’s history, and A.B. “Happy’’ Chandler, of Versailles, who carried a lot of influence wherever he roamed.

Even some lesser known lawmakers performed admirably. Bill Natcher, of Bowling Green, held the record for casting the most consecutive floor votes during his tenure, setting the mark for dogged determination. And Carl Dewey Perkins, of Hindman, who, as chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor, pushed through the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, a cornerstone of President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty. He also is one of the fathers of the Head Start program.

So what do we have now? We have Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, of Louisville, a proven danger to American democracy, Rand Paul, who made life miserable for Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Biden’s chief medical advisor, as he tried to guide the nation through the pandemic, and a pair of lamebrains arguing over how to put more guns in more people’s hands in a campaign that ultimately will determine which candidate is more detestable.

Ah, Kentucky! Ah, humanity!


Related Posts

2 Comments

  1. Marv Dunn says:

    I never thought I would see a more dysfunctional Congressional candidate than our Congressman Massie. And the bar was set pretty low. Massie is from the far eastern end of our district and this new one is from the far western end. Massie never takes any interest in Northern Kentucky except at election time and yet we send him back again and again. We desperately need someone from Northern Kentucky; someone that will take an interest in our bridge problem and other local issues. Whoever wins the Republican primary will win the district. I would very much to see someone else primary Massie; some Chamber of Commerce type, and hopefully somewhat moderate if any of those Republicans still exist

  2. Dan Suhart says:

    Agree with the Commentary and the Comment. However, maybe it’s time for Savannah Maddox to make her move, give up on the Governorship, and take her genius homespun (spun like Kevlar) to DC- and squash this upstart!

Leave a Comment