Shouldn't Candidates Who Are Confident of Victory Not Act Deranged? See KY Governor's Race.

OK.  My mood took a nose dive when I saw this last public poll in Kentucky on the upcoming governor’s race:

Mason-Dixon poll: Matt Bevin and Andy Beshear tied in race for Kentucky's governor

A new survey conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy shows Republican Gov. Matt Bevin and Democratic Attorney General Andy Beshear deadlocked in Kentucky's gubernatorial race, with the election just three weeks away.

Mason-Dixon interviewed 625 registered and likely voters from Oct. 10-13 for the poll, which found Bevin and Beshear tied at 46% each.

One percent of respondents indicated they intend to vote for Libertarian candidate John Hicks, while 7% were still undecided.

While more respondents in the poll disapproved of Bevin's performance as governor and had an unfavorable opinion of him, one advantage for Bevin in the closing weeks of the campaign is the 57% approval rating for President Donald Trump — who many expect to visit Kentucky and stump for the governor at least once before Election Day on Nov. 5.

Bevin has been hammering about immigrants and the radical government takeover of healthcare.  It is not like Beshear isn’t fighting back.  But Bevin has done the smart play and tied himself to the mast on the U.S.S. Trump.

Now, I tried to console myself with the fact that Mason-Dixon is biased or definitely has a Republican lean (538 poll ratings).  But I admit to being, “Oh fuck no!  Not again!”  Matt Bevin is Kentucky’s Trump.  Another four years of him is too terrible to contemplate.

I was trying to gird myself for this upcoming disaster, when I read Al Cross’s column on the latest debate between Bevin and Beshear and Bevin’s post debate press conference.  I didn’t get to see it because it was the same night as the last Democratic Presidential Candidates Debate on CNN.  From what I can read, it was a sight to behold.

Opinion: Gov. Matt Bevin sounded like a flailing loser after governor's debate

Seeing as it is behind a paywall, I will steal as much of this column as I can.

Bevin made perhaps his best-known remark on April 13, 2018, after the legislature controlled by his own party overrode his vetoes of tax and budget bills, amid a protest by teachers whose sickout caused many school districts to cancel classes on short notice.

He said, “I guarantee you somewhere in Kentucky today, a child was sexually assaulted that was left at home because there was nobody there to watch them. I guarantee you somewhere today, a child was physically harmed or ingested poison because they were left alone because a single parent didn’t have any money to take care of them.”

When asked about this comment during the press conference, this is what Bevin had to say:

“Do any of you truly believe that when children are left home unattended that bad things don’t happen to them? Do any of you really believe that? That’s what I said. I said when children are left home alone unattended, they’re exposed to drugs, they are sexually assaulted, that they’re exposed to things that are bad for them.”

As Al Cross points out, this is not what Bevin said.  He said “I guarentee…”  No proof whatsover.  And when pressed on this issue, he blamed the media.

“Teachers were nowhere in that commentary; their names were never invoked,” Bevin said, adding later, “For people to then conflate that into saying it was a direct attack on them, and for you all to carry that water, which was an absolute, blatant lie … get the actual question that was asked, and the full answer, and you will realize that what you’re alluding to and what you’re asking about is not based on anything I actually said. It’s based on falsehoods that many of you have reported, and that people enjoyed hearing, because it fit a narrative that they wanted.”…

Bevin ended Tuesday night’s presser by telling the reporters, “I know you’re voting for the other guy. … You can continue to carry water for the next two and a half, three weeks, for those of you that are doing it, and you can ask half-baked things. … But at the end of the day, the people of Kentucky deserve better than that. They deserve the truth, and for the next four years, you’re gonna realize that things are shifting, and you can either come along board and actually report on the news, or you can continue to try to twist and fabricate.”

Beshear has been running ads with Bevin’s soundbites trashing the state’s teachers.  And maybe it is getting to him.  And I can’t help but think that maybe private polling isn’t going so well for Bevin.  Otherwise, if you were moving up in the polls and feeling confident of an electoral victory, why act crazy?