Last Call For Bevin's Cock-Up

As if Matt Bevin needed any more problems being down 20 points to somebody as despised as Mitch McConnell is, he just got caught by Louisville NBC station WAVE reporter John Boel at a rally for cockfighting, a sport that's been illegal in the Bluegrass State for decades, but where the cops all look the other way.

It's not popular to a lot of people in Kentucky. On March 29, "activist cockfighters" were summoned through social media to the Corbin Arena for a meeting to legalize cockfigting. So I put on a cockfighting shirt and went in undercover. The second speaker, American Gamefowl Defense Director Dave Devereaux, spent several minutes explaining why we were here.

"For the sole purpose of legalizing gamecock fighting at the state level," said Devereaux.

The next speaker, in front of more than 700 people, was Republican US Senate Candidate Matt Bevin.

"There is not a cause, there is not an issue, nothing we believe in that we could not bring to fruition if we turn out to vote," said Bevin.

When he was finished, he was asked a direct question.

"Will you vote to support the effort to legalize gamecock fighting in the state of Kentucky?" asked Devereaux.

"I support the people of Kentucky exercising their right, because it is our right to decide what it is that we want to do, and not the federal government's. Criminalizing behavior, if it's part of the heritage of this state, is in my opinion a bad idea. A bad idea. I will not support it," said Bevin, which was met with rousing applause from the crowd.

So when Boel confronted Bevin with the tape of Bevin at the cockfighting rally, he did what any Republican would do.  He lied about it.

We caught up with Bevin at a Louisville campaign stop. He said he didn't know it was a cockfighting rally.

"I don't personally support cockfighting, never been to a cockfight in my life," he said. "If you were there, you can tell, when I was speaking, were you there when I spoke?"

"I was there the whole time," I said.

"I was there to speak about why I'm running for US Senate. That's the same thing I do everywhere I speak," Bevin said.

"When Dave Devereaux got up before you, he said we're here for the sole purpose of talking about legalizing cockfighting in Kentucky. What were you thinking when he said that?" I asked.

"I honestly wasn't even paying attention. I was thinking about what I was going to say. I don't even remember him saying that," Bevin said.

I read him back his comment from the rally: "Criminalizing behavior, if it's part of the heritage of this state, is in my opinion a bad idea."

"You stand behind that?" I asked.

"What I stand behind is people's ability to examine their First Amendment rights to speak about whatever they want to speak about," Bevin said.

 He wasn't paying attention to the fact he was at a cockfighting rally.  Sure.  You know what?  I expect politicians to lie.  But to lie badly, and just pretend the video evidence was somehow not showing Bevin is so desperately losing to an ass like Mitch right now that he's trying to go for the "legalize cockfighting" vote?

That's just insulting.  You know what?  I hope he beats McConnell, because Alison Lundergan Grimes will beat the guy by 30 points after this.  Sadly, McConnell is having the best week he's had in months because of this.

“Matt Bevin’s cockfighting episode will go down in history as one of the most disqualifying moments in Kentucky political history,” McConnell spokeswoman Allison Moore said in a statement. “Twenty years from now, we will all remember the time when the East Coast con-man thought so little of Kentuckians that he pathologically lied to us about absolutely everything until an undercover camera caught him red-handed at a cockfighting rally.”

This is something that even Mitch the Turtle wouldn't stoop to, and that tells you everything you need to know about the hole Bevin is in right now.

Uncommon Grace

Yes, high school students of Topeka, you win in your battle to show the First Lady of the United States her "place" and have successfully convinced her to not come to your graduation ceremony to give a speech celebrating the anniversary of Brown v Board of Education because her presence isn't an honor for 1,750 of you, but a disruption that you greatly resent because graduation is all about you.

First lady Michelle Obama is scrapping her plans to deliver a graduation speech for high school seniors in Topeka, Kan., after hundreds signed a petition in protest.

Instead of delivering a graduation speech, Obama will speak before the school district the day before graduation, and will deliver remarks at a "Senior Recognition Day."

More than 1,750 people had signed a petition protesting the first lady's appearance at the graduation ceremony, angered that security concerns would limit the number of friends and family who could attend.

According to the Topeka Capital-Journal, students would have only been allotted six tickets apiece had the first lady maintained her original plans.

Again, I'd like to thank the people of Topeka for their grace and dignity in remembering that Michelle Obama is merely the wife of some employee of the government and is in no way representative of the people of the United States.

In an interview with The Associated Press, the first lady's communications director said Obama wanted to accommodate all who hoped to attend the graduation ceremony.

"Once we learned about the concerns of some students, we were eager to find a solution that enabled all of the students and their families to celebrate the special day," she told the wire service.

So Topekans, you got exactly what you wanted from your responsive federal government, and no less than you deserve.  Good for you!  That at least puts you ahead of the people of Oklahoma City, who were apparently going to all but lynch Attorney General Eric Holder if he followed through with his plan to speak at the graduation of OKC's police academy.

Attorney General Eric Holder canceled a planned speech Thursday in Oklahoma City that was expected to draw protests, but a Justice Department official said the schedule change was due to an unexpected meeting Holder had to attend in Washington.

Holder was scheduled to speak to a graduation ceremony for new officers entering the Oklahoma City police department Thursday afternoon. However, according to local news accounts, state lawmakers and others said hundreds of people planned to protest the event to draw attention to the fact that Holder was held in contempt of Congress in 2012 for failing to turn over records a House committee sought about the Justice Department's response to Operation Fast and Furious.

“The Attorney General had been looking to addressing the cadets, and regrets he cannot attend in person," Justice spokesman Brian Fallon said. "He extends his heartfelt congratulations to the cadets and their families."

But please, continue to show total disrespect to black folks like Michelle Obama and Eric Holder, and then keep wondering why we don't vote Republican.

Dear America

"Obama owes me personally engraved invitation inscribed with gold letters explaining to me a reason to give a damn and show up and vote in 2014.  He owes every single Democratic voter the same.  Where's my invitation, Barry?"

--David Atkins, Hullabaloo

Bonus Verbatim Stupid:

But it's also up to elected officials and other party leaders to provide people the incentive to get out and vote. When President Obama took office he acted to curb many of the evils the Bush Administration was actively perpetrating. But outside of providing somewhat less expensive health insurance to around 20 million people, there hasn't been a lot of action that directly impacted people's lives or even provided some sense of accountability and justice to the people who crashed the economy. When the President promised hope and change, people really expected their lives to get measurably and demonstrably better. If people don't think their lives are going to get better, they're not going to be likely to dash to the polling place between jobs, dinner and childcare to vote for down-ballot Democrats most of them are barely aware of.

If Democratic candidates want to win in 2014, they're going to have to give their base a reason to come out to vote beyond the notion that they're better than the GOP.

If after six years of Tea Party idiocy and 34 years of Reagan's morning in America you still need a reason to vote Democrat "beyond the notion that they're better than the GOP", you're the exact damn reason they're in control of the House right now and threatening to take the Senate.  You stayed home in 2010, and the GOP took over in a redistricting year.  Sure as hell didn't make Obama getting any of the things you wanted out of his easier, did it?

Oh, and Atkins, screw you for "providing somewhat less expensive health insurance to around 20 million people" as if that's a travesty of justice.  Ask those 20 million people if it matters to them and their families.

Here's my question.  You know now that 2010 happened because liberals stayed home and didn't vote.  Why the hell would you encourage that behavior a second time?

StupidiNews!

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• Oregon will consider turning over its state healthcare exchange to the federal government to run after determining the cost of fixing the broken exchange will exceed that of federalizing it.
• Apple, Google, Intel and Adobe will settle a class action lawsuit over wage fixing and collusion for $324 million rather than face a court battle that could have cost them as much as $9 billion.
• President Obama will be in South Korea today as his Asian trip continues, meeting with President Park Geun Hye over nuclear issues with North Korea.
• Google will be shaking up its staff over Google Plus, choosing to no longer compete with other social networks and ending forced product integration, according to reports.