John Lunsford: epic fail

State Representative John Lunsford (pictured, right, preparing his legislative agenda) was evidently kidding all along when he said he was going to offer to petition for a new election for any leadership position that members of the Republican caucus might want to pursue. As Jim Galloway reports, Lunsford now says that “[a]ll I was trying to do – part of it was just a little showmanship. I will say this much. I wanted to cry when I saw how many friends I really had. I didn’t know I had that many friends. That give you a clue? I had many more friends than I ever envisioned I had. But I won’t tell you the number. Nor will I be releasing it Thursday.”

You wanted to cry, John? Trust me, we know the feeling after learning this news. So why the charade in the first place?

But the lawmaker also says he won’t bother to add up the names. Because he has no intention of submitting the petition on Thursday, when the GOP caucus gathers again. Lunsford said the point of his petition was to force House Republicans to stop back-stabbing each other and confront each other in the open.

That done, he said, there’s no need for it.

Enjoy Jerry Keen, Republicans. Your future is now set. And how can anyone take Lunsford at his word anymore about anything? When will we know that Lunsford is serious about an issue and not exercising “just a little showmanship?”

Here’s more on Lunsford’s “logic” from Insider Advantage:

Lunsford told Insider he believed that by holding a new vote to either keep or replace the current officers, the Caucus would be in a position to say, ‘Here is our new team. We’re 100 percent behind them.’ And the Caucus then could move on to the task of governing.

Lunsford is running for the Whip’s job when the Caucus meets on Thursday. He said his petition had nothing to do with personal ambition, since that election would have been held whether he pursued the petition or not.

“My heart was in the right place but this has taken on a life of its own,” he said. “I was looking for the solidarity of the Caucus.”

Lunsford said he was close to having the necessary 30 votes, with 27 persons having signed the petition before he left last week’s closed-door Caucus session.

Using the logical processes and stream of consciousness reasoning of a 14-year-old, this appears to be Lunsford’s thinking: Lunsford was looking for the caucus to get “100%” behind its team by putting all positions up for a vote, but now isn’t going to because the effort to clean house has “taken on a life of its own” and is hurting the solidarity of the caucus which evidently isn’t at “100%” now but with not having elections for all positions the “100%” goal is going to be achieved because, golly, he has a lot of friends and OH MY GOSH have you seen Jerry Keen he’s so wonderful and smart and gets lots of gifts so let’s after all this not bother with that dumb ‘ol effort to clean house because, silly goose, this is all about solidarity which I’m going to say is present even though it really isn’t because at least 27 members of the caucus were in favor of the effort.

Got all that, then? Good.

Tagged as: Bozo The Clown, Jerry Keen, John Lunsford