I don’t know about that. I’m not sure I should be participating in this story.
Sen. Bob Corker • Responding to the idea of joining a potential Modern Tea Party Caucus in the Senate. Who pitched this idea? None other than Rand Paul, who hasn’t even been elected yet. That said, it’s gaining a little traction – Michele Bachmann, shortly after hearing about Paul’s idea, applied to make a similar caucus for the House. Paul’s optimistic it could happen. “If we get another loud voice in there, like Mike Lee from Utah or Sharron Angle from Nevada,” he says, “there will be a new nucleus” for promoting Tea Party principles. Which is a big “if,” by the way, because they still have to win their elections. source
First, it started with the Cold War. Then it went to this argument that the U.S. has the engine of capitalism. Then he noted that the Soviets were thrown off because Americans had color TVs. Then he made this whopper of an argument: “The poor in our country are enormously better off than the rest of the world. Doesn’t mean we can’t do better, but we have to acknowledge and be proud of our system of capitalism, be proud of our American way.” Uhhhhh … source
So, let’s get this straight: A bunch of conservatives are frustrated with being called racist because of their ideologies. So, what do they do? They create a shirt with the phrase, “Yup, I’m a racist” emblazoned on it. Because that’s not stupid or controversial. Look, this kind of rage-filled idiocy gets us nowhere. So why push it at all? source
Nice find by The Atlantic. Rand Paul may be getting trashed on by the Washington establishment, but local coverage in Louisville seems to not be critical of him at all. This is WAVE, the NBC affiliate in the area. They actually seem to have gotten an interview with David Gregory, too. Too bad they wasted it on boilerplate reporting. source
I just said I wasn’t comfortable with it. … I think it’s important to understand that Rand Paul has clarified his statement and reiterated his support for…pushing civil rights forward, as opposed to going backwards.
Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele • Talking on “This Week” about Rand Paul, who has successfully made Steele into the second most likely person in the party to commit a major gaffe. Steele didn’t seem like he was very comfortable with broaching the subject. For his part, he did note that Paul’s view was a “philosophical position” due to his libertarian leanings, even as he questioned Paul’s approach. “Any attempt to look backwards is not in the best interest of our country certainly, and certainly not in the best interest of the party,” Steele said. Oh, and DNC counterpart Tim Kaine thinks it’ll make it easier for Paul’s competitor, Jack Conway, to win the seat. We’re disappointed it’s not Tim Conway. His golf videos are funny! source
Dude has been keeping a tally of who supports his leadership in the GOP. With dozens of names already ticked off, nobody has said no, not even candidates who appear fundamentally against his style of leadership, such as Sen. Jim DeMint. That Rand Paul win in Kentucky hasn’t hurt him yet. “The people of our caucus want him leading,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, DeMint’s more moderate counterpart in South Carolina. “He has my confidence. I think he has the confidence of the conference. He has done a good job with 41 people.” source
Rand Paul was simply making a point that every time an issue arises, the automatic response from the Democrats is not to find out what went wrong and why, but to propose more government, more regulation and more taxes.
Republican National Senatorial Committee spokesman Brian Walsh • Regarding what Rand Paul was trying to say when he criticized Obama for being “un-American in his criticism of business,” specifically with the Gulf oil spill. (Oh, and trying to save Paul’s butt.) We actually understood this the first time. We just think it’s wrong and shows a deep misunderstanding of why regulation is important, especially in the wake of this oil spill, where it’s seemingly clear that the government regulatory machine was asleep on the job. Surprising thing we just noticed: Reason Magazine’s site hasn’t even mentioned the new Rand Paul controversy, even though they’ve brought up the Civil Rights Act thing today. Dudes, the silence says more than you think. source
I thought I was supposed to get a honeymoon. When does my honeymoon start after my victory?
Kentucky Senate candidate Rand Paul • Talking to our boy Wolf Blitzer about how his last couple of days went after winning the Republican primary. It hasn’t been good. He’s been taking heat left and … well, mostly left … for comments that he made regarding the 1964 Civil Rights Act in the last couple of days. He suggested that businesses shouldn’t have to allow everyone in. And who does he blame? The messenger. “I think what troubles me is that the news cycle has gotten out of control,” he continued. “For several hours on a major news network [MSNBC] yesterday, they reported repeatedly that I was for repealing the Civil Rights Act. That is not only not true, never been my position, but is an out and out lie. And they repeated it all day long.” source
Could Rand Paul saying that businesses shouldn’t have to serve black people be misconstrued as racism? One could argue, in fact, that you could take the “mis” off the front of that. Remember – this guy is probably going to be a Senator. There’s a lot to take from this clip, but our favorite bit is Maddow asking this pointed question: “But isn’t being in favor of civil rights but against the Civil Rights Act a little like saying you’re against high cholesterol but you’re in favor of fried cheese?” Paul is just being honest, but man, it makes Paul look BAD. source