Credit where it's due, yes. And that's not here

In a syndicated column published in the Knoxville News-Sentinel, Jay Ambrose tells us that Kim Davis hasn't been given credit for things. He says she has "never discriminated against homosexuals wanting marriage licenses. She has not prevented their marriage plans" and that "Whatever her shortcomings, she has also honestly sought an answer that would work for everyone."

He then hares off comparing her situation to how Denver thought about not letting Chik-Fil-A have a concession in the airport, two totally unrelated issues (yes, it's true: there's no Constitutional right to be able to get a business location!) in the standard conservative's bait-and-switch, but when he does come back to her, he asserts

Yes, she had the right to heed her beliefs, but her official duties resided elsewhere and an answer was to resign. That being said, what she did was not discriminatory; she also refused licenses to heterosexual couples. Her actions did not upend wedding plans; couples could easily cross county lines to get the licenses from other clerks.

Let's pass over the pretence that she's not discriminating by refusing to do her job totally instead of partially. Instead, let me ask Mr Ambrose how much he'd like to drive to the next county to pay his electricity bill or get his driver's license renewed because the county clerk had religious objections to people using power on the Lord's Day or women driving. The people of that county don't pay Kim Davis her handsome salary so that they can get their services one county over.

And let's also ask him just what would happen if every clerk in Kentucky took her stand.

Even he admits that "It is wholly unacceptable at this point to keep marriage licenses from gays, and she may yet have to consider giving up her livelihood." But he still thinks she's some kind of level-headed rational hero.