The First Culling of the Herd

You've heard of Kim Davis.  She's the County Clerk in Kentucky who refuses to issue marriage licenses to gay couples because of her religious beliefs.  I had an initial post about this and you can read it here.  To me and most law abiding citizens she is clearly in the wrong.  The Supreme Court has spoken.  Gay marriage is the law of the land.  Ms Davis is a governmental official.  She has an obligation to uphold the law.  Full stop.  If she can't she should resign.  She can't be fired because she's an elected official.  And the voters in Kentucky are unlikely to impeach her.  But there is some other nefarious stuff going on.  She inherited the job from her mother.  Her son is a deputy.  She has been married 4 times and only recently had her religious conversion.  So I suspect she's thinking about her payday as she sits in jail waiting for this all to be over.

But now the inevitable political fallout starts.  This is an easy opportunity for Republicans to shoot themselves in the foot.  NPR has a summary of their positions (with my opinion added in red):

Presidential Candidates Take Sides On Support For Kentucky Clerk

SEPTEMBER 04, 201512:05 PM ET

Carly Fiorina: "We must protect religious liberties with great passion ... Having said that, when you are a government employee, I think you take on a different role. When you are a government employee as opposed to say, an employee of another kind of organization, then in essence, you are agreeing to act as an arm of the government." No problem

Lindsey Graham: "This Supreme Court case is binding on her actions as a public official in Kentucky." no problem.  but he's irrelevant (as a candidate) anyway.

John Kasich: Asked about the issue by the Washington Post, Kasich said, "I've taken my position on it." A spokesman later said he was referring to his reaction to the Supreme Court's same-sex marriage decision earlier this summer. No problem

Donald Trump: "You have to go with it. The decision's been made, and that is the law of the land." no problem

Jeb Bush: "[Davis] is sworn to uphold the law and it seems to me there ought to be common ground, there ought to be big enough space for her to act on her conscience and for, now that the law is the law of the land, for a gay couple to be married in whatever jurisdiction that is." Jeb trying to have it both ways.  too wishy-washy.  adds to the growing sentiment that he's toast

Ted Cruz: "I stand with Kim Davis, unequivocally." dumb.  will lose him votes 

Mike Huckabee: "I want people to stand up for their convictions." dumb.  will lose him votes

Rand Paul: "I think it's absurd to put someone in jail for exercising their religious liberty." dumb. will lose him votes

Bobby Jindal: "Even rich New Yorkers should oppose jailing Christians for their religious beliefs." dumb. will lose him the few votes he has

Scott Walker: "In the end, this is the balance that you gotta have to have in America, between the laws that are out there, but ultimately ensuring that the Constitution is upheld ... I read that the Constitution is very clear that people have freedom of religion — you have the freedom to practice religious beliefs out there, it's a fundamental right." like many things he says, it's incoherent

The candidates all have to take a stand on various issues of the day.  This is one of them.  It can be a bit of tightrope.  But it seems to me that this is one of those issues, whether they know it or not, that will start to winnow the field.  Several of these guys are seriously out of step with the majority of Americans.