Governor Granite got together this week with his fellow holier-than-you'll-ever-be crowd at the Values Voter Summit. They were so impressed with him they gave him the "Most Likely to Cast the First Stone" award.
The not a Kentuckian Kentucky governor wowed the crowd by suggesting a Clinton presidency would lead to bloodshed. His breathless drama queen delivery had them on the edge of their seats. He used the (generally misused) Thomas Jefferson quote about 'the tree of liberty' and 'the blood of tyrants and patriots'. Of course, he missed it too, but that doesn't matter as long as it looks good on a t-shirt.
What he was basically saying is who cares what the will of the people is when we vote, if our side loses, we need to shed blood because...you know...Hilary.
This from a guy who swore to uphold the Constitution. The same constitution that says the person recieving the most electoral college votes wins the presidency. That's why George W. Bush was president and not Al Gore, who got the most individual votes.
Was there fighting in the streets then?
It's the same constitution that says Americans have a right to their own religious beliefs but the government will not endorse or enforce one religion above the rest. I whole heartedly believe in both parts of that.
But the governor of Kentucky doesn't think so, it appears. He doesn't think the poor should be fed or the sick should be healed unless they're rich, either. Granted, those things are not in the constitution. But I think you can find those ideas in a book Values Voters are fond of quoting.
It's more than deplorable, it's despicable. It certainly is not American and I think I could make an argument that it's not much Christian either. But I won't.
So speaking of deplorable, we also found out this week some Republicans care a lot more about women's health than we thought. At least if that woman's name is Hillary and she's running for president. Otherwise, they still don't care about you.
It was monumentally stupid to say half of Trump's supporters are in a basket of deplorables. People don't like to be reminded that they are racists, bigots, xenophobes and woman haters when they are. And using Republican logic, that statement is worse than everything the Great Cheetoh has ever uttered combined!
But what was mostly stupid is that she didn't lead with what she said about the other half. Maybe the basket remark would have come up as a toss off. What she said was exaclty right and no one heard it.
What she said is the other half was "...people who feel that the government has let them down, the economy has let them down, nobody cares about them, nobody worries about what happens to their lives and their futures, and they're just desparate for change...those are people we have to understand and empathize with as well."
There's nothing insulting in that language and it describes a lot of folk right here. It sounds to me like someone who sees the problem and wants to help fix it.
I'll have to say though, Basket of Deplorables would be a great name for a death metal band.