Is it me, or did I witness this week a shameful exhibition of political grandstanding by someone seekingĀ the limelight on a stage being dominated by one or more of his many Republican presidential rivals?
There was Kim Davis, the Rowan County, Ky., clerk who was released from jail, where a judge had sent her for refusing to issue marriage licenses, which is her job as a public official.
I’m glad she’s out of jail. I just wish she’d quit her office, given that she cannot perform the duties required of her.
Then there was Mike Huckabee, a GOP presidential candidate, welcoming Davis to the podium upon her release. He then said he’d be willing to spend time in jail in her place. Take me to jail, he said. I’ll go in Kim’s place, he bellowed. She’s a victim of “judicial tyranny,” Huckabee said.
What a disgraceful exhibition of political showboating.
Davis is a victim of nothing other than a judge believing she needs to do the job she swore she would do. And the U.S. Supreme Court determined that the U.S. Constitution guarantees that all citizens are entitled to “equal protection under the law,” and that mean all citizens — regardless of their sexual orientation — are guaranteed the right to marry whomever they love.
DavisĀ believes she is being persecuted because of her Christian faith. No, ma’am. You aren’t. You are being asked to perform your job.
Then there’s Huckabee, interjecting himself directly into this debate by declaring his willingness to go to the slammer?
Give me a break, governor.
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Here’s a blog on the Kim Davis soap opera from a fellow former print journalist I’ve known for a number of years. Dan Radmacher nails it.