Rand Paul Gently Rebuked By GOP Senators Over Civil Rights Act Opposition

Senate Republicans are cautiously distancing themselves from the controversial comments about civil rights legislation made by the GOP candidate who wants to join their caucus.

A day after Kentucky Senate hopeful Rand Paul said he didn't support the 1964 Civil Rights Act in full, several GOP lawmakers have tried to distance themselves from the Tea Party's favorite son.

"I don't want to put words in his mouth," Sen. Lindsey Graham told the Huffington Post's Lucia Graves. "It's clear he doesn't support racism. I think most people in Kentucky probably believe as I do that in 2010 you should be able to sleep in whatever hotel and eat in whatever restaurant you want to...but as for what's the proper role of government in the private sector...he'll have to convince people that his views are acceptable."

"I don't know what he means by that," Texas Sen. John Cornyn, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, told POLITICO. "I support non-discrimination of people, so I would need to talk to him to see what precisely his concerns were."

"I support the Civil Rights Act," Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), a Paul-booster, told the website Think Progress. "I'm going to talk to Rand about his positions..."

The talking-to, in the end, may be unneeded, as by late Thursday morning Paul seemed to have received the message. The Kentuckian put out a statement from his campaign insisting that he did, in fact, "support the Civil Rights Act" and "overwhelming agree[d] with the intent of the legislation."

The walk-back was peppered with enough nuances to keep critics concerned with his libertarian viewpoints. But at least some members of the GOP leadership were satisfied.

"Among Senator [Mitch] McConnell's most vivid memories and most formative events in his career was watching his boss Sen. John Sherman Cooper help pull together the votes to break the filibuster and pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964," emailed Don Stewart, a spokesman for the Minority Leader. "He has always considered the law a monumental achievement for the country and is glad to hear Dr. Paul supports it as well."

If anything, the episode surround Paul's comments show that there are, in fact, limitations to small-government conservative movement of the modern-day Republican Party.

Comments

[Amin Khad]

04:31 AM on 05/24/2010

Brown vs Board of Education invalidated Jim Crow laws in 1954. The Civil Rights Act was unnecessary. There was a cultural sea-change in the 60s and forcing businesses to desegregate was not necessary. It would have happened on its own. Perhaps a little slower, but the necessary cultural battles would have been fought and race relations would have been better for it.

[Money Mongol]

09:17 PM on 05/24/2010

You nailed it with this post. Putting things in the open is far better than concealing them. Huffington Post seems to have attracted mostly democrats and I am finding it very difficult to reason with them just as much as it was reasoning with Republicans under Bush.

In a way, I wish Rand Paul and Ron Paul would break away from the Republicans and go independent.

[zlohcuc]

08:51 AM on 05/25/2010

Believe me, many wish they would just go away.

[zlohcuc]

08:50 AM on 05/25/2010

...and the dish ran away with the spoon!

[Dayahka]

09:40 PM on 05/22/2010

GOP. The party that stands for nothing and will fall for anything. And THEY are rebuking Paul? Surely you jest.

[jemiltd]

08:18 PM on 05/21/2010

"I don't know what he means by that," Texas Sen. John Cornyn, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, told POLITICO. "I support non-discrimination of people, so I would need to talk to him to see what precisely his concerns were."
Rand Paul, Sarah's male clone, told you exactly what he meant: The government should not interfere in a business' right to discriminate against...you know, "those people." Pretty clear to the rest of us. Republicans have quite a knack for pretending that an elephant is not only in the room, it sat down directly in front of the television. #p2

[CharlesDevell]

03:09 PM on 05/21/2010

Rand Paul In '08: Beware The NAFTA Superhighway!

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/05/rand_paul_beware_the_nafta_superhighway_video.php

Q: What does Ron Paul want to do to fight the prospect of a North American Union and an Amero?
Rand Paul: Well I think publicizing it is the first thing, publicizing that it's going on. Trying to get the legislature to stop it, through official acts of Congress. You know any time he talks about it, though, the media tries to make fun of him as if it doesn't exist. But I think in Montana, your state legislature has talked about the North American Union. Texas has had several votes about the corridor, they just call it a different name, they call it the trans-Texas corridor.

Q: It comes right through here

Rand Paul: Yeah, it's the same thing. It's gonna go up through Texas, I guess, all the way to Montana. So, it's a real thing, and when you talk about it, the thing you just have to be aware of is that, if you talk about it like it's a conspiracy, they'll paint you as a nut. It's not a conspiracy, they're out in the open about it. I saw the YouTube of Vincente Fox talking about the Amero. So, it's not a secret. now it may not be [inaudible] tomorrow, but it took 'em 20 or 30 years to get the Euro, and they had to push people kicking and screaming into ...

[cooperrock]

02:59 PM on 05/21/2010

Justice Kennedy wrote a great pice at the beginning of Lawrence v. Texas (declaring the Texas law against sodomy Unconstitutional) essentially saying that sex is something so closely related to our beliefs and values that to restrict this action is a restriction on a fundemental right to those beliefs. I wonder if anyone thinks this could be applied here (honestly not rehtorically)? Ultra-christian org's don't let pro choicers in, eco org's like green peace don't let coal operators in, ect. So is racism a belief that can be recognized as protected like the above? If a black guy that owns a barbershop doesn't want to cut my hair, should he be shut down? (this actually happened to me) Or is it his right to forego my ten dollars? Having been in a pretty mixed and open place it is hard to imagine that business owners would chose a color other than green, or that one that did would last or grow. There are no racist raffle prizes given out for ignorance, merely a limited experience in our limited time. Final question; If businesses in the community that you live in had the option of sticking a sign in their window declaring that it was open to only a certain race, do you think many, or any, would do it? If someone did, what do you think the communities reaction would be and would they last with you all out there?

[ZeraLee]

02:46 PM on 05/21/2010

I guess he did not get the conservative memo on what not to say out loud.

[jussaying]

02:17 PM on 05/21/2010

His comments, letters to Kentucky newspapers over the years, and recent interviews all show that Paul was against the Civil Rights Act. He is now selling out in order to get elected. Kentucky voters need to ask if he sells out so quickly to get elected, what will he do once in office. Let Guv Bob McDonnell of Virginia serve as an example; when his masters thesis came out he told everyone he no longer had the same views....yet everything he has done since being elected shows he is EXACTLY the same guy who wrote that thesis. If elected, Paul will make the citizens of Kentucky yearn for the days when crazy a** Bunning was in office.

[ron ray]

01:52 PM on 05/21/2010

jeez, it's 2010 and the gop has to clarify it's official position on black people at lunch counters. damn, this is fun to watch.

[TechGuy036]

01:46 PM on 05/21/2010

The R's are stuck between a Rand and a hard place. Thanks, Dr. Paul, for putting the spotlight on these beliefs held by the R's that they wanted to keep secret.

[Todd Sullivan]

10:17 PM on 05/22/2010

yeah, the only thing rand paul did was put what's generally talked about behind closed doors out in the open. his honesty is (or was) refreshing, though i detest him and his viewpoints.

[huffyfan2]

01:34 PM on 05/21/2010

These people make me sick.....It takes how long to answer a yes or no question???? GMAFB

[youknowwhat]

01:24 PM on 05/21/2010

The repubs rushed to to get on the "Tea Train" and now they're ready to get off realizing that it's headed towards a cliff.

[ZeraLee]

02:43 PM on 05/21/2010

And why not? It wasn't *their* cliff.

[ylobrkrd]

11:22 AM on 05/21/2010

Senate Republicans are cautiously distancing themselves from the controversial comments about civil rights legislation made by the GOP candidate who wants to join their caucus.

HAHAHAHAHheheheh. This is good and getting better all the time.

[lovable]

11:06 AM on 05/21/2010

did u notice how long it took demint to answer if he supported the civil rights act!!!!!!!!!!

[murphysgirl]

10:52 AM on 05/21/2010

On CNN last night he blamed MSNBC for falsely reporting his stance on the Civil Rights Act. But his views are already a matter of record on NPR and the local Kentucky newspaper. I find it astonishing that reporters are not calling him out on that.

[highflag]

11:17 AM on 05/21/2010

If you're "astonished" then you haven't been paying much attention.

Thank goodness the man's hubris allowed for him to submit to a Rachel Maddow interview. She's the only real journalist on television. Stephenapoulis made a couple of runs at him on GMA, but ultimately let him crawl away bleating about Rachel and Democratic talking points.

Seemingly all of the talking heads are so concerned with limiting their access, that they're willing to permit these politicians to spin and lie and fabricate non-existent data to squirm their way out of having to face the truth.

[zlohcuc]

08:56 AM on 05/25/2010

great observation on maddow..she is the best jounalist with a daily forum working on tv.

[blueken]

10:49 AM on 05/21/2010

"I think most people in Kentucky probably believe as I do that in 2010 you should be able to sleep in whatever hotel and eat in whatever restaurant you want to..." Yeah but Lindsey, but what about the owner of the hotel? Can't he choose who sleeps in his hotel? There ain't no way to walk away from this one. This is just the first. It's a long way to election time, and I have a feeling Mr. Paul is going to get a lot of air time to explain his "views". He will be given ample rope to hang himself with. Like Palin, they can't change his core beliefs, and his core beliefs are toxic.

[ron ray]

01:53 PM on 05/21/2010

gotta love the fact that in 2010, republicans still have to clarify their position on segregation.