Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-Ky.) former primary opponent isn't prepared to make nice with the senator, even as the tea party groups that supported him have pledged to support McConnell's reelection bid.
Politico reported Thursday that businessman Matt Bevin won't yet reconcile with McConnell as Tuesday's nasty GOP primary recedes. McConnell garnered 60 percent of the vote to Bevin's 35 percent.
“You can’t punch people in the face, punch people in the face, punch people in the face, and ask them to have tea and crumpets with you and think it’s all good,” Bevin said, according to the paper. “Life doesn’t work that way.”
However, when Politico asked if he would back McConnell over his Democratic opponent, Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes, Bevin said: “I have no intention of supporting Alison Grimes. That’s all I will say at this stage.”
McConnell's campaign had attacked Bevin for signing off on a report that praised the Troubled Asset Relief Program, for appearing at a rally in support of cock-fighting and for allegedly misrepresenting his higher-education credentials.
Two tea party groups that had backed Bevin -- the Senate Conservatives Fund and the Madison Project -- released statements after the primary promising to support McConnell in November's general election.
Bevin's new comments about McConnell echo those he made earlier this month, indicating that his feelings about the senator haven't evolved.
“You can’t attack everybody and then expect everybody is going to say Kumbaya,” Bevin said, when asked whether he would back the senator in the event of a primary loss.
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