Posted on 09/03/2015 5:16:38 PM PDT by markomalley
The Kentucky county clerk who is jailed because she will not issue marriage licenses to gay couples has a lot of fans among the Republican presidential hopefuls.
Social conservatives nationally have strongly backed Rowan County clerk Kim Davis, who has defied a U.S. District judge’s order to issue the licenses. The Republican contenders, meantime, are hoping to use the incident to bolster their credentials with a powerful primary voting bloc.
Most of the candidates have strongly backed Rowan County clerk Kim Davis, who was jailed Thursday after defying a U.S. District judge’s order to issue the licenses, while only two have sided against her.
“I stand with Kim Davis. Unequivocally,” Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said in a statement to reporters Thursday. “I stand with every American that the Obama Administration is trying to force to chose between honoring his or her faith or complying with a lawless court decision.”
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee linked Davis’ story to his broader concerns over religion in America.
“Kim Davis in federal custody removes all doubts about the criminalization of Christianity in this country,” he tweeted. “We must defend #ReligiousLiberty!”
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, who has long called for resolving the debate over gay marriage by getting government out of the licensing business, also defended Davis.
“I think it’s absurd to put someone in jail for exercising their religious liberty,” he told CNN. “If you want to convince people that same-sex marriage is something that’s acceptable, I would say try to persuade people. But if we’re going to use the federal government … it’s going to harden people’s resolve on this issue.”
But other contenders called for compromise, suggesting that there might be some way to resolve the tension between Davis’ religious beliefs and the gay couples seeking marriage licenses.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie told reporters that “the smart thing to do would be to move her to another job,” while Florida Sen. Marco Rubio told the New York Times before Davis was jailed that “there should be a way to protect the religious freedom” of court clerks.
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina were the only two candidates to say that she was in the wrong, although they too said they respected where she was coming from.
“The rule of law is the rule of law. That’s what we are. We are a rule of law nation, and I appreciate her conviction. I support traditional marriage, but she’s accepted a job where she has to apply the law to everyone. And that’s her choice,” Graham told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt on Tuesday.
In a separate interview with Hewitt Tuesday, Fiorina drew a distinction between Davis and bakers and florists who have cited their religious beliefs when denying gay customers seeking wedding services.
“Is she prepared to continue to work for the government, be paid for by the government, in which case she needs to execute the government’s will, or does she feel so strongly about this that she wants to sever her employment with the government and go seek employment elsewhere,” she said.
Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, meantime, ducked the issue in a Thursday afternoon press conference.
“I don’t know enough about it to comment on it. Was she jailed? I really don’t know much about it,” he said.
On the Democratic side, there was little debate. Frontrunner Hillary Clinton had little sympathy for Davis or her position.
“Marriage equality is the law of the land. Officials should be held to their duty to uphold the law—end of story,” she tweeted Thursday.
What law?
Hillary Clinton - not in jail
Bill Clinton - never did jail time for perjury
Lois Lerner - not in jail
Planned Parenthood selling dead babies - not in jail.
I could go on, but you all get the point.
Things have turned real bad, really fast.
We won, end of debate, it is settled law - err, umm, just as soon as someone gets around to actually writing the appropriate law and, umm, using some creative writing skills on the dictionary, and, umm - well, it's the LAW, 'cept it isn't.
“Marriage equality is the law of the land. Officials should be held to their duty to uphold the law—end of story,”
Laws are made in the legislature NOT the courts
C'mon Jim, you don't expect Linda Gramnesty to have rational comments, do you?
It’s against the law to be a Christian in Barack Hussein Obama’s America.
We have laws about who passes laws in the US, and in the State's jurisdictions.
So, who passed the law to which the Senator refers?
What law?
Apparently, Fiorini has never heard of the Article VI.
Playing right into the Muslim hand. The Muslims and the queers have formed an unholy and evil alliance. This is what the devil does.
Hillary says the clerk must follow the “rule of law”.
But Julio and Julietta no need to follow gringo law. Law for us but not for them. What kind of upside down world do we live in?/S
Ms. Davis is following Kentucky law as it exists, not as some Federal jurist wishes it was written.
lol....if thats true....Shes looking at life in prison or worse...Good words to bring up at her trial...(wishful thinking i know....)
Got your point loud and clear.
“Got your point loud and clear.”
Did you?
Yeah.....
I’m sure you didn’t. You can apologize after you read my posts.
What are you talking about?
I’m not apologizing to you.
Are you being snarky?
Over 2 million years in the pokey just for 30k counts of breaking the Sarbanes/Oxley rules (which she voted for when she was a senator).
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