Rand Paul's Long History Of Controversial Views

Kentucky Republican Rand Paul has been no stranger to controversy in his bid for Senate as controversial comments made by the Tea Party-backed contender have repeatedly threatened to derail his campaign.

Now, an abundance of provocative positions maintained by Paul are coming to light in a lengthy report from the Louisville Courier-Journal chronicling a wide range of controversial statements made by the GOP hopeful in public appearances dating back to 1998.

The ten page-long review addresses divisive comments Paul recently made related to his view of the Civil Rights Act, but also calls attention to various remarks made by the Senate candidate over the years that never gained traction in media coverage of the Kentucky race.

Among the revelations, is news that former Republican Senate candidate Sue Lowden wasn't the first candidate in the 2010 election cycle to recommend a bartering system to pay for health care expenses. Rand Paul raised the same policy solution years ago.

"If you go to the doctor, you don't pay directly for your doctor's services, your insurance company pays for it. ... So the price goes up indiscriminately because nobody is there to barter down the price. What we need is higher-deductible plans, people paying more cash as they go into the doctor, and then what we'll have is the prices will level off."

The Courier-Journal also unearths criticisms Paul hurled at policy initiatives put forth by former President George W. Bush as well as perhaps surprising statements of opposition from the Senate hopeful related to the war in Iraq and his position on torture.

Here's a slideshow highlighting the latest eyebrow-raising revelations:

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Recommended Bartering For Health Care

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Former Republican Senate candidate Sue Lowden wasn’t the first candidate in the 2010 election cycle to recommend a bartering system to pay for medical expenses. It appears that Rand Paul offered the same health care reform solution:

Paul also has advocated medical-savings accounts, which he says would allow patients to pay for care themselves and negotiate lower costs with their doctors. He also has said that higher deductibles are needed to reduce the demand for care, which he says would, in turn, result in lower prices. "In our country, people primarily get access to health care through insurance, and that is part of the problem," he said on Kentucky Tonight on Jan. 29, 1999. "If you go to the doctor, you don't pay directly for your doctor's services, your insurance company pays for it. ... So the price goes up indiscriminately because nobody is there to barter down the price. What we need is higher-deductible plans, people paying more cash as they go into the doctor, and then what we'll have is the prices will level off."

The Courier-Journal also notes:

Zealously advocating for free-market economics, he also has criticized private health insurance, saying it keeps patents from negotiating lower prices with their doctors. "We need to get insurance of out of the way and let the consumer interact with their doctor the way they did basically before World War II," he said on Kentucky Educational Television's Kentucky Tonight on Dec. 2, 2002.

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Former Republican Senate candidate Sue Lowden wasn’t the first candidate in the 2010 election cycle to recommend a bartering system to pay for medical expenses.

It appears that Rand Paul offered the same health care reform solution:

Paul also has advocated medical-savings accounts, which he says would allow patients to pay for care themselves and negotiate lower costs with their doctors. He also has said that higher deductibles are needed to reduce the demand for care, which he says would, in turn, result in lower prices.

"In our country, people primarily get access to health care through insurance, and that is part of the problem," he said on Kentucky Tonight on Jan. 29, 1999.

"If you go to the doctor, you don't pay directly for your doctor's services, your insurance company pays for it. ... So the price goes up indiscriminately because nobody is there to barter down the price. What we need is higher-deductible plans, people paying more cash as they go into the doctor, and then what we'll have is the prices will level off."

The Courier-Journal also notes:

Zealously advocating for free-market economics, he also has criticized private health insurance, saying it keeps patents from negotiating lower prices with their doctors.

"We need to get insurance of out of the way and let the consumer interact with their doctor the way they did basically before World War II," he said on Kentucky Educational Television's Kentucky Tonight on Dec. 2, 2002.

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Comments

[MetrointheWoods]

01:50 PM on 07/24/2010

Personally, I like the idea of going back to a simpler time before Rand Paul existed.

[Cowboylove]

04:27 PM on 07/16/2010

Of course the fundamental problem with Rand Paul's assertion is proposing we go back to the way things were done in the 1930s. While it is true upper middle class and wealthy people negotiated with their doctors, the vast majority of people simply went without health care - which is why most people were dead by the time they were 65. Ah now I get it - it serves a duel purpose for Rand Paul. Take away health care from most people, they die off early and you solve the Social Security problem.

Either he is naive or obscenely cruel. Either way, he doesn't belong in the Senate.

[Hayes Williams]

12:41 AM on 07/06/2010

I am a democrat, and I agree with almost all of the things in this list.

[EpicSarcastic]

10:37 PM on 07/05/2010

Medical care is never a free market, that's a fact. You can't negotiate freely holding power over life. Rand, no ones forcing you to partake in our system of medical schools, research, and licensing. Any decent society of any political system has practiced both promotion and restriction the medical professions
Why are chickens so much healthier relative to people these days? Chicken calc:
http://lowdenplan.com/

[Dbos]

01:50 PM on 06/26/2010

Chicken farmers have the best health insurance

[mcmutter]

08:25 AM on 06/24/2010

Kentucky deserves Rand Paul .... he'll do nothing for the state ....

[sals]

01:33 PM on 06/23/2010

if rand advocates bartering for payment of medical services, why does he use and milk medicare and medicaid for all he can get. He can just charge lower prices, why the "come and talk me down" he needs to get board certified and just lower his prices. come on rand, walk the talk.......oh, you don't get rich that way.

[iconoclast6]

02:10 PM on 06/23/2010

And do you really want him doing LASIK on you with chicken all over his hands? Now that is a "yuck factor."

[JScott]

01:15 PM on 06/23/2010

Hey Rand let's talk about your hairpiece!

[iconoclast6]

02:12 PM on 06/23/2010

It's a squirrel pelt that someone bartered for an eye exam. And I think AynRand must have used that yummy, prion-packed brain in some old Kentucky perloo!

[Hellinahandbag]

01:08 PM on 06/23/2010

Rand Paul just isn't a bright person. He spouts things and never really understands what he say's and then forced to retract. He is crazier than his father!

[memosyne]

12:56 PM on 06/23/2010

Sure, we all want to go back to pre WW II conditions. Let's see: separate and vastly unequal schools, limited jobs for women: basically teacher, telephone operator, secretary, or, of course, those plentiful jobs: house servant, ironing woman, crab picker. (Or if you really want to remember: prostitute, oh wait, we have those jobs now too, only they aren't just for women any more). Very few good jobs for men. No minimum wage. No overtime pay. No unemployment insurance.
Unfortunately we can't go back to pre WW II environmental conditions: cheap gas, no pesticides, no hormones in the milk or antibiotics in the meat.
Wait: no antibiotics at all. If your kid got Hemophilus Influenza he was either dead or mentally retarded from meningitis. Yeah, let's go backwards.

[Lindsay Schutz]

01:00 PM on 06/23/2010

Which is why I want to pound my head against a wall every time I hear a conservatard talking about wanting to go back to the "good 'ol days"...

[Terhune]

04:46 PM on 06/26/2010

Your history is all wrong. Women were about 1/3 of the faculty in college and universities in the 20s and 30s. It was AFTER the Second World War that the distaff professoriat declined...to about 11% in the 60s. (I'll get you citations if you wish.)

The late 30s and early 40s were the time of Jean Arthur and Roz Russell "career women" in the cinema. AFTER the Second World War this sort of character just disappeared--no longer exemplary.

You would do well to look at pop psychology and marketing trends in the Postwar period to understand why these changes occurred.

[EpicSarcastic]

10:40 PM on 07/05/2010

Interesting thought...

[keng52]

11:34 AM on 06/23/2010

This guy is a fruitcake...

[Whinger]

06:08 AM on 06/23/2010

He's no different from the rest, he'll tell you anything you want to hear to get your vote......
And when he gets into office.....
Ooh he loves to dance a little sidestep, now you see him now you don't
He's come and gone and, ooh he loves to sweep around the wide step,
cut a little swathe and lead the people on.
Thanks Charles!

[prodemlib]

11:14 PM on 06/22/2010

Mr. Paul has the basic conservative view of the world. The rich shall inherit the world, and the poor be darned!

[Doctor Jones]

01:49 AM on 06/23/2010

No, I think you mixed him up with Obama.

[iconoclast6]

11:52 AM on 06/24/2010

So that's your argument? "I know you are but what am I?"

Man, Jonesy, you are about as smooth as Ukrainian wine.

[prodemlib]

06:51 PM on 06/24/2010

Nope. I'm sure I'm right.

[rich misty]

09:55 PM on 06/22/2010

Clairyanne: Do you delete entire threads if they make you look bad?
StanleyBing: I suspect as much. This one's out of his ever lovin' mind.
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Rand Paul supporters ^ showing off their paranoia and projections.

http://www.davidduke.com/general/david-duke-speaks-to-the-tea-party_17706.html

http://www.davidduke.com/general/great-early-victories-in-2010-primaries_18005.html

David Duke, Grand Wiz zard of the K K K fully endorses the Tea Party, and is quite fond of
Rand Paul for US Senate. To my knowledge, no Conservative has denounced these type endorsements, many of them defend David Duke, and the rest give silent consent.

[Clairyanne]

11:18 PM on 06/22/2010

Because that entire thread - calling you out on your misinformation - didn't disappear when you ran out of answers.

[rich misty]

11:52 PM on 06/22/2010

I have never, once, removed a post from this site... I do not have the authority. You have paranoid delusions.

[Doctor Jones]

01:50 AM on 06/23/2010

I denounce David Duke. That guy has a foul mouth. Rand Paul 2010!

[JDShipley]

09:43 PM on 06/22/2010

High deductible plans may actually raise costs: They correlate to higher medical bankruptcy rates. http://www.health-access.org/files/HDHPFactSheetGeneral071706.pdf

Ideology over fact.