Tea Party Gov. tries to backtrack on blaming protesting teachers for child rape -- and gets torn to shreds

Republican Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin last week came under heavy criticism when he said teachers in his state who walked out of school for one day to protest state education funding were responsible for all children who were sexually abused by their parents in their absence.

"I guarantee you somewhere in Kentucky today, a child was sexually assaulted that was left at home because there was nobody there to watch them," Bevin said. "I guarantee you somewhere today, a child was physically harmed or ingested poison because they were left alone because a single parent didn’t have any money to take care of them."

Now Bevin has posted a video on YouTube in which he tries to walk back his comments, although he didn't apologize for them -- rather, he said he regretted that people seem to have misinterpreted his remarks.

"For those of you understanding what I'm saying, thank you, I appreciate that you do," he said. "But clearly, a tremendous number of people did not fully appreciate what it was I was communicating or what it was I was trying to say. I hurt a lot of people, many people have been confused or hurt, or just misunderstand what I was trying to communicate."

Bevin then took personal responsibility for the way that his words were interpreted.

"I apologize for those who have been hurt by the things that were said, it was not my intent whatsoever," he said.

Bevin's video so far has not been well received, as it has gotten only 16 "likes" compared to 112 "dislikes" on his YouTube page as of this writing. Additionally, Bevin's tweet of his apology has been hammered by some Kentucky residents who think he was being disingenuous by saying his words were merely misinterpreted.

Check out the video -- and some top reactions -- below.