‘This nitwit governor.’ Al Roker calls out Matt Bevin over ‘soft’ comment on cold, schools.
Count NBC meteorologist Al Roker among those who was not happy with comments Gov. Matt Bevin made Tuesday.
In an interview with WHAS radio host Terri Meiners, Bevin said canceling schools for cold weather is an indication that “we’re getting soft.”
Schools and universities closed throughout the state Wednesday due to extreme cold. Wind chills reached minus-20 degrees today in parts of Kentucky Wednesday, which led Roker to speak his mind about Bevin’s comments Wednesday morning on MSNBC and NBC’s ‘Today.’
“This nitwit governor in Kentucky, saying, ‘Oh, we’re weak,’” Roker said on MSNBC. “These are kids who are going to be in sub-zero wind chills. No, cancel school. Stop it. Adults, if they want to be out there, that’s great. These are our children. I’m glad you’re not a teacher.
“In Kentucky, it’s 7 degrees right now,” he later said on ‘Today.’ “The wind chill is going to be even worse in parts of Kentucky. These are dangerous temperatures and there is no point in having kids out there.”
Roker took the side of many people in Kentucky who felt Bevin’s remarks were not kind.
Adam Edelen, a candidate for Governor of Kentucky, said Tuesday, “I wish there were better words to describe things our governor says than, ‘dumb and mean.’ But there aren’t...”
Wednesday, Edelen encouraged Kentucky residents to buy coats for children in need and listed places throughout Kentucky that are accepting coats.
Attorney General Andy Beshear, also running for governor, said Bevin’s comments “are another example of what this givernor is not fit for office.”
Secretary of State Alison Grimes also joined the call to help children in need. She tweeted several locations throughout the state where coats can be donated to “make sure no child stands in the cold.”
WHAS radio host Terry Meiners brought up the topic of school closings when Bevin visited with him on-air Tuesday afternoon. Meiners commented that Bevin would be up late with his kids Tuesday night because there would be no school Wednesday.
“Now we cancel school for cold,” Bevin responded.
“It’s deep freeze!” Meiners said. “This is serious business.”
“C’mon now,” Bevin replied. “There’s no ice going with it or any snow. I mean, what happened to America? We’re getting soft, Terry. We’re getting soft.”
Bevin went on to say a few moments later, “It’s better to err on the side of being safe, and I’m being only slightly facetious. But it does concern me a little bit that, in America, on this and any number of other fronts, we’re sending messages to our young people that if life is hard, you can curl up in the fetal position somewhere in a warm place and just wait until it stops being hard, and that isn’t reality. It just isn’t.”
Doug Stafford, the chief strategist for U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, said Bevin should “hush.”
“Kids have to sit on bus stops and or walk a mile or more in that,” he said. “No one wants to hear your old man stories about walking uphill both ways in that when you were a kid.”
Jessica Duenas, a Louisville teacher who was awarded Kentucky’s 2019 Teacher of the Year, encouraged Bevin to go outside for 30 minutes as if he’s waiting for a school bus, dressed as a student.
“How about you give one of our students your jackets, and you stand outside in that cold, since you’re being so hard,” she said.
WKYT Chief Meteorologist Chris Bailey said there is nothing soft about canceling schools, citing numbers from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
“About 2,000 people die from weather related events each year in the U.S. 63% of the deaths were related to cold temps., 31% from heat and 6% from tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, severe storms/lightning,” he said.
This story was originally published January 30, 2019 at 12:57 PM.