Gatewood: A Pretty Flower With A Fatal Sting

Between not just allowing Big Coal to destroy eastern Kentucky's land, water, communities and families but praising them for it, and handing millions of tax dollars to every freakazoid con man with a plausible story, Gov. Steve Beshear sure is giving a hell of an impression of somebody who wants to make sure that no liberal ever votes for him again.

Media Czech reviews an option:

Since Steve Beshear doesn't want your vote (and for you to be on his damned back), it looks like this guy would at least take it, if you were willing to give it:

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Independent Gatewood Galbraith differentiated himself Thursday from all other Kentucky gubernatorial candidates by taking a strong stand against mountaintop removal mining.

Galbraith told The Associated Press that the practice has caused "unsurpassed environmental damage" in Appalachia and should not be permitted to continue.

"It is too large a cost for the extraction of coal," he said Thursday. "I'm for coal, but mountaintop removal is the most wasteful, unsustainable method for extracting coal. It destroys an ecological heritage that belongs to all of Kentucky."

Of course, you might have block from your memory some of the things he's said about abortion...

Seriously though, do you think that Beshear even wants your (liberals) vote? If anyone has any evidence that he does, please feel free to share it with us.

Yes, perennial candidate Gatewood (like "Mitch," he is known by just his first name) has long been an option for disaffected dems willing to overlook his gun fetish.

Last month, Ralph Long posted a persuasive analysis arguing that as an independent, Gatewood could take advantage of the teabaggers splitting the republican vote and widespread dem disgust with Beshear to actually win the governorship in November.

Governor Galbraith would be a hoot and a half ... for the half of the population without uteruses, that is.

In August 2009, Media Czech interviewed Gatewood at Fancy Farm on the subject of abortion.

Long story short, his liberatarianism stops at the vagina's edge.

I ran into Gatewood Galbraith and had one heck of a conversation. The one thing about Gatewood that most of his supporters don't know is that Mr. Freedom is actually anti-choice when it comes to abortion. I've cast a couple protest votes for Gatewood in my day and didn't realize this until recently. I wanted to figure out just how anti-choice he is, so I went through the same series of question that I usually do with folks who protest abortion clinics and have rallies with giant pictures of aborted fetuses. When asked whether abortion should be legal or illegal, he strongly said illegal, except in cases of rape. I asked if he thought it was murder, and he again gave a strong yes. I asked, if the law was totally up to him, would these women be charged with this crime as murder, and he again said yes, it is the murder of a human being. I asked him if that would be pretty harsh, having the government lock you away for ending your pregnancy, and he further elaborated that if these women didn't want a baby, they should have thought about that before they had sex, i.e., the old "sluts should pay the price" argument that we know and love so well here at B&P. I seriously wasn't expecting this. At all.

I asked him how this position jived with his whole "freedom" rhetoric, that the government should control what women do with their own body. He again went back to the "she should have thought about that before she had sex" line, then talked about the "rights" of fertilized eggs. When I repeatedly pressed to him that a government policy like this would likely mean women given life in prison or the death penalty, he kind of wavered a bit towards the end, possibly realizing he sounded a bit.... nutty. I hope to G-d he was just altered at the time.

I asked him if he supported emergency contraception (morning after pill), and he had the gall to say that he didn't, because this is no different than an abortion. This, my friends, is just plain ignorant and fanatical. He also noted (or perhaps this was Dea) that he felt this way because he is "Catholic". He apparently didn't get the irony when he emphasized to me, quite strongly, when discussing the criminal punishment for abortion, that he is a big supporter of the death penalty.

Don't you just love selective Catholicism?

Even though I grilled him pretty damn good on abortion, he was at least a good sport and didn't duck any questions, and gave me a copy of his book. But yea....

(UPDATE: Gatewood is now saying that I "made up" the entire conversation, accusing me of "slander". Hilarious. As fanatical as he sounded, I can't say that I blame him for lying about it)

I then spoke with his running mate, Dea Riley, and informed her about what Gatewood just told me about abortion. The look on her face was priceless when she said "oh did he now?" .....one of the highlights of my day. I truly truly truly felt sorry for Dea, but she gave a very smartly worded answer to me in a damned tough situation. (UPDATE: Dea is now jumping on the slander bandwagon. Fanning the flames, not smart!)

Wondering what Gatewood's official position on abortion is? Good luck finding one. His official campaign website covers ten issues, from taxes to agriculture to "gaming" and including the federal deficit and the military - about which the governor has no influence - but not a whisper about abortion. Or gay rights for that matter.

Long's right that Gatewood is by far the smartest candidate and the only one addressing real issues facing Kentuckians. The problem is that anyone who views adult females like retarded children who cannot make their own decisions is not someone who can be trusted with the welfare of the Commonwealth.