But the damage has already been done: Several media analysts and lawmakers had already seized on Nixon’s remarks and questioned whether the governor had chosen a side in the ongoing investigation.

“It’s really heartbreaking to see a man elected to an office that high in our state government, the chief executive of Missouri state government, come out with a statement like that that does prejudge the case,” Missouri Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, a Republican, said in an interview Tuesday.

So it appears that when he’s not shirking his responsibilities and hiding from a situation that requires some form of leadership, Nixon is jamming his foot in his mouth all the way up to the knee.

Missouri’s governor has proven in the case of Ferguson to be incompetent, flailing, inattentive, fumbling and paralyzed by the events around him. He has failed entirely to take control of the situation, delegating the heavy lifting to his subordinates, and his feigned “outrage” at the behavior of state law enforcement officials is most likely an act meant to placate an angry press.