Bevin Bets Big On Bigotry

With two months to go before the election for governor here in Kentucky, Republican Matt Bevin has just thrown in his lot with Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis and the wrong side of history.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Matt Bevin rushed to defend Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis after she again refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples Tuesday morning. 

Bevin also scolded Democratic opponent, Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway, for failing to stand by the religious liberties of county clerks who oppose the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling legalizing same-sex marriage. 

“Jack Conway has failed to do his job as attorney general by refusing to defend Kentucky’s marriage amendment, and he is failing to defend the religious freedom of our Kentucky clerks,” Bevin said in a statement. 

The comments come amid an intense standoff at Davis's office where a gay couple sought to obtain a marriage license after the High Court rejected her last-ditch effort for a stay Monday. After a heated exchange between Davis and the couple, their attorneys filed a motion to find Davis in contempt of court for refusing to issue them a marriage license. 

In response, the Bevin campaign sought to tie Conway — who refused to appeal the initial federal ruling against the state's same-sex marriage ban last year — to the controversy in a series of Tweets. Bevin's campaign said the Democrat is refusing to defend the First Amendment rights of county clerks. 

"As attorney general, it's Jack Conway's job to defend the Constitutional rights of all Kentuckians, including county clerks," Bevin's Twitter account said.

I swear, for a while there I was afraid Matt Bevin wasn't this much of a moron.  He might actually find a way to lose this thing now.  If he had just said that this was a matter "for the courts" or "for the legislature" to deal with he could have gotten away with it.  It wouldn't be up to Bevin anyway to impeach and remove Davis from her office, and he doesn't make federal court decisions.

But by coming out squarely in the defense of an anti-gay bigot, Bevin has nowhere to hide now.  As Governor he'd be a national embarrassment to the Commonwealth, as it is we Kentuckians look like backwater hicks most of the time.

If Jack Conway can't find a way to bloody Bevin's nose over this and severely damage his campaign, then he's too incompetent for the job in Frankfort anyway.