According to The Hartford Courant today, Governor Malloy had this to say about another sitting governor: “Listen, I think [Gov. Pence] is trying to cover his tracks,” Malloy said. “I think what he should be saying is, ‘If you want your employees to be forced to live in a state with a bigoted governor, come to Indiana.’ ”

Dear Governor Malloy, enough is enough — it’s time to let it go.

So Connecticut got zinged by Indiana on business climate. As many commenters have noted, turnabout is fair play. Regardless, RFRA is a moot point in Indiana: the bullies won, the law as originally written was gutted and replaced with something far less protective. Gratuitous slurring doesn’t make one look tough, it makes one look small.

This is exactly what the Republican-American meant when, four days after an editorial referring to Malloy’s attack ad against FIC, it editorialized again about “the governor’s propensity for using incendiary and bizarre rhetoric” and called his conduct “a disgrace to his high office.”  We’re dismayed that little has changed. We might suggest taking a cue from Patrick Stewart, who earlier this month gracefully defended freedom of speech and religion even when at odds with his personal beliefs, and who seems to understand what is really at stake.

Part of the shame also belongs to publications like the Courant:

…First, for playing Skinner to Governor Malloy’s pigeon and rewarding such unbecoming behavior. It’s not hard to understand why our governor continues to harp on this: it gets him on the front page.

11427744_10206300768094691_5409268292144790275_n 

…Second, for perpetuating the discredited (by, among others, FRC’s Peter Sprigg, in the Waterbury Republican-American) idea that Indiana’s RFRA was a blank check to deny services to gay and lesbian customers rather than a protection against forced complicity in same-sex marriages, or that it did any more than supply a usable defense for a business facing a lawsuit — much less guarantee a win.

Enough name-calling. Governor Malloy, do put a speedy end to this ugly episode in Connecticut politics.