It was bad enough when Matt Bevin was lying to Kentuckians about himself. His refusal to tell the truth about his chronic failure to pay his taxes, his financial scandals and his tax returns were all early and damning reminders of why Republicans have labeled him an "East Coast Con Man."
But over the past few weeks, Bevin has done something just as bad: he's lied to us about where he stands on some of the most critical issues facing our Commonwealth - and in the process he's shown once again why Kentuckians cannot trust him.
As Sam Youngman of the Lexington Herald-Leader wrote, "On issue after issue, Bevin is reversing himself and blaming the media for mistaking straight-aways for u-turns...Bevin has been all over the map on health care, early childhood education, public-private partnerships for infrastructure, and his rocky past with Mitch McConnell. And that's not even a comprehensive list."
When pressed for his stance on these policy areas that will shape the future of our Commonwealth for generations, Bevin looks us in the eye and he lies - displaying a level of delusional conviction that should remind Kentuckians that he lacks both the character and integrity to serve as our next governor.
Even conservatives are taking notice. Sen. McConnell's biographer John David Dyche recently wrote "If Bevin's condition is not 'pathological' as U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell's campaign said it was last year and Democrats say now, it is nonetheless a quite remarkable phenomenon."
And when Bevin has been confronted about his dishonesty, he acts like a fussy two-year old: lashing out at reporters and stubbornly denying that he ever said what we all clearly heard.
That's why last week Kentucky Democrats released a new web advertisement highlighting Bevin's rampant duplicity in his own words. Because for Bevin, there can be no denying what is so clearly preserved on videotape.
"Absolutely. No question about it. I would reverse that immediately," says Bevin, when asked about the Medicaid expansion that has brought healthcare to hundreds of thousands of Kentucky residents. Now, he denies he ever uttered these words.
"We've spent 170 billion dollars on something that serves no purpose," says Bevin, when asked about his support for critical early childhood education programs like Head Start. Now, he claims that any suggestion he opposes early childhood education is "baloney."
This video reverberated across the Commonwealth and garnered tens of thousands of views and shares because it pierces the charade that Bevin has tried to construct.
Bevin's act is one of a Con Man who is willing to do and say anything to help himself, but it's not the kind of behavior we deserve from our next governor, whose words we will have to trust on the issues that impact literally every Kentucky resident.
For Bevin, this videotape reveals a simple truth: he was either lying then or he is lying now. Either way, we cannot trust him to lead our state.