Matt Bevin, left, is challenging incumbent Mitch McConnell in the
race to be the GOP's nominee in Kentucky's U.S. Senate race.
Posted on 04/02/2014 3:50:24 PM PDT by smoothsailing
April 2, 2014
Matt Bevin, left, is challenging incumbent Mitch McConnell in the
race to be the GOP's nominee in Kentucky's U.S. Senate race.
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Matt Bevin believes the legality of cockfighting should be decided by states and not the federal government, his spokeswoman said Wednesday following a news report that Bevin attended a pro-cockfighting rally over the weekend.
"Matt doesn't believe this is a federal issue, and the state government can handle it," said Rachel Semmel, Bevin's spokeswoman.
The News Journal in Corbin reported Wednesday that Bevin, who is seeking to defeat Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in the May 20 primary, spoke to about 700 people at an event in Corbin last Saturday that was organized by Michael Devereaux, director of the Gamefowl Defense Network.
Bevin told the newspaper that he didn't know he had attended a pro-cockfighting rally, although organizers told the paper there was "never any ambiguity" about the purpose of the event, which was to rally support for changing laws that outlaw cockfighting.
Bevin said he though the event was a rally for states' rights. He spoke to the crowd in the morning before attending the county's Lincoln Day dinner that night.
"I was the first person to speak and then I left," Bevin said. "They knew I was here. They asked if I would be interested in speaking. I'm a politician running statewide, any chance I get to speak to a few hundred people I'm going to take it."
Semmel's statement about Bevin's belief that cockfighting is a state issue came in response to a question about whether the candidate supports the controversial practice, in which two roosters often fight to the death in a ring called a cockpit. She did not respond to a follow-up question asking again whether Bevin personally supports the practice.
The McConnell campaign, which has repeatedly accused Bevin of dishonesty, was skeptical that Bevin didn't know the purpose of Saturday's event.
"Only Matt Bevin would go to a cockfighting rally and claim he didn't know what they were doing there," McConnell spokeswoman Allison Moore said.
As the Herald-Leader reported in February, McConnell enraged cockfighting enthusiasts when he voted earlier this year in favor of farm legislation that contained an amendment making it a federal crime to be a spectator at an animal fight. In response, a McConnell spokesman said a representative of the senator's would be willing to sit with the group and hear their concerns.
The new law makes attending a cockfight or dogfight a federal misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in prison and $100,000 fine. It makes bringing a minor to such fights a federal felony, punishable by up to three years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The penalties included in the new federal law put serious teeth into what is already criminal activity, although Kentucky law enforcement officials have rarely cited individuals for the misdemeanor offense.
He sounds like a chooch!!
He’s right. It is a state issue.
Maybe so, but is that the issue he wants to highlight during his campaign?
Well that’s gonna cost him.
Why would any serious candidate attend a “pro-cockfighting rally”?
Precisely. He is right, but it was a foolish comment. I hope he learns from that mistake.
Is he highlightening this in his ads or is he focusing in those ads on fiscal issues and Mcconnel’s incompetence?
When he loses the primary, he’ll get picked up by the Jets.
Thanks smoothsailing.
Yet another talking point served up to the dems. Doesn’t matter if it’s a state issue or not, people regard cockfighting in the same vein as dogfighting.
He sounds like an idiot to me.
.
It is a state issue. He’s also one dumb sob for going to a cockfighting rally. You know that this is going into a campaign ad, making him look like something else that beings with that word.
.......BANG!
Like so many others rushed to the forefront, Bevin has simply proven he’s not ready for prime time.
You know McConnell is now going to start highlighting it in his ads. Couldn't Bevins have done something non-controversial like talking about "legitimate rape"?
If you are running for office, even in Kentucky, the last thing you want people to think of when they hear your name is "cockfighting."
He’s trying to make inroads in to the illegal alien vote.
“I hope he learns from that mistake.”
For this Senate race, Bevin’s toast. Next.
Cockfight?
I wasn’t even aware that such a thing legally went on in a first world country.
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