Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear finds himself at the center of another controversy over his statements on MSNBC.
Beshear spoke on Monday night at the Democratic National Convention and parroted a talking point accusing GOP Vice Presidential Nominee J.D. Vance of saying that pregnancy resulting from rape is "inconvenient". Then, on Tuesday morning on MSNBC's "Morning Joe", he echoed the same statement saying "Inconvenience is traffic, make him go through this."
Vance responded on X and said, "What the hell is this? Why is Andy Beshear wishing that a member of my family would get raped?!? What a disgusting person."
Later in the day, Beshear "tripled down" by reiterating the claim of "inconvenience" by suggesting he was trying to suggest Vance put himself in the shoes of someone in the difficult position of facing pregnancy from rape, not that Beshear was calling for someone in the Senator's family to experience it directly. Beshear said that Vance was "deflecting" and trying to become a "victim."
Beshear's spin on the comments drew swift criticism from female Kentucky State Senators. Senators Shelley Funke Frommeyer of Alexandria, Adrienne Southworth of Lawrenceburg, and Lindsey Tichenor of Smithfield called on Beshear to apologize for the statements and said in a joint statement that they "were shocked to hear Governor Andy Beshear embarrass Kentucky on the national stage this morning."
The Senators went on to say, "It is past time for Andy Beshear to put his shameless and embarrassing political ambitions aside, issue an unconditional apology to those he has insulted, and reassess his role as the governor of our commonwealth."
For context, in a PBS article from July 15th, that organization posted the actual quotes from a 2022 interview with Vance following the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Vance said, "Two wrongs don’t make a right. At the end of day, we are talking about an unborn baby. What kind of society do we want to have? A society that looks at unborn babies as inconveniences to be discarded?”
Vance was pressed about exceptions and said, “The question portrays a certain presumption that is wrong. It’s not whether a woman should be forced to bring a child to term, it’s whether a child should be allowed to live, even though the circumstances of that child’s birth are somehow inconvenient or a problem to the society.”
Beshear's first MSNBC controversy stemmed from him questioning how many people actually drink Diet Mountain Dew after Vance made a comment about the drink at a rally. Turns out lots of people drink Diet Mountain Dew, as Beshear apologized to the company at a Team Kentucky Update. In fact, both Vance and Democrat Vice-Presidential pick Tim Walz drink it.
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Screen capture from MSNBC's "Morning Joe"
