Kim Davis: Wedge issues and Obamacare, and the race for governor in Kentucky - Part 3

Another intersection of conservative politics
and religion

The Kim Davis fight has been timed and located carefully to provide one last wedge-issue boost to conservative voter turn out in an off-year election in Kentucky.  It's not about same-sex marriage or individual rights of religious expression, that is a red herring.  Kim Davis is a pawn and a stooge trustingly serving the larger aims and agenda of the radical right.  She might as well appear in public in a dunce cap, (as well as a scarlet letter).

It is always wise not to let the opposition define - or name - the debate, the argument, the issue, but to look at what is involved without their labels.  That might sound cynical, and maybe it is -- but it is also realistic.

The governor's race to replace term-limited popular Democratic governor Steve Beshear takes place in a low turnout year that has neither a presidential race, nor any races for the House of Representatives or Senate.  Even the state legislature elections take place in even numbered years.

not an image of the real Kim Davis
but VERY very similar

If the liberal candidate wins, then BOTH Obamacare/Kynect AND same sex marriage will have a strong supporter in the executive branch; if not, if the tea party extremist candidate wins, then there will be continued organized opposition to both, and continued encroaching theocracy in Kentucky government.

The first of several debates by the candidates for governor takes place Tuesday:

"It will be an opportunity to hear from the three candidates on a range of issues," said WKYT political editor Bill Bryant is among the panelists questioning the candidates. "I suspect everything from the controversy involving Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis to underfunded pensions will come up during the debate."
Going into the race, Conway was well-known for his recent high-profile, headline-grabbing failed battle against now Sen. Rand Paul and his emotional decision to not appeal a judge's order for Kentucky to recognize same-sex marriages from other states and countries while Bevin most recently tangled with Sen. Mitch McConnell who defeated him in the 2014 Republican primary.
The latest Bluegrass Poll from July 30 showed Conway with a slight lead over Bevin.
In a two-person governor's race, Bevin suffered because 15 percent of those polled said they are "very conservative" but would cross-over and vote for the Democrat Conway. Bevin needs every one of these "very conservative" votes to win, according to SurveyUSA which conducted the poll which found 13 percent of likely voters remain undecided.
When all registered voters were asked which of the two is better qualified to deal with the state worker pension system, voters split: 37 percent named Conway, 36 percent named Bevin. When registered voters were asked who is better qualified to manage the state's budget, voters split: 38 percent said Conway, 38 percent said Bevin.

Conservatives do well in low-turnout elections; they do not do well when voters participate in representative government.  To accomplish this, conservatives use wedge issues to turn out their voters, and they those wedge issues tend to be most effective with their most extreme and fringe voters. This is CENTRAL to the Kim Davis issue.

The legal battle of Kim Davis is nominally about individual religious freedom to persecute others citing sincere beliefs.  Nominally, according to the reference site dictionary.com, means "by or as regards name; in name; ostensibly".  To name the Kim Davis legal fight 'individual freedom' is false; even to name it a fight about gay marriage is deceptive.

The Kim Davis issue is really about larger conservative control of government through the Kentucky 2015 election cycle, especially the election of the next governor; and 2016 election cycle.  It is really about issues like Obamacare, and the most successful state version of Obamacare in Kentucky, called Kynect, and attempts to replace a liberal governor with an extremist conservative successor who is campaigning on repeal of both Obamacare and the extremely popular Kynect.  Candidate Conway is part of the Bashear administration

So HOW Governor Steve Bashear, a supporter of same-sex marriage in spite of his 'primitive Baptist' family background handles the Kim Davis controversy is important to far more than the rule of law and the decision of the SCOTUS, in Kentucky.  While liberals call for Kim Davis to be impeached, the Kentucky governor with the Middle Eastern Muslim sounding name understands that is NOT the most effective way to promote justice and civil rights, as a practical matter.

Bashear knows that while in a rational society appreciates why government is and must remain secular, his legislature containing a 9 member Republican majority in the state senate and an 8 member Republican majority in the state House, won't do their job to ensure secularism.  Bashear is correct when he refers to calling a special election as a waste of money; it would also be politically stupid in the extreme.  Bashear is correct in relying on the courts to slowly and laboriously ensure civil rights for all adults seeking to marry legally in the state of Kentucky.

SHOULD the legislative branch do their job, and impeach Kim Davis. Yes. HELL yes. This should not have to go through the courts, but it is precisely because we have a belt-and-suspenders provision in our government not to rely on only one branch of government built into the system that it works.  And a person who understands the system, the intentionally designed features of our government, like Steve Bashear, uses them to govern effectively. 

The legislature at best would do nothing if called into special session; but at worst the legislature could very likely, in view of the current elections in progress, OBSTRUCT same sex marriage in Kentucky further, or at the very least make political hay for the right by attempting to do so and by turning this into more of a wedge issue than it currently is in the governor's race.

As of recent polls, the two leading candidates for governor were in a statistical tie.  Bashear is smart enough not to tip the boat in favor of the tea party candidate, but rather to let the provisions of government that keeps the Kim Davis issue safely in the hands of the court take it's course.... which will likely not be resolved until well after the 2015 elections for governor.


Given what he has done in Kentucky, democrats could do worse than put Bashear on the short lists for a possible VP running mate, especially if his successor in this election is another liberal.  He is a man who understands the practical function of government for good, which is I would argue the highest praise one can give a person in elected office.

Of Love and Lawn Mowers: Conservatives Don't Get Consent and Consciousness

Conservatives say stupid things they think are clever. 

The more extreme the Tea Bagger politics, usually the dumber and less insightful the comment.  Facts are not on the side of the radical right wingers like Rep. Steve King of Iowa in his opposition to same sex marriage equality.

Conservatives are consistently poor on understanding the law -- I would opine it is not that they are incapable, it is they don't want to understand it.  Conservatives are also sadly consistent in being insulting to not only gay people but to women generally, and to the very institution of marriage they claim to be defending.

Here is the latest from Rep. Steve King, consistent with his history of ill-conceived and stupid statements.  From Think Progress:

If You Want To Marry Your Lawnmower, Steve King Believes That’s Now Legal

Rep. Steve King (R-IA) is one of Congress’s most vocal opponents of marriage equality, and he hasn’t backed off since the Supreme Court ended the debate with its June decision in the Obergefell case. He’s proposed a resolution to have Congress reject the ruling because it “perverts the definition of marriage” and assert that states and businesses can refuse to recognize same-sex marriages. This week, he added some colorful rhetoric to punctuate his point.
As reported by journalist Matt Taibbi, while introducing Mike Huckabee at a campaign event on Thursday, King claimed that according to the Supreme Court’s ruling, “You can marry my lawnmower.”
This, however, was not even the first time King had contemplated lawnmower marriage. He’s actually been making the remark since just after the ruling came down. In late June, he was quoted as saying, “Their ruling really says anybody can marry anybody — and eventually it will be in any combination. I had a strong, Christian lawyer tell me yesterday that, under this decision that he has read, what it brings about is: It only requires one human being in this relationship — that you could marry your lawnmower with this decision. I think he’s right.”
King has a long history of making incendiary remarks about the LGBT community. He opposes nondiscrimination protections because he believes people will pretend to be gay in order to file suits; he called such protections “special rights for self-professed behavior.” If people are afraid of discrimination, he believes they should just hide their identities in the workplace so that nobody knows they’re gay in the first place. He thinks same-sex couples who want to marry are just friends, and he doesn’t expect to see any gay people in heaven.
Incidentally, Sen. Chuck Grassley, fellow Republican from Iowa and fellow opponent of same-sex marriage, was tweeting pictures Friday of a rig he set up to mow his lawn with three lawnmowers at the same time. His decision to highlight his marriage of three lawnmowers the day after King’s latest remarks may have just been a coincidence.

No one should have to live by hiding their identities in order to work, to have a place to live, or to be treated fairly and equally by any branch of government. I can think of no one less qualified to lecture anyone on who is and is not going to heaven than King, or his buddies in hate - and lies.

There is nothing in the SCOTUS decision that says a marriage only requires one human being.  There is nothing in the SCOTUS decision that says anyone can marry anyone either - marriage is still restricted to two people at a time, and there are still restrictions on matters such as age of consent, and biological relationships.  Incestuous relationships have not become legal by the most recent SCOTUS decision.

We have something similar from people like Rick Santorum, who make equally vile and offensive claims about bestiality -- which is, sadly, legal in some red-neck states, and which at least one teabagger politician has admitted to engaging.  Which sheds a little context on these holier than thou bigots, and explains were maybe they get their ideas about the evil sexual practices of others - from projecting their own behavior.  From the HuffPo:

For Senator Thad Cochran, Mississippi memories are neither sacred nor precious. Campaigning in Pine Belt, Miss., Senator Cochran recalled "fun" "adventures" roaming the Pine Belt countryside, "Picking up pecans... indecent things with animals." (Props to the Clarion Ledger's video proof.)

Here is the thing; lawn mowers and farm animals are just two groups that lack any capacity for consent.  So far as I can see, even the most rabid, drooling knuckle draggers DO acknowledge that same-sex marriage involves consent, as does sex between people who are not married.

Conservatives struggle with the concept of consent.  They have attempted for example to redefine the legal concept of rape to be only forcible rape. Everyone remembers Sen. Akin who insisted that any rape that resulted in pregnancy was not "legitimate rape".  That definition he and other teabaggers espoused of forcible rape would exclude any victim of statutory rape -- right wingers like the supposedly religious Duck Dynasty preacher encourages marriage to underage girls.  He recommends wives who are vulnerable and dependent and who are easily dominated and ordered around.  Donald Trump, accused of marital rape, used through his attorney that a husband cannot rape his wife as a defene of sexual assault.  And of course, we have seen too often the defense of rape of those who are drugged or otherwise unconscious that it is not rape if the victim did not say "No" due to incapacitation.  In conservative states, in fact, the legal age of consent has always been low, for either sex in the context of statutory rape or child marriage.

From OnTopMag:

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum claims that the Supreme Court's recent ruling striking down state bans on gay marriage proves his “man on dog” warning was correct.

In 2003, Santorum predicted that if the high court struck down state laws criminalizing sodomy in Lawrence v. Texas, then “you have the right to anything” including pedophilia and “man on dog” relationships.

...The decision “has certainly opened the door for a variety of other things that are going to happen,” he answered when asked whether the ruling would lead to polygamy.

It is hard to tell what the pervy consevatives actually believe or understand -- pervy because they pursue underage girls, commit adultery, and are consumers of porn to a greater degree than non-conservatives. 

Do they really believe we will have rampant bestiality?  Do they really think people will be able to marry garden equipment?  I doubt it, although some of the more gullible certainly do believe ridiculous things from figures like King and Santorum (the perennial presidential wannabee, not the other stuff dubbed with that name.  There are a LOT of poorly educated and highly propgandized folks on the right, who want to stay that way, an exercise in aggressive willful ignorance.

No, I think this is just their way of trying to denigrate and disparage and demean their fellow Americans, and to exploit the rabble for their profit.  However you parse it, it is ugly and should be beneath our political discourse.  It drags us down as a nation.  Shame on the right; shame shame SHAME.