Matt Bevin, Civics Illiterate

Bogus Constitutional Conservative Matt Bevin did not know the difference between Article V of the Constitution and the 5th Amendment.  For real.  It looked like Jay Leno interviewing random people on the streets of Burbank rather than a serious candidate for U.S. Senate speaking at a Constitution Day public event.

Page One has the video, shot at UK's Constitution Day celebration.

Asked about Article V, Bevin clearly did not know that this constitutional provision provides for the process to amend the Constitution.  Instead, Bevin swaggered up to the microphone and condescends to his audience:  "How many of you have ever heard the term 'plead the fifth?'"

Rather than let Bevin step into it even further, Jesse Benton noted that "plead the fifth" refers to the 5th Amendment of the Bill of Rights, not Article V.

Bevin at that point gets testy about how we could all sit down and read the Constitution together and debate it or the like.

Bottom line:  to not be able to discern the difference between an article of the Constitution and an amendment to the Bill of Rights is just ignorant -- particularly for a guy running as the candidate who will supposedly restore our government to the Constitutional constraints established by the Framers.

It would be one thing if Bevin had mixed up the numbers of the various articles -- if he had mixed up Article IV with Article V.  However, his inability to understand that the basic structure of the Constitution and hence our government is predicated on its Articles suggests that he has not read the document carefully or recently, and has not thought about it deeply.

Again, this was a Constitution Day event.  A candidate who agrees to attend such event might be expected to have, uh, read the book in advance.  It's not that long.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell knows the Constitution -- and Senate procedure -- better than most Constitutional law professors (That would be you, Barry).

So trading McConnell for Bevin not only would deprive Kentucky of McConnell's seniority and influence, it would be a literal brain drain for the Republican caucus.  The difference is a Senator who can out-fox Harry Reid -- and a Senator who has to sing "I'm Just a Bill on Capitol Hill" to remember how to introduce legislation.

Bevin's fancy prep school, the Gould Academy,  might have a great snow boarding team, but the government class, apparently, not so much.  No wonder the guy is so insecure about not having gone to MIT.

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