Rand Paul, the Gift That Keeps on Giving

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No doubt much ink has been spilled writing about Paul and his views. I wonder if it is because the libertarians really push the intellectual envelope of our collective thinking.

Marc Parella of CA 3:01AM May 25, 2010

Sorry you didn't bother researching the facts before you scribbled this one Schlesinger.
From the Washinton Post Bart Barnes, Saturday, May 30, 1998
"He ended racial segregation in his family department stores, and he was instrumental in ending it in Phoenix schools and restaurants and in the Arizona National Guard."
Goldwater stated that workforce discrimination was "morally wrong," but worried that in the future the federal government might "require people to discriminate on the basis of color or race or religion" and, thus, in the end, opposed the [1964 civil rights] bill. - John Fonte, National Review.
In the end, this is exactly what happened. The 1964 Civil Rights Act which was good and right and which needed to be passed, eventually was used as grounds to force discrimination (er, "affirmative action").
Somehow you conveniently forget to point out that Barry was right! I guess that was an "inconvenient truth".

George of MI 11:28PM May 23, 2010

It's one thing for a candidate to be slapped around by Rachel Maddow (her sweet-little-girl exterior hides a very potent iron fist, as many guests have learned), but to then be pushed around the next day by George Stephanopoulos is something else!
Paul's handlers quickly realized that Rand The Eye Doctor is about as ready for prime time right now as Joe The Plumber, and wisely pulled him out of MTP.
My guess is that between now and November, he'll be placed into a Sarah Palin-like cocoon, giving interviews only to "friendly" questioners and doing town halls only where the questions (and questioners) are pre-screened.
Kentuckians should be demanding several debates between Paul and his opponent between now and November.

The Ol` Prof of NJ 6:01PM May 23, 2010

Gift giving???
Obama is the real 'gift' giver. His latest Remember-in-November 'gift' is a sitting US president that throws a state dinner and provides a national forum for the president of a bad-joke country to bad-mouth the US, and tell us what we should do -- as if we should be more like Mexico, so we could then turn into a non-country like Afghanistan.
Rand Paul is a real break from the painstakingly-scripted and -crafted, focus-grouped, heat-treated, gold-plated, and gift-wrapped 'narratives' the Obamalove crowd cherishes. For them, if someone hasn't stood in front of fake Greek columns -- and drunk Germans -- to give a speech, he can't be for real.
It's not about what the democrats or republicans want. It's about what WE want. Rand Paul is CLOSER to what we want. Who was it that said never let the perfect stand in the way of the good? Oh yeah, it was President Obama.
How Rand Paul shakes out for the republicans OR democrats? That's their problem, not ours. First Scott Brown, then Jan Brewer, now Rand Paul -- in terms of helping the democrats AND republicans come closer to what we want.
Yeah, Goldwater gave long answers. So does Rand Paul. Know who gives even longer answers? The great Emperor of Antarctica himself, Obama.
The difference is that President Obama is twice the war of Bush and four times the federal debt. Obama's long answers are an attempt to keep the easily-amused amused during the very-long and very-expensive walk around the very-wasteful block that leaves us all worse off than when we started.
Our current president is like a glib-talking bad cabbie who drives around the block for ten miles instead of taking you to the airport ten miles away. What's it to him? The meter is running for him and his -- and he still expects a tip.

dom youngross of OH 10:34AM May 23, 2010

This is very illustrative of how slanted the media is. All of this hullabaloo over some philosophical discussion over the proper scope of the Federal government which the media transforms into overt racism and paints Rand Paul as a dangerous white supremacist leader. You people are appalling!
How about you devote some thought to your beloved Obama who is promoting "indefinite detention" for SUSPECTED terrorists? The kind of draconian power you would see in Iran not from a free republic and pushed by an alleged "constitutional law professor".
How about some outrage over McCain-Lieberman's proposed removal of habeas corpus for so called "enemy belligerents" which includes US citizens? The kind of policy you would expect to see in Stalinist Russia?
No, you won't touch these topics because you have a clear agenda. Well, the American people are waking up. They don't care about the media's manufactured outrage over Rand Paul's philosophical arguments. They see an out of control corrupt Washington and media establishment that is destroying America culturally and economically.
American's don't believe in "bailing out" investment banks to "save the economy". They know an outright scam when they see one. They are more interested in everyone being robbed of their economic freedom by the policies of the Federal Reserve and paying enormous taxes for an out of control government that has run up the national debt to astronomical proportions. They are tired of being told they need to pay to keep their neighbors in their homes when their neighbors took on massive debt they could not afford in the form of option ARMs with teaser rates less than 2%.
Americans are also tired of being told they are racist for wanting illegal immigration laws to be ENFORCED.
It is YOU who is out of touch Schlesinger and the minority of liberal elites who dominate the media. It is you who is the real danger to this nation. Not Rand Paul.

SmearsAndSkidmarks of CO 6:48PM May 22, 2010

Rand Paul has now said that he would have voted for the 1964 Civil Rights Act that forbade businesses from discriminating on the basis of race, after pointedly avoiding making that statement in recent interviews (particularly with Rachel Maddow), and after previously stating that he recognized that his positions would allow businesses to do that very thing.
He obviously got a talking-to by some of the more adult members of his party. So much for principle.
Things are so bad that Paul became only the third person in the 62 years of Meet the Press to pull out of a scheduled interview.
This guy is such a product of the Tea Party 'movement' that he mentioned the Tea Party nine times in his acceptance speech, and he mentioned Kentucky once. Then he bailed on benefitting from a national forum for his opinions on Meet the Press.
So, how's that whole Tea Party thingy working for you GOPers?

jimatmadison of WI 2:38PM May 22, 2010

The news media are all too happy to engage in sound byte baiting. This is where an interviewer will ask question after question expecting the person answering them to know all the answers right there and then. If they mess up they are lambasted on TV A.S.A.P
Politicians these days seldom seem to have answers that go in the peoples favor. Instead they pass laws they are not party too like Health Care Reform. They of course won't be subject to the law they passed.
I wouldn't expect a human to have all the answers all the time. They need time to reflect on the issues and then present an answer. When your running for office you have a good idea about issues but I also know there are loaded questions.
Can the federal government set the private sector's minimum wage? This is a good example of a loaded question. While the Federal government has already enacted minimum wage laws, so they must think they can, I feel they only hurt the people they are intended to protect. If you want to hire a person and have to pay them minimum wage you may not hire them. Teens in America know all too well about the job market and minimum wage. There are fewer teens working now than ever before.
I also don't blame BP for the oil in the gulf. How would they know a pipe was going to break? I think the real problem is the establishments elimination of hemp oil. They make competition illegal. Every industrial nation can grow industrial hemp and export it to the U.S. but we cannot grow it here. That is unbelievably unjust. It also goes to show how the system is rigged in favor of big business.
I hope Rand Paul's detractors wake before it's too late. The interest on the national debt is getting so large I think the establishment is going all in and ignoring the problem. They know it is so bad now they cannot fix it anymore. The irony is they created the problem. They profited from it on the way up and now they profit on the way down. They should be ashamed.

Dr Reaper of CA 2:31PM May 22, 2010

Good Lord, Rand, these effing coastal waters belong to the USA (also known as we the people, to the tea baggers).
Rand and the GOP supports a foreign corporation destroying our coast lines, while that corporation's CEO is in Britain golfing and partying as the good American Patriots on the coast line suffers?
Rand supports, BP attempting to force these non-worldy hard working Patriots to sign waivers absolving BP of any liability for their losses? Rand supports foreign owned BP's murdering 11 men and women who simply went to work?

Gone_Rogue of OH 1:13PM May 22, 2010

Good Lord, Rand, these effing eaters belong to the USA (also known as we the people).
Rand and the GOP supports a foreign corporation destroying our coast lines, while that corporation's CEO is in Britain golfing and partying as the good American Patriots on the coast line suffers?
Rand supports, BP attempting to force these non-worldy hard working Patriots to sign waivers absolving BP of any liability for their losses? Rand supports foreign owned BP's murdering 11 men and women who simply went to work?

Gone_Rogue of OH 1:11PM May 22, 2010

Rand Paul has indentified the Roosevelt era as the beginning of the end for America. He is right that this was a period of change. This was the beginning of a shift away from a government run of big business, by big business and for big business. It began a period where government started (ever so slightly and against incredible resistance) to include the protection, well-being and rights of individuals in its actions. Despite 70 years of incremental gains, we are now seeing a major shift away from this phase of our democracy. Rand Paul is but one, though high profile, example of those promoting a reversal of this trend. Consider the governmental indifference to the safety of deep sea drilling, the Supreme Court ruling allowing unlimited corporate funding of election and the brazen indifference to human life exemplified by Don Blankenship's management of Massey Energy (and funding of the Tea Party to champion his views) as recent examples of this trend back to "our roots".

Peto of IL 11:42AM May 22, 2010