What’s wrong with Rand Paul?
By Jennifer Rubin, Published: NOVEMBER 05, 12:04 PM ET Aa Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) desperately wants to be taken seriously and compete for the presidency. But he is hampered by a sort of cluelessness that comes, I suspect, from trusting too few advisers and from a total lack of familiarity with the attitudes of those outside his narrow band of quasi-libertarianism.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) (James Crisp/Associated Press)
For starters, he doesn’t offer much to the pool of libertarians purportedly yearning to be Republicans. He voted against immigration reform. He voted against cloture on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. Where is the appeal to those socially libertarian, tolerant young people? He will argue the specifics of those measures aren’t to his liking. He might even argue, as he did but would like us to forget, that he doesn’t think private property owners should be prohibited from discriminating. But in the end, an anti-immigration reform, anti-gay employment protection senator is no different than a host of other Republicans who turn off a segment of the electorate.
But then consider his series of bellyflops, suggesting he doesn’t understand the beliefs and standards other politicians must grasp.
He has been accused of multiple instances of plagiarism — in speeches, in his book and in op-eds. He graduated from medical school and has lived in a world in which there have been scandals involving much lesser instances of plagiarism than his. If he were a journalist, any reputable publication would have fired him long ago. So does he have no sense of what is acceptable, doesn’t think rules apply to him or has an incredibly sloppy staff that cuts and pastes material for him?
He hired the “Southern Avenger,” who advocated bizarre pro-Confederate sentiments. No other lawmaker would, I am certain, knowingly hire such a character. But Paul got huffy when confronted with the hiring. Only reluctantly did the Southern Avenger depart. Again, does Paul have no sense of what is acceptable, doesn’t think standards apply to him or does he have ineffective staff that can’t spot trouble?
Paul is not just out to lunch when it comes to appropriating other people’s writing or hiring cranks. Consider:
- He went to Heritage Foundation to convince conservatives he was serious about foreign policy, but he defended containment of a nuclear-armed Iran. Not even Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) believes that is rational.
- He went to Howard University to convince African Americans he was a different kind of Republican, but wound up lecturing them about how good Republicans had been to African Americans in the past and presenting a “you’re on you own” economic vision that has zero appeal to these voters.
- He went to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to argue against help for the non-jihadi Syrian rebels, but wound up arguing Bashar al-Assad is good for Christians.
There is no internal radar nor staff safety net that prevents him from these repeated missteps. If he should run for president, the media attention and competition from other Republicans would be brutal. If his political antennae are defective and his knowledge spotty, maybe he should get people around him who know better. Then again, perhaps he should just run as who he is and let voters decide for themselves.
m.washingtonpost.com
Why does Rand Paul keep bringing up Monica Lewinsky?Sen. Rand Paul keeps going after Bill Clinton over the Monica Lewinsky affair, no doubt to fend off Democratic attacks on the GOP’s “war on women.” A new poll shows Republicans do have a major problem in how most women perceive their party.
m.csmonitor.com
3. … AND he opposes the Americans for Disabilities Act (ADA): When NPR’s Robert Siegel interviewed Paul a month later on “All Things Considered,” Paul stuck his foot in his mouth yet AGAIN to reveal that he believes businesses should be allowed to discriminate against disabled folks as well. Though I suppose it technically doesn’t qualify as a “gaffe” when you speak correctly and just happen to have views that are utterly vile:
Right. I think a lot of things could be handled locally. For example, I think that we should try to do everything we can to allow for people with disabilities and handicaps. You know, we do it in our office with wheelchair ramps and things like that. I think if you have a two-story office and you hire someone who’s handicapped, it might be reasonable to let him have an office on the first floor rather than the government saying you have to have a $100,000 elevator. And I think when you get to the solutions like that, the more local the better, and the more common sense the decisions are, rather than having a federal government make those decisions.
Yes, it’s expensive to install an elevator or do major remodelling to help customers and employees with special needs, and it can be hard for smaller companies. But it’s a lot harder to live with disabilities day in and day out, and the least we can do is to modify our buildings so everyone can fully participate in our society with a measure of dignity. Plus, it’s strange how conservatives always mention how hard regulations are on “small businesses,” but they never suggest providing seed money to bring these mom and pops into compliance?
4. He opposes Obamacare: Despite the recent ruling from the United States’ conservative-leaning Supreme Court, Paul insists that the Patient Protection and Affordable Healthcare Act is unconstitutional. According to Scott Wong from Politico, “Obamacare is wrong for Americans. It will destroy our healthcare system.” Um … as if the current healthcare system hasn’t already destroyed our healthcare system? Paul also apparently thinks that he and his fellow teabagger extremists in the Republican Party are above the laws of our land and can declare things unconstitutional, even after our Supreme Court has had what is supposed to be the final say:
“Just because a couple people on the Supreme Court declare something to be ‘constitutional’ does not make it so. The whole thing remains unconstitutional,” Paul said. “While the court may have erroneously come to the conclusion that the law is allowable, it certainly does nothing to make this mandate or government takeover of our health care right.”
Oh, and Paul’s also one of those conspiracy theory nut-jobs who thinks that Obamacare will “deputize” doctors to spy on patients and snitch on gun owners, so the U.S. government can record names in massive database. Never mind that this theory has been debunked numerous times
5. He opposes gun safety laws: And speaking of guns, guess where Paul stands on gun safety laws? Hint: Back in January, Mollie Reilly from the Huffington Post reported that the Kentucky Senator shared the outline of his pro-gun strategy for challenging President Obama’s executive orders on gun safety with Fox News’ Sean Hannity.:
“Our founding fathers were very concerned about us having separation of powers. They didn’t want to let the president become a king. In this bill, [that he introduced] We will nullify anything the president does that smacks of legislation.”
Because, you know how Paul’s fellow party members clamped down when Obama’s predecessor overstepped his bounds, started an illegal war, imprisoned suspected terrorists without due process or trials, and instituted invasive search procedures in all of our airports … oh wait … they never did that.
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