The Kentucky businessman who launched a Republican primary challenge against Mitch McConnell on Wednesday told The Daily Caller he’s running because conservatives have a “tremendous level of dissatisfaction” with the Senate minority leader.

“There’s a tremendous level of dissatisfaction with the fact that for 30 years, he’s been just a big government guy,” Matt Bevin said of McConnell. “He votes for every bailout, he votes for every piece of pork, he is a huge fan of earmarking — it has been temporarily banned, as you know — but folks like Mitch McConnell have made a career of greasing the wheels for themselves and for others.”

During a phone interview an hour before he formally announced his campaign at the Kentucky State Capitol in Frankfurt, Bevin also laid the groundwork for the argument that McConnell is more concerned with his leadership role in Washington than in representing Kentucky.

“I live in the same town as the man, and I’ve literally never seen him one time,” Bevin said of McConnell. “Ever. And it’s not like we move in entirely different worlds. I’ve never seen him one time, except when he was speaking at a political event. Fifteen years. In the same town in Kentucky. That’s odd. And I’m not alone in that.”

Bevin slammed McConnell as a “big proponent of increased taxes,” a “proponent of pork barrel spending” and as “someone who doesn’t have a tremendous amount of respect for the constitution.”

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“McConnell has voted for higher taxes, bailouts, debt ceiling increases, congressional pay raises, and liberal judges,” the announcer in Bevin’s ad states.

As for McConnell, his new ad slams “Bailout Bevin” for taking $200,000 in state government money last year after his Connecticut factory, which wasn’t insured, burned down.

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Asked to respond to that ad, which claims Bevin is “not a Kentucky Conservative,” the businessman said that he’s “far more conservative and have spent far more time in Kentucky in the last 15 years than Sen. McConnell has.”

“With respect to a bailout, it’s interesting that a guy who has voted for literally a trillion dollars worth of bailouts for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the Wall Street banks, etc., is taking issue with the fact that the people of a town and a state wanted to do something for a business that had burned down, that is historic, that is the oldest family run business in their state, and wanted to gather around, rally around, and do what they could to ensure that those jobs were saved,” Bevin said. “That these employees were not dumped onto the public system.”

Bevins may not be the best candidate, but he certainly can’t be any worse than Mitch McConnell.

John Boehner should take note as well. Every seat in the House is up for election—that is election, not re-election.

Our own Vicky Hartzler should be another establishment rubber-stamp looking over her shoulder. She hasn’t found a pork project yet that she’s hasn’t liked. She rubber-stamped the first Farm Bill with its massive overspending for Food Stamps, crop subsidies and price supports that benefit large and corporate farms. Subsidies and price supports that she and her farmer husband take accept.

When the 2nd version of the Farm Bill, minus the Food Stamps but containing all the pork, was presented to the House, she voted for it again! More pork, more spending, more waste and what is her response? “The catfish duplication was removed.” Big freaking deal! A few paltry millions removed while voting for BILLIONS more in spending.

If the Republican party doesn’t get it’s collective head out, they may, like their Whig predecessors, find their party being split and the ‘Pubs ending up on the historical trash heap. When a vote for either of two parties produces little difference, what other option is left?

‘Pubs, it’s time to consider the welfare of the nation, not for the welfare of your political ambitions and your financial pockets.