KY Gov. Condemned for Wildly Speculating About Kids Being ‘Sexually Assaulted’ During Teacher Rallies
Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin on the teacher rallies today. “I guarantee you somewhere in Kentucky today a child was sexually assaulted that was left at home because there was nobody there to watch them.” pic.twitter.com/Q4PpzFsTt2
— Marcus Green (@MarcusGreenWDRB) April 13, 2018
Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin made some pretty shocking remarks yesterday when asked about ongoing teacher rallies.
Teachers in the state came together at the state capitol yesterday for a “day of action” protesting the governor’s veto of a budget bill increasing funding for schools. His veto was overturned by lawmakers.
When Governor Bevin was asked about the rallies, he made some incredibly shocking comments (video above):
“I saw a lot of people hanging out, shoes off… smoking, hanging out, leaving trash around, taking the day off. You know, here’s what’s crazy to me. You know how many hundreds of thousands of children today were left home alone? I guarantee you somewhere in Kentucky today a child was sexually assaulted that was left at home because there was nobody there to watch them. I guarantee you somewhere today a child was physically harmed or ingested poison because they were home alone because a single parent didn’t have any money to take care of them.”
He expressed how appalled he was that people “discarded what’s truly best for children,” claiming that there were people who knew so many children were home and “took advantage of that.”
The governor naturally received a lot of condemnation for wildly speculating about this:
So we need to keep children in school to prevent them from being raped at home? Truly Bevin is a genius of argumentation. https://t.co/ahtDrz5CBz
— John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) April 14, 2018
wait what https://t.co/R2YxEXuyti
— b-boy bouiebaisse (@jbouie) April 14, 2018
Siri, what is the creepiest thing said today? https://t.co/C7n8sgBRm1
— Michael Brendan Dougherty (@michaelbd) April 14, 2018
Well, from a single verbal joust on a single issue in a single political moment,I just learned a single thing about the governor of Kentucky: He's a vicious, despicable bastard. https://t.co/58FeLfGMpp
— David Simon (@AoDespair) April 14, 2018
WHAT THE EVERLOVING HELL https://t.co/50I1hTD46q
— Anne Helen Petersen (@annehelen) April 14, 2018
Stop undermining social services then, because schools close on weekends, holidays & summers. Guess what happens to at risk kids then? https://t.co/hz44ftSLCj
— Mikki Kendall (@Karnythia) April 14, 2018
Powerful comment from teacher, re Bevin's comments: "It's almost weaponizing sexual assault against children to try to take down teachers."
— Linda Blackford (@lbblackford) April 14, 2018
I can’t understand how anyone could support Matt Bevin at this point.
And for many who did, this might be the last straw https://t.co/n35GQ9RXOi
— Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) April 14, 2018
Even the office of the Kentucky Attorney General denounced his “morally reprehensible” remarks:
1/3 “Gov. Bevin’s comments last night saying teachers rallying in Frankfort led to children being sexually abused are morally reprehensible and must be condemned by all Kentuckians.
— KY Attorney General (@kyoag) April 14, 2018
2/3 The Office of the Attorney General fights every day to protect our children and has arrested a record number of predators and human traffickers. Our prevention training efforts have reached more than 3,000 Kentuckians.
— KY Attorney General (@kyoag) April 14, 2018
3/3 If we want to create a world without child abuse, we cannot tolerate the governor’s comments.” —Attorney General Andy Beshear, chair of the Kentucky Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Prevention Board
— KY Attorney General (@kyoag) April 14, 2018
[image via screengrab]
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