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.
Why is there a law against cock fighting? The fighting of male chickens is in their genes.
In humane? What does that have to do with it? how is it inhumane? That is purely in the mind of the person, not the cock.
Cruelty to animals? Why is it cruel to let them do what they apparently lke to do.
The loser is not wasted. The loser is eaten
Leni
Leni
To my knowledge there are only laws against cockfighting organized by humans.
It's normal for the roosters to fight when they want to for their own motivations and in their own natural surroundings as opposed to forcing them to fight in a phony setup created by humans strictly for human entertainment.
Thanks!
AAAAAAUUGH!! While I understand the underlying point that Matt Bevin was trying to make about states rights, the optics of appearing at a pro-cockfighting rally is going to make him look REALLY bad to voters. What on earth was he thinking by speaking at an event that sponsors an illegal activity I imagine most Americans find reprehensible (myself included)??
Well, it looks like we may now end up stuck with the linguini-spined RINO McConnell for another six years (assuming he can even defeat his Democrat opponent) as Bevin will no doubt get hammered over his incredible lapse of judgment. DAMN IT!!
I agree with you.
I wouldn’t be caught dead around a cock fight even if I was gay.
Cockfighting is a sick “sport”, and those that enjoy it are a tad off kilter themselves, IMO. You can tell the character of the man by the company he keeps.
A “Gamefowl Defense Network” rally? There’s not one person in this thread who would see that and assume it was a cockfighting rally. Nor is there anyone who would see the name of that group and suspect it of being anything more than an association of hunters and farmers. Anyone here would have gone and made the speech, leaving the details to their staff.
Bevin’s mistake here was addressing the issue of cockfighting at all after the rally. He should have emphasized the name of the group, denied knowing it had anything to do with bird fighting and fired every person responsible for scheduling the appearance.
Todd Akin II. What an idiot!
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