Owsley Brown disses David Hawpe; calls him a blogger
Matt Gunterman September 24th, 2007
You’ll recall that earlier this month Courier-Journal columnist David Hawpe dropped the name of “Soon-to-retire Brown-Forman chairman Owsley Brown II,” a Republican who recently converted to Democracy, as a potential opponent to Senator Mitch McConnell (R).
The Kentucky blogosphere, from traditional media blogs to the left-leaning, reported Hawpe’s mention of Brown’s potential, and the national progressive blogosphere soon joined in.
Today, the C-J’s Joseph Gerth writes that in his recent non-denial denials of his potential candidacy Brown manages 1) to insinuate the thousands of party faithful who go to Fancy Farm are kinda kooky and 2) to offer a revisionist version of how his name first entered the ring in the first place: it was the bloggers.
[...]
When my colleague Alex Davis broached the subject with him last week, Brown gave a well-rehearsed non-denial denial to the rumor. “There is no end to the fanciful things that enter into people’s heads who go to Fancy Farm,” he said.
When Davis asked what the heck that meant, Brown said the speculation was “bloggers just using their imagination.” But he never said specifically that he isn’t running for the U.S. Senate.
[...]
As I’m sure Bruce Lunsford can attest, millionaire former Republican/Republican backers — no matter how good their reformed intentions — have a hard time making much headway among the Democratic party faithful in primaries, especially when Brown appears from the start to hold a certain disdain for the group in the first place.
And, from what I’m hearing, a good deal of the Kentucky party establishment has its preferred candidate, and it isn’t Owsley Brown II.
So, all in all, it’s probably best that Brown isn’t entering the race.
